SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 65, Jacksonville State 54
@Eastern Illinois 76, SIUE 70
@Eastern Kentucky 79, Southeast Missouri 78
@Tennessee Tech 81, Belmont 76
MOREHEAD STATE 65, JACKSONVILLE STATE 54
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State men's basketball team used a 40-21 rebounding advantage en route to a 65-54 victory over Ohio Valley Conference opponent Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who have now won seven of their last 10 games, improve to 15-9 overall, 6-3 in league play and 8-3 at home. The Gamecocks, who have dropped six of their last nine, fall to 10-15 overall, 4-6 in the conference and 2-12 on the road.
Morehead State continues to lead the conference total boards and rebounding margin. The Eagles have only been outrebounded once this season. MSU also posted upper hands of 12-4 on the offensive glass and 10-4 in second-chance points.
Senior Chad Posthumus led the Eagles with a game-high 12 rebounds, while Reader added eight. Posthumus has now reached double-figure boards 16 times this year and 22 times in his career.
Junior Angelo Warner led MSU's balanced scoring attack with 14 points on 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. It marked his 22nd double-figures effort this season and the 51st of his career.
Freshman Greg Dotson and junior Billy Reader chipped in 10 points apiece. Junior Jordan Percell added nine points in just 13 minutes. All eight Eagles who played scored at least one basket. Six players scored more than eight points.
Junior Avery Moore paced the Gamecocks with 13 points, while junior D.J. Felder added 12.
Warner and sophomore Brent Arrington contributed four assists apiece. Morehead State was credited with 13 helpers and recorded a 36-24 advantage in the paint.
MSU knocked down 48 percent (23-of-48) from the field, including 3-of-7 from outside the arc. The Eagles also drilled 73 percent (16-of-22) from the free-throw line.
Jacksonville State was held to 39 percent (19-of-49) from the floor, including 27 percent (6-of-22) from three-point range. The Gamecocks made 67 percent (10-of-15) from the foul line.
Jacksonville State, which opened the contest with advantages of 9-3 and 18-11, led for most of the first half. Morehead State grabbed the lead after an 11-2 run early in the second half and had its largest lead at 51-40 with 6:48 left.
Morehead State improves to 68-16 (.809) at home over the last six seasons. The Eagles have also matched their 2012-13 win total with seven regular-season contests remaining.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 76, SIUE 70
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Senior forward Sherman Blanford scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to lead the Panther men’s basketball team to a 76-70 win over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday afternoon inside Lantz Arena. EIU improves to 8-14 on the year and 5-5 in Ohio Valley Conference action.
Trailing 63-59 with 3:54 left in the game, Jake Verhagen hit back-to-back three pointers – his only two shots of the game – to spark the Panther comeback and give EIU a 65-63 advantage. EIU regained the lead for the first time since the 3:16 mark in the first half on the Verhagen three pointers. The Panthers never relinquished the lead and made five of their final six shot attempts and went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to end the contest.
The first half saw six ties and nine lead changes with neither team leading by more than two possessions. EIU trailed 35-30 at intermission and came back to win only its second game of the year when trailing at the half.
EIU posted a .473 field-goal percentage in the contest, including a .560 percentage in the second half (15-for-25). The Panthers also went 4-for-17 from behind the arc and went 20-for-22 from the foul line.
Reggie Smith scored 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting while Chris Olivier rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points. Dylan Chatman dished out a team-high three assists in the win.
Defensively, EIU held a 37-27 advantage on the glass. Olivier added eight rebounds while Blanford had a team-high four steals.
SIUE went 26-for-57 from the floor and 7-for-19 from behind the arc, led by Kris Davis who went 5-for-8 from three-point range. Davis finished the game with a team-high 17 points.
Keaton Jackson added 16 points for the Cougars while Ray Lester chipped in 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Donivine Stewart contributed seven points, six steals and five assists. The Cougars also went 11-for-14 from the foul line.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 79, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 78
RICHMOND, Ky. - Senior Glenn Cosey banked in a 37-footer right before the buzzer to give the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team an improbable 79-78 win over visiting Southeast Missouri Saturday night in McBrayer Arena.
