THURSDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 78, @Tennessee Tech 74
@SIUE 69, Austin Peay 65
@Jacksonville State 71, Eastern Kentucky 67
@Belmont 72, UT Martin 67
Murray State 77, @Eastern Illinois 62
MOREHEAD STATE 78, TENNESSEE TECH 74
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Junior Brent Arrington tied his career high with 24 points on 13-of-14 from the free-throw line, and the Morehead State men's basketball team registered a 78-74 Ohio Valley Conference win over Tennessee Tech on Thursday evening at the Eblen Center.
The Eagles improve to 8-13 overall, 3-3 in league play and 4-7 on the road. The Golden Eagles, who have dropped six of their last seven contests, fall to 9-11 overall, 1-6 in conference action and 7-3 at home. MSU also moves to 79-64 in the all-time series against Tennessee Tech.
Arrington, in his 55th game at Morehead State, recorded career highs for rebounds (8), free-throws made and free-throw attempts. He also picked up four steals and drilled 5-of-11 from the field in 39 minutes.
Four Morehead State players reached double figures in scoring. Sophomore Corban Collins contributed 15 points, while seniors Karam Mashour and Angelo Warner tossed in 14 apiece. Collins knocked down 7-of-7 from the foul line, while Mashour made 6-of-7 from the field.
The Eagles notched scoring advantages of 40-24 in the paint and 25-10 on second-chance opportunities. Morehead State posted a 31-25 rebounding edge, including 16-12 on the offensive end, despite playing stretches with four and five guards. All eight MSU players grabbed at least one board.
Morehead State made 46 percent (24-of-52) from the floor and 87 percent (27-of-31) from the charity stripe. Tennessee Tech connected on 50 percent (25-of-50) from the field and 76 percent (19-of-25) from the free-throw line. The teams combined on 36 charity tosses in the first half alone.
Senior Jordan Johnson led Tennessee Tech with 19 points, while junior Charles Jackson added 18. Jackson paced TTU with five rebounds, while freshman Aleksa Jugovic contributed four assists.
The game featured seven ties and 17 lead changes. Tennessee Tech opened up an 11-point lead with 6:02 to play in the first half, but Morehead State responded with a 16-5 run to knot the affair with 1:24 remaining before intermission. TTU led for nearly 27 minutes on the evening.
SIUE 69, AUSTIN PEAY 65
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball ran its home court winning streak to seven games Thursday with a 69-65 win over Austin Peay in Ohio Valley Conference play at Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars improved to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in the OVC. Austin Peay fell to 6-13 and 1-4 in the OVC.
Austin Peay opened the game with a reverse alley-oop dunk by Chris Horton and quickly raced out to a 7-0 lead. The Governors pushed their lead to eight points twice during the first eight-plus minutes of the game. Josh Robinson grabbed a steal and then finished with a layup with 11:57 to play before halftime to give APSU a 20-12 lead.
The Cougars then used a 16-3 run to pull ahead 28-23 on a Michael Messer layup with 7:11 to play in the period.
In a game where neither team held a double-digit lead at any point in the game, the Cougars held a three-point advantage (40-37) at the break.
Robinson opened the second half with a three-pointer for Austin Peay to even the score at 40-40. The teams traded blows and the lead 10 times during the second half. Ed Dyson gave APSU its last lead of the night when he connected on one of two free throws to make it 53-52 Governors with 9:08 to play. Kris Davis drilled a three-pointer from the right corner to give to put the Cougars back in front for good.
Davis led SIUE with 18 points, including 11 in the second half. The 18 points gave Davis 1,171 for his career and moved the senior into a tie for sixth on the all-time scoring list at SIUE. Kenny Stanley also scored 1,171 points from 1984 to 1987.
Jackson scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He finished the night with three emphatic dunks. Jackson also swatted four Austin Peay shots.
The two teams combined to score 66 points in the paint with the Cougars edging the Governors 34-32 in that department.
Messer scored seven points, while Rozell Nunn scored six points and added seven rebounds of his own. SIUE also picked up 19 points from its reserves. Jake Newton finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Maurice Wiltz did not score a point but tied his career high with four assists.
The Cougars shot 46.2 percent (24-52) from the field and knocked down 15 of 21 (71.4 percent) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Austin Peay was just 23-59 (39.7 percent) from the field and 14 for 24 (58.3 percent) at the charity stripe.
