WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 101, Thomas More 67
@UT Martin 83, Harris-Stowe 57
@Austin Peay 83, Oakland City 55
Weber State 75,
Murray State 59 (Estero, Fla.)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 101, THOMAS MORE 67
RICHMOND, Ky. - Freshman Nick Mayo scored 10 points during a 15-2 run to end the first half as Eastern Kentucky University cruised to a 101-67 victory over visiting Thomas More College on Wednesday.
After a lay-up by Brandon Horne drew TMC to within three, 36-33, with 6:12 left in the first half, Mayo and the Colonels (5-1) went to work on both ends of the court. The freshman had three dunks, including one off an offensive rebound, before knocking down a three-pointer from the left wing.
Junior Jaylen Babb-Harrison connected on a three-pointer from the left corner to finish the first half scoring. Thomas More made just one shot over the final six minutes. Eastern led by 16, 51-35, at the break.
It was EKU’s fourth straight victory. The Colonels entered the game 17th in the nation in scoring at 91.4 points per game. Eastern is averaging 100 points at home this season.
Eastern Kentucky shot 59 percent from the field for the game and 41 percent from three-point range. The Colonels came into the contest sixth in the country in three-point shooting and 11th in field goal percentage.
Senior Jarelle Reischel just missed the first triple-double in EKU history, recording 16 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and five steals. Mayo made 9-of-11 attempts from the field and finished with a game-best 21 points, all of which came in the first half. Junior JaVontae Hawkins contributed 16 points and six rebounds.
Richmond native Daniel Parke saw the floor late in the game and scored his first points as a Colonel. The redshirt sophomore hit both of his shots from the field, his only free throw attempt and had a steal.
Thomas More (1-2) stayed close early by hitting three-pointers. The Saints made their first three, and four of their first six, from behind the arc. TMC led 11-8 after a triple by Jacob Hall. The Colonels were up four, 15-11, and looking to pull away when Austin Young drained the team’s fourth 3-pointer in the first 5:09 of the game. Eastern stretched its lead to six, 25-19, before Pauly Sawyer cut it in half with another three-pointer.
After Sawyer’s trey, Thomas More went 0-of-4 from long range the rest of the half.
A lay-up by Hawkins and a put-back by Reischel gave EKU a 31-point lead, 86-55, with 6:02 left in the game. Eastern Kentucky went in front by 37 in the final minute of play.
Junior Stockwell had a team-best 11 points for Thomas More. The Saints turned the ball over 21 times and were out-scored off turnovers 25-7.
UT MARTIN 83, HARRIS-STOWE 57
MARTIN, Tenn. - Redshirt senior forward Myles Taylor accumulated his 15th career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in only 23 minutes off the bench to help lead the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team to an 83-57 victory against Harris-Stowe at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Taylor made eight of his 14 shot attempts and added a perfect 5-for-5 effort from the charity stripe today. Seven of his 10 boards were on the offensive end as he helped the Skyhawks outrebound Harris-Stowe by a 46-25 margin.
Alex Anderson canned three treys on his way to 13 points while Twymond Howard tallied 11 points, four rebounds and a career-best six assists for the Skyhawks (2-4). Kedar Edwards (nine points, eight rebounds, four steals) and Chandler Rowe (seven points, six rebounds, three assists) also posted solid all-around games for UT Martin.
An NAIA school based out of St. Louis, Mo., Harris-Stowe (4-2) was led by Evan Johns’ 17 points. Trevor Roberts pitched in with 14 points for the Hornets, who committed 17 turnovers.
A fadeaway jumper from Howard opened the game’s scoring but Roberts soon took over, scoring eight straight points to help Harris-Stowe take a 10-4 lead.
The Skyhawks then began pounding the ball inside, as Rowe and Taylor combined for 11 straight points to result in a 13-13 tie with 14 minutes to go in the first half. UT Martin would soon use a 7-0 run to go back ahead, as a Jalen Variste layup at the 10:57 mark put the Skyhawks on top by an 18-16 margin.
A Jones three-pointer with 8:48 left in the first half tilted the score back in favor of the Hornets at 21-20 but back-to-back fast break dunks by Fatodd Lewis and Howard gave UT Martin a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
UT Martin would end the first half on a 17-5 run, ignited by Edwards and Anderson. Edwards scored on a tip-in and a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions while Anderson sank three-pointers on the Skyhawks’ last two trips down the floor to give UT Martin a 43-29 advantage at the break.
