SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 86, @Jacksonville State 65
SIUE 83, @Austin Peay 68
Morehead State 79, @Tennessee Tech 53
@Murray State 72, Eastern Illinois 60
EASTERN KENTUCKY 86, JACKSONVILLE STATE 65
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team shot 65 percent and limited Jacksonville State University to 42 percent shooting in an 86-65 road victory on Saturday.
The Colonels (18-9, 8-5 OVC) snapped a two-game losing streak. With its 18th win, Eastern has recorded the winningest two-year stretch in program history. The previous mark of 42 was set in 1945-46 and 1946-47.
Tarius Johnson had 19 points to lead Eastern. Glenn Cosey finished with 15 points and five assists. Orlando Williams hit three big second half 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.
Darion Rackley scored 19 points for the Gamecocks (10-18, 4-9 OVC).
Eastern used an 8-0 run in the first half to create some space. A lay-up and three-pointer by freshman Isaac McGlone capped the run and turned a three-point lead into an 11-point advantage, 29-18, with 4:31 showing on the clock. The Colonels shot 70 percent (14-of-20) in the first half and led by 10, 41-31, at intermission.
The Colonels opened the second half with a 10-5 run to go up by 15 and remained in control the rest of the way. Cosey got the run going with a three-pointer. Corey Walden also hit a trey. Johnson’s basket finished it off and put Eastern ahead 51-36 with 17:35 left to play.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Williams and a bucket from Walden stretched the lead to 21, 64-43. Cosey’s old-fashioned three-point play with 6:41 remaining stretched the margin to 24, 73-49. Eastern took its largest lead of 29, 82-53, on bucket by Jeff Johnson.
EKU committed only two fewer turnovers but out-scored JSU 22-11 off turnovers.
SIUE 83, AUSTIN PEAY 68
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Seven players scored at least eight points Saturday night, and all nine SIUE players scored at least a point, as Cougar men's basketball came away with a convincing 83-68 road win over Austin Peay in Ohio Valley Conference play at the Dunn Center.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 11-16 overall and 7-6 in OVC play. Both win totals establish new program highs for SIUE at the Division I level. SIUE currently is second in the OVC West Division and fifth in the overall OVC standings with three games remaining.
Austin Peay fell to 11-15 overall and 5-7 in the OVC.
Rozell Nunn and Donivine Stewart each scored 17 points in the win. Christian Salecich added 10 points, while Ray Lester, Kris Davis, and Keaton Jackson each scored nine points. Jackson finished with nine points, a team-high eight rebounds, and a game-high five blocks in 13 minutes despite battling the flu. Maurice Wiltz scored eight points in the win.
The Cougars combined to shoot 57.1 percent (28-49) from the field, while holding Austin Peay to just 41.2 percent (21-51). The Governors came into the game third in the OVC with a .489 shooting percentage.
Following a slow start, and trailing 14-9 with 11:11 to play in the first half, the Cougars proceeded on a 14-4 run to lead 23-16 with 7:50 to go before the break. Jackson finished a layup after a handoff from Nunn with 2:48 left to give the Cougars their largest lead of the half at 33-23.
SIUE led 36-31 at halftime.
The Governors made their first two shots of the second half and tied the game 36-36 just 1:01 into the period. The Cougars pushed their lead out to six (44-38) on a three-pointer by Donivine Stewart with 16:11 left, but Austin Peay came back again. The Governors took their first lead of the half, 48-47, on a Chris Freeman basket with 11:59 to play.
The teams traded leads four times in the second half and were tied five times.
Corey Arentsen knocked down a three from the right side with 10:48 to play to put Austin Peay on top 53-50. Jackson answered with a layup and a free throw to tie the score for the Cougars. It was 55-55 when Nunn's jumper put the Cougars ahead for good with 8:25 left.
Nunn pushed the Cougar lead to 7-60 with a three at the 3:57 mark. Austin Peay's Ed Dyson was fouled and hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to nine with 3:24 left before the Cougars sealed the victory.
