THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 82, Eastern Illinois 62
@Southeast Missouri 86, Jacksonville State 70
@Tennessee State 66, SIUE 61
Tennessee Tech 91, @UT Martin 83
BELMONT 82, EASTERN ILLINOIS 62
NASHVILLE - Belmont University men's basketball closed its regular season home schedule with an 82-63 victory over Eastern Illinois Thursday night.
Belmont seniors J.J. Mann, Blake Jenkins, and Drew Windler wrote a stylish final chapter on their home careers, breaking free with an efficient second half.
Belmont shot 52 percent from the field and 9-for-15 from three-point distance in the opening 20 minutes, but 11 first-half points from Reggie Smith kept the visiting Panthers within 37-31 at the break.
The Bruins would make 11 of the first 13 field goal attempts in the second half in stretching out to a commanding lead.
A Windler three-pointer made the score 75-55 with 6:56 left.
Belmont also held Eastern Illinois to 34 percent shooting in the second half.
Mann, who was named First Team Academic All-America earlier Thursday, led three Bruins in double figures with 21 points. Sophomore Craig Bradshaw added 20 points and seven rebounds. Windler had 16 and Jenkins 15. Junior Reece Chamberlain had a career-high 11 assists.
Mann and Jenkins record their 104th career victory, improve their career conference record to 69-7 and complete their home court career with a 50-2 record.
Belmont also becomes the first NCAA Division I program in the nation to win 12 or more regular season conference games for 12 straight seasons. Kansas has a chance to equal that mark later this season.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 86, JACKSONVILLE STATE 70
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tyler Stone scored a game-high 28 points to lead Southeast Missouri (14-13, 5-8) to a 87-70 win over Jacksonville State (10-19, 4-10) Thursday night in Ohio Valley Conference action at the Show Me Center.
With the win, Southeast moved into a tie for eighth in the league standings (with Austin Peay) as it continues to fight for one of the remaining five OVC Tournament berths.
The +17 margin of victory marked the Redhawks largest in a OVC home game since they beat UT Martin, 86-56, on Feb. 9, 2012.
Southeast fell behind by five points midway through the first half, but recovered to pick up its second win in three games. The Redhawks shot 63.6 percent (21-of-33) from the field and brought the game to its seventh tie, a 34-34 deadlock on a Paul McRoberts layup. McRoberts' make turned into a 14-4 run over the last 4:46 of the half as Southeast pulled ahead, 48-38, at intermission.
McRoberts, one of four different Redhawks who scored in that stretch, knocked down a three-pointer two possessions after his own layup. Stone added five more points, while Nino Johnson and Jarekious Bradley tossed in three apiece. Bradley hit the final shot of the half on a three at the buzzer.
Southeast man-handled JSU inside the paint, outscoring the Gamecocks, 32-8, in the first half alone. Stone (14), Bradley (11) and Johnson (10) all scored double figures. Bradley, who injured his left knee early in the first half against UT Martin eight days ago, came off the bench to score his first 11 points in 15 minutes.
The Redhawks carried their momentum into the second half and used an 11-2 run to widen their lead. Stone accounted for all but two of Southeast's points in that span as JSU missed its first six field goals.
After scoring the first six points to get the Redhawks going, Stone converted a three-point play to end the surge and give Southeast a 59-40 advantage with 14:41 remaining. Darion Rackley's three-pointer narrowed Southeast's lead to 72-60 with 5:25 on the clock, but that was as close as the Gamecocks would get. The Redhawks then countered with a 15-5 run to build its largest lead of the night at 87-65. Caleb Woods buried a jumper with 30 seconds left before Southeast put its win on ice.
Stone shot 11-of-17 from the field and 6-of-9 at the free throw line en route to his sixth 20-point game in nine starts. He also had nine rebounds and gathered a game-high two blocks. Bradley followed with 15 points in 28 minutes. He made 7-of-14 field goals, grabbed three rebounds and had two steals.
Johnson turned in a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds in his first start since Jan. 25 (vs. Eastern Illinois). He made 4-of-6 from the field and 6-of-8 at the free throw line. Meanwhile, McRoberts chipped in 14 points, three rebounds and one steal.
Southeast shot 56.5 percent (35-of-62) on the night and scored 58 of its points in the paint. JSU had no answer for the Redhawk bigs, who held a commanding +42 (58-16) advantage.
Rackley led all JSU scorers with 27 points off the bench, as the Gamecocks shot under 30 percent (29.0, 9-of-31) in the second half.
TENNESSEE STATE 66, SIUE 61
NASHVILLE - Neither the weather or SIUE could stop Tennessee State from sending off its seniors with a, 66-61, victory on Thursday night in the Gentry Center.
