FRIDAY'S SCORES
Oral Roberts 70,
UT Martin 66 (Harrisonburg, Va.)
@Eastern Kentucky 89, Ball State 81
@Winthrop 80,
Jacksonville State 69
@Georgia 63,
Murray State 52
ORAL ROBERTS 70, UT MARTIN 66
HARRISONBURG, Va. - Alex Anderson tied a career-high with seven 3-pointers on his way to a team-best 25 points for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team but the Skyhawks fell 70-66 to Oral Roberts in the first of four games in the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic hosted by James Madison University.
Anderson, who had only managed one made three-pointer in the season’s first two games while battling a right ring finger injury that was suffered during the preseason, returned to the form that ranked him third in the nation in three-point field goal percentage in 2014-15. Seven of his dozen attempts from three-point land found nothing but net as the 25-point outburst was the second-highest scoring total in the career of the senior guard from Memphis, Tenn.
Twymond Howard accumulated 19 points and led the team in rebounding for the third straight game, hauling in seven boards. He was joined in double-figures scoring by Myles Taylor, who scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting while adding a pair of free throws in 19 minutes off the bench for UT Martin (0-3), who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half before narrowing its deficit to one possession on six different occasions in the second half.
Oral Roberts (2-1) was led by Obi Emegano’s 28-point effort. Brandon Conley (14 points) and Albert Owens (13) also reached double-figures in the scoring column for the Golden Eagles.
After Oral Roberts scored on the first possession of the contest, Anderson buried a trifecta from the right wing to give the Skyhawks the early lead. However, the Golden Eagles answered with a 15-0 run that spanned almost five minutes before Howard sank a free throw at the 12:47 mark.
UT Martin trailed by a 24-8 margin before Howard warmed up, as he tossed in six straight Skyhawk points before Anderson accounted for five unanswered points to pull UT Martin back within single-digits (26-17) with 4:34 to go before halftime.
The Golden Eagles stretched their lead back out to 11 points but the Skyhawks closed out the first half on an 11-4 surge, keyed once again by six straight points by Howard and followed by five points by Anderson. A contested three-pointer by Anderson dropped in to slice UT Martin’s deficit to two points with 12 seconds left in the half before a pair of Emegano free throws gave Oral Roberts a 32-28 halftime advantage.
Anderson and Howard each shared the team lead with 13 points at the break, accounting for all but two of the Skyhawks’ first half points. Emegano’s 11 points guided the Golden Eagles.
A fast break layup by Richard Lee started the second half off right for UT Martin, who trailed 32-30 at the 18:55 mark. Oral Roberts would soon expand its lead to seven points but an old-fashioned three-point play by Taylor and another trifecta from Anderson sandwiched an 8-2 Skyhawk run that made the score 41-40 with 14:33 remaining in the contest.
Oral Roberts would push its lead back out to seven points on three different occasions over the next six minutes but UT Martin kept fighting back, getting back to within three points thanks to back-to-back layups by Taylor and Kedar Edwards with under seven minutes left to play.
Emegano then keyed a 7-0 Golden Eagle run, scoring five points during the spurt to give Oral Roberts a 60-50 lead. Anderson did his part to keep things close – burying a trio of contested three-pointers in the final 14 seconds – but the Skyhawks ultimately would not get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 89, BALL STATE 81
RICHMOND, Ky. - Veterans Jonathan Hood, Ja’Mill Powell and Jaylen Babb-Harrison combined for 48 points off the bench to help propel the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 89-81 win over Ball State on Friday night in the @EKUHoops Classic at McBrayer Arena.
EKU’s bench outscored Ball State’s bench, 53-21, on the night.
After the Colonels fell behind 13-0 in the opening minutes, head coach Dan McHale checked in five new players, and those five reserves turned the tide of the game.
Hood was the star of the show. His three-pointer finally got EKU on the board and sparked an 11-0 run to pull the Colonels back into the game. The senior from Durham, North Carolina finished with a career-high 21 points. His previous career high was eight points. He connected on 5-of-7 three-pointers and 7-of-9 shots overall.
Junior JaVontae Hawkins was the only starter to reach double figures for the Colonels, scoring 20 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Babb-Harrison went for 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. Powell added 13 points and an assist.
