THURSDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 81, Eastern Illinois 51
@Belmont 103, Jacksonville State 82
@Tennessee State 64, Tennessee Tech 56
SIUE 75, @Southeast Missouri 61
@Murray State 85, Eastern Kentucky 78
UT MARTIN 81, EASTERN ILLINOIS 51
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team never trailed and saw two players tally double-doubles in a convincing 81-51 victory over Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
With the win, the Skyhawks improve to 13-7 overall with a 5-2 league mark, taking over sole possession of second place in the OVC West division. This marks the third time in UT Martin program history that the team has started 5-2 in OVC play and first time since the 1999-2000 campaign.
Tonight’s win also marks the first 30-plus point conference victory for UT Martin since the Skyhawks defeated Southeast Missouri by a 92-62 margin on Feb. 20, 1997.
Twymond Howard accumulated a game-high 22 points – one point shy of his career-high total – and grabbed 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season for UT Martin. Howard became just the fifth Skyhawk in the last eight years to make at least 10 free throws in a game without a miss (10-for-10). Marshun Newell also tallied his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Skyhawks, who shot a season-high 60.9 percent (28-for-46) against the OVC’s top team in fewest points allowed and defensive field goal percentage.
The Skyhawks also placed Alex Anderson in double figures in the scoring column, as he tied his career-high with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers in five attempts. Deville Smith added 12 points and a game-high six assists for UT Martin, who nearly doubled up the Panthers on the glass (37 to 19).
Eastern Illinois (12-9, 6-3 OVC) was led by Trae Anderson’s 14 points while Dylan Chatman added 12 points for the Panthers, who were playing without leading scorer and rebounder Chris Olivier.
UT Martin jumped out to an early lead, as a Howard jumper, a Smith three-pointer and a hawking defense provided the Skyhawks with a 5-0 lead three minutes into the game.
Newell’s second trifecta of the game kept UT Martin’s advantage at five points (17-12) at the 11:48 mark of the first half. The Panthers then tallied five points in a row to even the score at 17-all before an extended run swayed the lead back in favor of the Skyhawks.
Anderson keyed the 11-0 run for UT Martin, nailing a trio of three-pointers over a span of four possessions to make the score 28-17. Eastern Illinois would answer with a bucket on its ensuing trip down the floor but the Skyhawks would pad their lead with a 15-3 run to close out the first half, taking a 43-22 lead in the process.
Smith (12 points) and Howard (10) reached double-figures in the scoring column in the first half for UT Martin, who shot 65.4 percent from the floor – the Skyhawks’ best percentage in a half under Schroyer. Eastern Illinois was led by Anderson’s eight points but the Panthers were limited to 32 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes.
Howard sank a short jumper to begin the scoring in the second half, extending UT Martin’s lead out to 45-22. In fact, Howard accounted for 12 of the Skyhawks’ first 14 points of the second half.
After a Reggie Smith three-pointer at the 11:30 mark cut UT Martin’s lead down to 16 points, the Skyhawks unreeled an 18-2 run to essentially put the game away with a 71-39 lead with 5:30 left to play.
A three-pointer by Richard Lee from the left wing at the 2:05 mark gave UT Martin an 81-47 lead – its biggest lead of the night – on the way to the big win.
BELMONT 103, JACKSONVILLE STATE 82
NASHVILLE - Belmont University men’s basketball shot a Curb Event Center record 17-for-24 from three-point distance en route to a 103-82 victory over Jacksonville State Thursday night.
The Bruins entered play seventh in the nation in three-point field goals per game, but were surprisingly just 31 percent from behind the arc in conference play.
That changed in a major way as eight Belmont players would make three-pointers on the night.
A halfcourt alley oop from Craig Bradshaw and a teardrop from Caleb Chowbay gave Belmont a 28-10 lead midway through the first half.
Jacksonville State got within 39-35 on a Dontay Jackson layin, but consecutive three-pointers from Craig Bradshaw and Amanze Egekeze gave Belmont a 45-35 lead at halftime.
Belmont continued the hot shooting in the second half, as back-to-back three-pointers from Taylor Barnette and Reece Chamberlain, and another Bradshaw slam gave the Bruins a 67-43 lead with 13:12 left.
Belmont led by as many as 28.
Evan Bradds led five Bruins in double figures with 19 points and a Belmont Curb Event Center record-tying 18 rebounds.
Avery Moore led Jacksonville State with 20 points.
TENNESSEE STATE 64, TENNESSEE TECH 56
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State University men’s basketball team got its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season as they took down Tennessee Tech University 64-56 at Gentry Center, Thursday night.