In a game that was delayed for 30 minutes at halftime because of a tornado warning, senior Patrick Miller led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting. The contest marked the 40th straight game that the Chicago native has scored at least 10 points.
Fellow senior Chaed Wellian had a career-night, pouring in a new personal best 12 points and junior M.J. Rhett had his 14th double-double of the season, notching 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Senior Jacquan Nobles scored three points and grabbed four boards in his final home game.
Each of TSU’s three seniors hit triples to start the game and Wellian’s put the Tigers in front, 9-3, with only a minute-and-a-half gone.
SIUE (11-17, 7-7 OVC) responded with a 9-2 run to take the lead at 12-11, but Rhett finally got the Tigers back on track with a strong dunk off of a nice assist from Miller.
The two sides went back-and-forth for the next six minutes, but a third-straight great play from Miller --this time finding Rhett again for an easy layup—prompted SIUE head coach Lennox Forrester to call timeout with his team trailing, 25-24, with 7:53 to go in the first half.
The Cougars used the pep-talk to score six straight points and re-take the lead and head into the break up, 33-30.
The Tigers outshot SIUE in the first half (46 to 39 percent) and had more rebounds (19 versus 14), but turned the ball over seven times, leading to 10 Cougar points.
A mammoth one-handed dunk by Miller at the 15:58 mark put TSU back in control, 41-39, but the Tigers couldn’t put together consecutive field goals.
Tennessee State (4-24, 2-11 OVC) eventually gained a little ground when Miller hit threes on back-to-back trips down the court to move ahead by four, 58-54, with 5:18 to go.
An assist from Miller led to another Rhett layup from in close, allowing the Tigers to take a five-point advantage with just over one minute left in the game.
Miller hit a pair of free throws down the stretch, and TSU walked away with a 66-61 victory in the last home game of the 2013-14 season. Tennessee State had just three turnovers in the second half and forced 10.
SIUE was paced by Kris Davis’s 14 points while Keaton Jackson added 12.
TENNESSEE TECH 91, UT MARTIN 83
MARTIN, Tenn. - A blistering start offensively combined with 22 assists and an all-around team effort on both sides of the ball led the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to a 91-83 victory over in-state rival UT Martin Thursday night, keeping the Golden Eagles in the thick of the hunt for a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
Senior Jeremiah Samarrippas put together arguably his best game in the purple and gold, recording his first double-double as a Golden Eagle. The point guard dished out a career-best 10 assists while torching the nets for a team-high 20 points. Samarrippas added five rebounds for good measure, playing a game-high 38 minutes and guiding the Tech squad to a crucial road victory.
Both teams started the game as hot as can be, combining to shoot 10-of-11 through the first four-plus minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, it was the Golden Eagles that kept that shooting touch flowing throughout the contest, shooting a season-best 58.8 percent from the field and a scorching 52.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Tech knocked down 11 treys in the game while tying a season-high with 22 assists as a team. The Golden Eagles also rejected a season-best 11 shots in the contest, helping to knock down the UT Martin shooting percentage as the game went on. The Skyhawks finished the game with a respectable 48.4 percent field goal percentage.
After wrapping up the first half with a five-point lead, the Golden Eagles extended the advantage to as much as 15 points in the second stanza. The Skyhawks would not be put away quietly, however, pulling within as close as three points before Tech knocked down clutch free throws to ice the game.
Despite being limited to just six first-half minutes and only a total of 23 over the game, senior Dennis Ogbe stuffed the stat sheets with 17 points, five rebounds, and four blocks. Less than 12 hours after being named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division I Men's Basketball team, the forward shot 7-of-8 from the field, taking over the game in the middle of the second period with a dominant four-minute stretch.
Beginning at the 17:03 mark, Ogbe took a six-point Golden Eagles lead all the way to a 14-point advantage, scoring 10 straight points for the Tech squad while adding two blocks and a rebound.
Seven Golden Eagle players put up seven points or more, including starting guard Javon McKay. The junior scored all eight of his points in the first four minutes of play, becoming a key distributor over the remainder of the contest. He registered a career-high seven dimes against the Skyhawks, adding six rebounds and two blocks along the way.
Junior Dwan Caldwell, also limited to just 22 minutes due to foul trouble, quietly led tied for the team lead in rebounds, pulling down seven boards in the contest. He added 11 points and two blocks for good measure. Tying Caldwell with seven rebounds was senior Matt Marseille, who put together his most complete game since missing a third of the season because of knee surgery. The forward also scored five points in just 14 minutes of action.
Josiah Moore chipped in 10 points off the bench, tying a career-high mark of two blocks and hitting two 3-pointers. Jordan Johnson scored nine points after hitting three from beyond the arc and fellow junior Ladon Carter finished with seven points, including two off an unbelievable windmill slam on a fastbreak.