Horton collected his 10th double-double of the season for the Govs, scoring 15 points and hauling in 16 rebounds. Robinson scored 17 points to lead Austin Peay. Ed Dyson (15) and Damarius Smith (10) also finished in double figures for the Governors.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 71, EASTERN KENTUCKY 67
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team erased a seven-point deficit with 90 seconds to play to hand Eastern Kentucky a 71-67 defeat on Thursday at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Trailing 66-59 to the preseason favorite to win the Ohio Valley Conference East and defending OVC Tournament champion Colonels (11-7, 3-2 OVC), the Gamecocks (9-12, 2-5 OVC) scored 12 of the final 13 to grab the win. Senior Darion Rackley led all players with 25 points, while fellow senior Avery Moore scored 10 to reach the 1,000 points mark in his Division I career.
Rackley went 8-for-15 from the floor and sparked the late comeback for the Gamecocks. The St. Louis native drew contact and made a pair of free throws to cut the late deficit to five and then knocked down a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it a two-point game. He then grabbed the final of his four steals from EKU's Denzel Richardson and dished to Jamal Hunter for an old fashioned 3-point play that gave JSU the lead for good.
The Gamecocks connected at the free throw line, where they went 21-for-24 on the night and 10-for-11 in the second half, to hold off any comeback the Colonels tried to put together. JSU also forced EKU into 17 turnovers and committed just 15, only the second time this season the Colonels have lost the turnover battle. They entered the game second in the nation with a +9.4 turnover margin.
Hunter had 14 points and six rebounds in the win, including five-straight points that turned a two-point deficit into a three-point advantage in the game's final minute. Moore, a native of Tallahassee, Fla., and transfer from Florida A&M after the 2011-12 season, surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career. He scored 643 points in two years at FAMU and now has 363 in less than two years at JSU to run his career total to 1,006 points in his four years at the Div. I level.
Junior Jeremy Watson scored eight points, while senior D.J. Felder and freshman Malcolm Drumwright each pitched in six. Rackley finished the night with six boards, three assists and four steals to go along with his sixth 20-point scoring night of the year and the 15th of his career.
The Colonels got 16 apiece from Eric Stutz and Timmy Knipp, while Corey Walden added 10. Stutz added eight boards and Walden dished seven assists.
The Gamecocks won the battle on the glass, 27-24, and shot 50 percent (23-for-46) from the floor for the first time this season.
The game started slow for JSU, who turned it over four times in its first five possessions before falling behind 12-4 in the game's first five minutes. The Gamecocks woke up, reeling off a 13-0 run at one point in a 20-5 spurt that put them up 26-19 with six minutes left in the first half.
EKU answered with 12 in a row to reclaim the lead and held off a late JSU push before taking a 33-32 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Colonels scored the first two baskets of the second half to build a five-point advantage and led 40-34 with just over 17 minutes to play. The lead would change five more times before the game ended, with the final exchange coming on the Gamecocks' late game winning run.
BELMONT 72, UT MARTIN 67
NASHVILLE - Behind 22 points from Evan Bradds and 21 from Craig Bradshaw, Belmont defeated UT Martin Thursday night.
The Bruins, among the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, overcame 8-for-28 shooting from long distance and an 11-point second half deficit to beat the upstart Skyhawks.
A Deville Smith three-pointer gave UT Martin a 49-38 lead with 10:56 left, before Bradds capped an 11-2 Belmont run to make the score 51-49 with 7:44 left.
With the score tied at 57 with 3:31 remaining, the UT Martin bench was whistled for a technical foul.
Bradshaw proceeded to make two free throws and a wing three-pointer to give Belmont the lead to stay.
Bradds, who entered as the NCAA leader in field goal percentage at 68 percent, went 10-for-11 from the field.
Smith led UT Martin with 19 points, all in the second half.
MURRAY STATE 77, EASTERN ILLINOIS 62
CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) - Cameron Payne scored a career-high 33 points to lead Murray State past Eastern Illinois 77-62 on Thursday night for its 14th straight victory.
The sophomore's previous best was 32 against Evansville on Dec. 13.
Jarvis Williams scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Murray State (16-4, 6-0 Ohio Valley Conference). T.J. Sapp had 13 points, Jeffery Moss 11 and Jonathan Fairell grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
Murray State jumped out to a 28-10 lead midway through the first half, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Payne, and held a 39-26 advantage at the break.
Chris Olivier scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Eastern Illinois (12-7, 6-1). Trae Anderson added 16 points. The duo hit 11 of the Panthers 20 field goals, shooting just 34.5 percent as a team.