SIUE connected on 9 of 10 free throw opportunities in the game's final 2:39 to close out the Governors. Davis had 8 of the Cougars' final 11 points.
For the game the Cougars hit 20 of 25 (80 percent) free throws. Austin Peay was 21 of 33 (63.6 percent) at the stripe.
Travis Betran led the Governors with 19 points. Dyson scored 14 and Zavion Williams scored 11. Chris Horton scored 10 points, led the way with 10 rebounds, and added four blocks.
MOREHEAD STATE 79, TENNESSEE TECH 53
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Morehead State men's basketball team used a 17-0 run in the second half to pull away for a 79-53 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Tennessee Tech Saturday night at the Eblen Center.
The Eagles, who have won 10 of their last 13 contests, improved to 18-9 overall, 9-3 in the league and 9-5 in road games. It was the Eagles' third straight road triumph, something that hadn't occurred since Feb. 4-15, 2012. MSU remained perfect in February at 4-0.
MSU improved to 78-63 in the all-time series with Tech, winning for the 12th time in the last 14 meetings.
TTU, which had won its last three OVC games, fell to 13-14 overall and 6-6 in the conference. Tech dipped to 9-4 in home games.
Senior Drew Kelly led Morehead State with 18 points, his 12th double figure game of the season. Freshman Greg Dotson registered 14 points, his third double-figure output in his last four contests.
Junior Angelo Warner, who tallied eight points in the contest, notched his 1,000th career point with a second-half free throw at the 3:18 mark. He becomes the 30th member of MSU's 1,000-point club.
Senior Chad Posthumus notched 10 points and nine rebounds. MSU out-rebounded the hosts 36-30 and has still only been out-rebounded once in 27 games this season.
Holding a 42-35 advantage at the 11:47 mark of the second half, MSU scored the next 17 to push ahead 59-35.
Morehead State held the Golden Eagles without a field goal for 9:15 of the first half and put together a 12-3 run over that period. Posthumus started the scoring flurry with a layup at 9:35, and Kelly finished it with a lay-in at the 2:38 mark.
Jeremiah Samarrippas led TTU with 11 points, while Dennis Ogbe chipped in 10.
MSU shot 60 percent (15-of-25) in the final half when it outscored Tech 45-29. The Eagles managed a 55 percent (27-of-49) efficiency for the game and held the hosts to just 35 percent (18-of-52).
MURRAY STATE 72, EASTERN ILLINOIS 60
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers clinched the Ohio Valley Conference West Division and moved their home win streak to 10 with a 72-60 victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (16-9, 11-2 OVC) earn a bye to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament in March by winning the division title. The Racers also moved into a tie for the overall lead of the OVC with Belmont as each team sits at 11-2.
EIU fell to 9-17 and 6-8 in league play.
Murray State got a stern test from the visiting Panthers and had to make key plays down the stretch for their 16th win of the season.
MSU was leading 58-54 when EIU completed a 10-3 run with 6:12 remaining.
The Racers answered when Cameron Payne made a steal and T.J. Sapp dunked his alley oop pass. The Racers got a defensive stop at the 3:22 mark that led to a corner 3-pointer from Jeffery Moss and a 14-point lead (the largest of the game for MSU) with 2:15 remaining. Jarvis Williams sealed the win with a dunk off a fast break assist from Dexter Fields and the Racers ended the game outscoring EIU 12-6 in the final 6:12.
Moss led MSU with 18 points, with Sapp tossing in 13. Williams scored 12 points and Jonathan Fairell added 11. Williams had his streak of double-doubles end with eight rebounds after he had to deal with foul trouble. Fairell gave the MSU crowd a lot to cheer for in making 7-of-10 free throws while he reversed a season trend of poor shooting. His seven made free throws and nine attempted were both season highs for him.
The Racers shot 51 percent for the game on 22-of-43 from the field.
MSU had the lead at the half 32-27 and a large lead in the first 20 minutes of nine when it was 29-20 with 2:08 remaining.