After a slow shooting start, EKU heated up to finish an impressive 57 percent (26-of-46) from the field. The Colonels also shot 11-of-22 (50 percent) from behind the arc. After recording only five assists in Monday’s loss at UNCW, EKU dished out 14 assists in Friday’s win.
EKU’s defense forced the Cardinals into 18 turnovers. The Colonels blocked three shots on the night.
Ball State was led in scoring by Ryan Weber, who had 19. Franko House added 17 for the Cardinals.
After EKU rallied back from its initial 13-0 deficit, Ball State stretched its lead back to 11, 28-17, with 9:42 left in the first half. It was Hood, again, that sparked the Colonels, knocking down a jumper to start a 12-4 run that brought Eastern to within three, 32-29, with 5:44 showing on the clock. A tip-in by Hawkins less than a minute later tied the game, and a pair of free throws by Hood soon after that gave the Colonels their first lead of the game, 36-34.
A three-pointer from the corner by Powell sent the Colonels into the locker room at halftime up by a point, 43-42.
However, EKU quickly found itself down 57-50 seven minutes into the second half. This time it was Babb-Harrison’s turn to jumpstart the Colonels. The junior from Ajax, Ontario hit back-to-back threes to pull EKU to within one. Three possessions later, sophomore Paul Jackson converted on a layup to give EKU a 61-60 lead at the 10:45 mark. Eastern never trailed the rest of the way, as Jackson’s layup was part of a 27-5 run that eventually gave the Colonels a 15-point advantage, 77-62, with 5:41 to play.
WINTHROP 80, JACKSONVILLE STATE 69
ROCK HILL, S.C. - Four Gamecocks scored in double figures on Friday night, but the Jacksonville State men's basketball team fell at Winthrop 80-69.
The Gamecocks (2-3) held the Eagles (3-0) to 24 points below their season average but couldn't get over the hump down the stretch before time expired on their comeback efforts.
Jax State got 15 points and six rebounds from junior Erik Durham, while sophomore Malcolm Drumwright added 10 points and six assists to go along with his four rebounds. Senior Jeremy Watson scored 13 points and had four boards, and senior JaQuail Townser scored 10 and dished three assists.
The Gamecocks scored the game's first basket, a Drumwright runner, but Winthrop scored the next 10 to claim an eight-point lead. The Eagles would never relinquish that lead, taking a 41-31 advantage into the locker room and answering every time JSU tried to cut it to single digits in the second half.
Joshua Davenport came off the Winthrop bench to notch a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards, while forward Xavier Cooks led all scorers with 19 points on an 8-for-11 shooting night.
The Gamecocks forced 14 turnovers and committed just 11, but the Eagles held a14-9 advantage in points off of those turnovers. The home team also outscored JSU 38-22 in the paint in its first game of the season in which it didn't break the 100-points mark on the scoreboard.
GEORGIA 63, MURRAY STATE 52
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Kenny Gaines scored a career-high 35 points to lead Georgia to a 63-52 victory over Murray State on Friday night.
Gaines' previous best was 27 points against South Carolina on Feb. 22, 2014. He passed that mark with a 23-foot 3-pointer with 3:39 left to give the Bulldogs a 51-50 lead.
He came back on the next possession with another 3-pointer from the corner and then hit one from the top of the key, helping the Bulldogs (1-1) build a 57-52 advantage with 2:19 remaining.
Gaines shot 10 of 18 from the field, including 7 of 14 on 3-pointers.
Bryce Jones, Damarcus Croaker and Chad Culbreath scored 11 points each for the Racers (2-1).
Georgia was 17 of 57 from the field (29.8 percent) and Murray State was 17 of 56 (30.4 percent).
Georgia had an excellent opportunity to put Murray State away after taking a 39-31 lead early in the second half. But the Bulldogs missed five straight shots and couldn't extend the lead while the Racers missed eight.
Culbreath's jumper finally ended Murray State's drought, cutting the deficit to 39-33 with 12:37 left to play.
Georgia built a 19-9 first-half lead on the strength of a 16-3 run that was sparked by 8 points from Gaines.
Murray State missed 14 consecutive shots during that stretch, which ended when Wayne Langston scored on a layup with 5:44 left in the first half.
The Racers made three 3-pointers in the next 3:20 to cut the lead to 26-25.
Murray State's Gee McGhee then hit two free throws for a brief lead before Gaines closed the first-half scoring with a 3-pointer and a 29-27 halftime lead.