The Tigers (4-18, 1-6 OVC) outlasted the Golden Eagles (10-12, 2-7 OVC) for the night. After building as much as a 13-point lead, TSU never let TTU get closer than eight points.
With the TSU win, the all-time series now stands at 29-28 with Tech still ahead.
Jay Harris was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points on 6-for-14 shooting. He also had five rebounds and three assists on the game. Charles Tucker gave the Tigers a pair of double-digit scorers, with 11 (3-for-6) while adding in three boards and two dimes.
Torrance Rowe paced the Golden Eagles with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
Christian Mekowulu sparked the Tigers’ offense out of the gate, scoring the first six points of the game. Both teams proceeded to trade the lead multiple times for the next 17 minutes.
The Tigers made their move after the final media timeout of the first half as they began to pull away from the Golden Eagles. Each team had led by only one possession, when they had the lead, until TSU pushed their advantage to as high as 11.
The Tigers took a 32-22 lead into the locker room.
The Tigers were impressive in the first half, shooting 43 percent (13-for-30) while also forcing nine Golden Eagle turnovers. TSU held their opponents to 36 percent (9-for-25) from the floor and 15 percent (2-for-13) from beyond the arc. Jay Harris put up a cool 11 points during the first 20 minutes.
TSU continued to hold TTU at arm’s length through the first 12 minutes of the second half. At the 8:30 mark, the Tigers led the Golden Eagles 53-40 thanks to 60 percent shooting (9-of-15), up to that point.
Big Blue, after losing leads in multiple games this season, closed out this game with authority. The defense held Tech to 39 percent shooting for the game while forcing 17 turnovers.
All but one player who touched the floor for TSU scored four, or more, points.
SIUE 75, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 61
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Three Cougar players scored in double figures as SIUE men's basketball won its first road game of the year, defeating Southeast Missouri 75-61 at the Show Me Center.
The Cougars improved to 5-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 9-11 overall with their first win at Southeast Missouri since 2008. The Redhawks slipped to 9-12 overall and 3-5 in the OVC.
The Cougars forced 19 turnovers and collected 12 steals.
SIUE twice pushed its lead to five in a first half which featured four lead changes. The score was tied six times during the first 20 minutes. The Cougars led 35-34 at the break.
SIUE opened the second half on a 7-0 run and never trailed during the second half. The Redhawks trimmed the Cougar lead to 4 (46-42) with a pair of free throws by J. J. Thompson with 12:33 to play but SIUE responded with a 7-0 run, fueled in part by three-pointers from Donivine Stewart and Kris Davis, which ran the SIUE lead to 54-42.
Southeast Missouri got as close as six points on a Nino Johnson jumper with 3:04 left to make it 63-57 but the Cougars drained 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Stewart and C.J. Carr each had four free throws during that stretch. SIUE was 20 for 24 (83.3 percent) from the line for the game.
Davis put an exclamation point on the win with a two-hand slam with 43 seconds to play. He led all scorers with 23 points. It was the fourth 20-point game this season for Davis and the 11th of his career. Davis now has 1,204 points for his career, which is fifth most all-time at SIUE.
Carr finished with a career-high 18 points. He was 3 for 7 from the field and a perfect 10 for 10 at the free throw line. Carr is the first SIUE player to hit at least 10 free throws without a miss since 2011.
Stewart scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He was 3 for 3 from three-point range. Michael Chandler scored a career-high four points while adding a career-best and team-high seven rebounds. He also blocked three shots.
SIUE held the Redhawks to just 39.6 percent (21-53) from the field. SEMO was just 6 for 17 from three-point range.
Isiah Jones and Jamaal Calvin each scored 12 points to lead SEMO.
MURRAY STATE 85, EASTERN KENTUCKY 78 (OT)
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Cameron Payne and Jarvis Williams turned in double-doubles and Murray State rallied to beat Eastern Kentucky 85-78 in overtime Thursday night to run the Racers' winning streak to 16.
The Racers remained unbeaten in the Ohio Valley Conference (18-4, 8-0) by scoring the final five points of regulation and then taking control in overtime by scoring the first seven points. The Colonels (11-9, 3-4) got within three points with 54 seconds left in overtime but T.J. Sapp made four free throws and Justin Seymour two down the stretch.
A dunk by Williams then a 3-pointer by Seymour with 40 seconds left sent the game into overtime tied at 70-all.
Payne finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds and Williams 17 points and 11 boards. Murray State survived 16 turnovers with a 39-27 rebounding advantage and 53.7 percent shooting.
Corey Walden scored 26 points and Ja'Mill Powell 22 for EKU.