Taylor’s nine points off the bench led the Skyhawks while Rowe added seven points and five rebounds. Roberts scored 10 first-half points to lead Harris-Stowe, who shot just 39.3 percent overall but connected on 58.3 percent (7-for-12) of its attempts from three-point range.
The Skyhawks scored on their first two possessions of the second half, taking a 48-31 lead in the process. Harris-Stowe pulled within 13 points on two different occasions but a 12-0 UT Martin run that featured two old-fashioned three-point plays by Taylor gave the Skyhawks a 62-37 lead with just under 13 minutes to go.
Taylor scored on consecutive trips down the floor while Howard added a putback to extend UT Martin’s lead out to 28 points (71-43) with 8:31 remaining. A coast-to-coast layup by Variste with 1:18 remaining also gave the Skyhawks a 28-point lead – their biggest of the day.
AUSTIN PEAY 83, OAKLAND CITY 55
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Chris Horton scored 17 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in only 28 minutes as Austin Peay State University downed Oakland City, 83-55, Wednesday night in pre-Thanksgiving basketball action in Dave Aaron Arena.
Horton, who came into the game averaging 15 points and 11.4 rebounds, had a double-double by halftime—no, in fact, he had it by the third media timeout in the first half. He collected 12 points and 11 rebounds by halftime—APSU's all-time shot blocker also had four rejections.
Horton's 19 rebounds were the second most of his career (he had 20 against SIUE late last February). With his second rebound of the second half, Horton also became only the third Governor in history to surpass 900 career rebounds—Tom Morgan (1431, 1952-58) and Otis Howard (973, 1974-78) are the other two.
Although the Governors roared to their second straight victory (2-4), head coach Dave Loos was not necessarily pleased with their performance.
Horton received assistance from Josh Robinson, who had 16 points but failed to convert a three pointer, while Khalil Davis added 14. All 13 eligible Govs played against the Mighty Oaks, with 10 different Govs scoring at least two points.
The Govs finished the night with 17 assists—a season high—and only five turnovers—a season low.
Oakland City shot 48 percent (12 of 25 ) in the first half but the Governors limited the visitors to just seven second-half field goals in 29 attempts (28 percent) in the closing half.
However, all night long Oakland City freshman inside player Addison Wagler battled his way inside for 22 points and 10 rebounds. In fact, Wagler and fellow inside player Byron Dulin combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds.
WEBER STATE 75, MURRAY STATE 59
ESTERO, Fla. - The Murray State Racers dropped a 75-59 defeat to the Weber State Wildcats in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena in Estero, Fla.
Playing in their third regular season title game since 2011, the Racers couldn’t produce the result like they did in wins over Milwaukee and Pepperdine.
A decisive period started with 5:30 before half with the Racers (4-2) leading 28-26.
Through nearly 15 minutes of the first half, the Racers were staying with the Wildcats when Wayne Langston went to the bench with his second personal foul. WSU took advantage of MSU’s absence in the middle and ended the half with a 14-7 run to lead 40-35 at the intermission.
In the second half, WSU scored two baskets for their largest lead of the day at 44-35 with 16:45 left. After the Racers cut the lead to four, WSU took a 56-42 with 12:30 remaining and went on to claim the win.
Jeffery Moss led the Racers with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting including 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Langston, who was named to the Gulf Coast Showcase All-Tournament team, tossed in 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Bryce Jones added 12 points and five assists.
Murray State shot 39 percent for the game on 25-of-63, while Weber State hit 26-of-46 for 56 percent.
Game Notes
Wayne Langston is proving to be a player that must be respected by the opponent. In three games he averaged 15 points and four rebounds in three games and shot 74 percent on 20-of-27 from the field.
Along with Langston, four others were named to the All-Tournament Team including Weber State’s Jeremy Senglin who was named the MVP. Teammate Joel Bolomboy was named to the team as was Drake’s Kale Abrahamson and Duquesne’s Derrick Colter. Abrahamson set the Gulf Coast scoring record of 41 points in Monday’s first round game against Western Kentucky.