Eastern Kentucky (16-7, 7-3 OVC) trailed by 10 points with just under four minutes to play before making a furious rally. Senior Orlando Williams lit the spark with back-to-back buckets, including a three-pointer, within a span of 20 seconds.
Fellow senior Marcus Lewis then hit his only trifecta of the game and suddenly it was a two-point contest, 72-70, with 2:45 left. The Colonels finally leveled the game with 55 ticks left behind a Tarius Johnson tip-in.
Southeast Missouri (12-11, 3-6) refused to give up the lead as Lucas Nutt hit a floater with 39 seconds left. Cosey hit a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining, but SEMO’s Tyler Stone netted a putback with 6.6 seconds on the clock to keep the Redhawks ahead by two.
Following Stone’s bucket, Cosey took the ball just over mid-court before throwing up the winning shot. After an official review of Cosey’s shot, 0.4 seconds were put on the clock. However, Southeast Missouri never got a shot off on its final possession.
Eastern Kentucky led by as many as 14 in the first half, 34-20, only to see Southeast Missouri storm back in the early stages of the second stanza.
SEMO’s defense held the Colonels without a field goal for nearly seven minutes on the way to building a six-point advantage, 55-49. The Redhawks eventually stretched the lead to 11 points, 63-52, following a Paul McRoberts lay-up.
Cosey and junior Corey Walden each posted a team-high 20 points.
For Southeast Missouri, Jarekious Bradley piled up a career-high 32 points, but did not score the final 11:19 of the contest.
With the win, Eastern has now won 10 straight regular season games over SEMO.
TENNESSEE TECH 81, BELMONT 76
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - What they narrowly missed accomplishing a month ago in Nashville, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle basketball team was able to complete Saturday night in Eblen Center with a stunning, 81-76 upset over Ohio Valley Conference leader Belmont.
Tech (11-13/4-5 OVC) improved to 12-3 all-time in the series with Belmont and put a halt to a four-game losing streak with the win.
Belmont (17-8/8-2 OVC) suffered only its second loss in conference play, and saw a five-game winning streak snapped.
It was an emotional victory for the 3,277 fans, who watched the Golden Eagles build a 19-point lead with five minutes to play, and then held their breath as the Bruins fought back to within four before running out of chances.
Sophomore Josiah Moore had career-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds to pace Tech, along with an assist, a blocked shot and two steals. Tech also got double digit scoring from Javon McKay with 13, Dwan Caldwell with 12 points and seven rebounds, and Jeremiah Samarrippas with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Craig Bradshaw led all scorers, pacing the Bruins with 23 points. Reece Chamberlain added 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, and J.J. Man had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Belmont's furious comeback made it nail-biting time for Golden Eagle fans over the final five minutes. An 18-3 run, featuring contested 3-pointers from Mann, Drew Windler and two by Bradshaw, brought the Bruins all the way back to within 74-70 with 1:39 left to go.
The Golden Eagles made 7-of-10 at the free throw line when the Bruins tried to force the issue with fouls.
The big second half Golden Eagle lead developed slowly as Tech outscored the Bruins, 24-6, over an eight-minute stretch. The run included seven from Samarrippas, six from Moore, plus points from four other teammates.
Things didn't start out well for the home team, as Belmont rolled out to a 15-5 lead in the first six minutes. The early run featured a pair of 3-pointers by Bradshaw.
Tech outscored Belmont, 18-8, over the next seven minutes to knot the score at 23-all with 6:22 to play in the first half. Josiah Moore knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, and Javon McKay hit from the sideline and the Golden Eagles forged a 34-27 lead with an 11-2 run.
A long 3-pointer by J.J. Mann beat the halftime buzzer and closed the score to a four-point Golden Eagle lead at intermission, 36-32.