THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 74, Tennessee Tech 67
Tennessee State 70, @Morehead State 68
@Southeast Missouri 83, Austin Peay 80
Murray State 86, @UT Martin 72
EASTERN KENTUCKY 74, TENNESSEE TECH 67
RICHMOND, Ky. - A late 23-7 run propelled Eastern Kentucky to a 74-67 win over visiting Tennessee Tech on Thursday and guaranteed the Colonels a first round bye in next week’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
EKU (20-9, 10-5 OVC) also secured the ninth 20-win campaign in program history.
Josiah Moore’s jumper capped a 7-0 Tech run and put the visitors on top 55-49 with 8:00 left. However, the Colonels scored seven unanswered of their own to key the game-changing 23-7 run that would carry into the final minute of the game.
Tarius Johnson contributed five of the seven, including a three-pointer at the 5:55 mark to put EKU in front 56-55. After the Golden Eagles went back in front 57-56, Eric Stutz scored four straight to give the home squad a lead they would never relinquish. A lay-up and free throw by Johnson with 51 seconds remaining polished off the run and staked Eastern to a 10-point lead, 72-62.
Johnson and Glenn Cosey led Eastern Kentucky with 20 points each. Johnson also had five rebounds and four assists. Corey Walden added 14 and Stutz finished with 12 points and a team-best six rebounds.
Jeremiah Samarrippas led all players with 22 points for Tennessee Tech (15-15, 8-7 OVC). He made 8-of-11 from the field and dished out seven assists.
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field. Tech had nine more rebounds but EKU finished with eight fewer turnovers.
TENNESSEE STATE 70, MOREHEAD STATE 68
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Patrick Miller scored a career-high 38 points including the game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left to lead the Tennessee State men’s basketball team to a 70-68 victory over Morehead State on Thursday night.
Miller was 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the field and made 4-of-5 triple attempts for his sixth 30-point game of the season.
M.J. Rhett was the only other Tiger in double figures, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds.
Tennessee State (5-24, 4-11 OVC) forced 17 turnovers, leading to 27 points. The Tigers only committed seven of their own.
Morehead State (19-11, 10-5 OVC) led 16-4 through the first seven minutes of the game, but TSU went on a 16-3 run to take the lead with six minutes to play before halftime.
The Tigers extended their lead to five at one point in the first period, but a Rhett free throw gave Tennessee State a 34-31 lead heading into the break.
A Kennedy Eubanks jumper at the 10:18 mark put TSU up by 14 and TSU held the advantage all the way up until MSU’s Angelo Warner canned three free throws with 19 seconds to go to make the score 68-67 in favor of the visitors.
That set up Miller’s timely three-pointer to give TSU its first two-game winning streak this season.
TSU shot 39.3 percent in the first half, but upped that to 50 percent in the second. Miller also made all four of Big Blue’s threes during the final 20 minutes.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 83, AUSTIN PEAY 80
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - x- Tyler Stone had a double-double 20 points and 11 rebounds and Southeast Missouri (16-13, 7-8) held on to clinch a berth in the 2014 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with an 83-80 win over Austin Peay (11-18, 5-10) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
Southeast is headed to the OVC Tournament for the fourth-straight year.
Not only did tonight's win put the Redhawks in the postseason, but it locked down Southeast's second consecutive winning season. The last time that happened was 1998-99 (20-9) and 1999-2000 (24-7).
Southeast stormed out of the gate and shot a scorching 61.5 percent in the first half. The Redhawks, despite going without a three-pointer in the game's opening 20 minutes for the second-straight contest, hit 16 of their 26 field goal attempts.
Tied, 19-19, with 7:33 left to play, Southeast went on a 16-6 run over the next 3:26 to build a double-digit lead. Josh Langford scored five points and Jarekious Bradley added four and made a layup to push the Redhawks lead to 35-25 with 4:07 remaining.
Nino Johnson's free throw gave Southeast another 10-point advantage (40-30) with 1:13 left before APSU scored the last four points to knock the Redhawks lead down to 40-34 at the break.
Seven different Redhawks got in the scoring column during a balanced first half. Southeast also scored 16 points off 11 Governor turnovers.
Johnson threw down a dunk to grab Southeast a 48-38 lead with 17:21 to go before APSU managed to get within striking distance.
Travis Betran knocked down a three-pointer to cut the Redhawks lead to 52-51 (13:36), but Jamaal Calvin answered with a three of his own to hand Southeast a four-point cushion.
Ed Dyson then buried a three to make it a 57-56 lead with 11:32 on the clock. After pulling to within one again, this time on Chris Horton's jumper at the 10:17 mark, the Governors had a chance to take the lead. Dyson, however, split a pair of free throws as the game moved to a 59-59 tie with under 10 minutes remaining.
Jarekious Bradley's three immediately followed Dyson's trip to the free throw line. Southeast then proceeded to take a nine-point with Antonius Cleveland knocking down a big trey and Bradley hammering down a dunk along the way.
Ahead, 79-68, with 1:40 on the clock, APSU had yet another golden opportunity down the stretch.
Will Triggs' conventional three-point play narrowed the Redhawks lead to 82-80 with 16 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Dyson intercepted Lucas Nutt's pass at midcourt. Southeast's defense forced Damarius Smith to take an off-balance shot which missed with three seconds left and Bradley scored the game's final point on a free throw, as the Redhawks survived.
Stone shot 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 at the free throw line en route to his team-high 12th double-double this season. He dished out five assists, had two steals and a block, as well.
Bradley contributed 16 points, Johnson followed with 14, Cleveland added 12 and Josh Langford pitched in 11 to round out Southeast's double-digit scorers.
As a team, Southeast shot 60 percent (33-of-55) from the field and dished out 22 assists.
Betran turned in a game-high 28 points and Dyson had 20 for the Governors. Will Triggs also scored 15 and Chris Horton grabbed a game-high 13 boards.
MURRAY STATE 86, UT MARTIN 72
MURRAY, Ky. - Fueled by 20 points from T.J. Sapp, the Murray State men's basketball team kept its dreams of a 24th OVC regular-season title alive with an 86-72 win over UT Martin Thursday night at the Elam Center. The Racers shot a blazing 55.2 percent in the game, as they overcame a pesky Skyhawk squad that never seemed to go away.
Murray State led by just one at the half, at 42-41, and by only one, at 63-62, with just over 11 minutes to play. However, from that point the Racers buckled down and outscored UT Martin 23-10 down the stretch to leave Martin with their title aspirations still intact.
Sapp led MSU with 20 points, while Cam Payne tossed in 17. Jarvis Williams was only a rebound away from a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Dexter Fields and Jeffery Moss each added 12 points to the Racer attack.