WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@North Florida 80,
Austin Peay 70
UT Martin 82, @Saint Louis 76
NORTH FLORIDA 80, AUSTIN PEAY 70
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Chris Horton scored a career-high 28 points and the nation’s third-leading rebounder snared 17 errant shots but unfortunately for Austin Peay State University’s basketball team he was the only Gov in double figures in a 80-70 defeat by North Florida, played at the UNF Arena, Wednesday night.
The loss was the Govs second straight and left them 1-3 on the current road swing and 4-7 overall. North Florida, the defending Atlantic Sun defending champs and preseason favorite, won its third straight to improve to 9-4.
Horton finished the contest 13 of 19 (68 percent) from the floor, meaning the rest of the Govs were just 16 of 53 (30 percent) and it would have been worst if the Govs young players, freshman guard Zach Glotta, freshman forward Jared Savage, redshirt freshman forward Chris Porter-Bunton and sophomore point guard Tre’ Ivory had not energized the Govs, who sliced a 22-point deficit to the final margin over the final 6:41.
Savage and Porter-Bunton, the former Warren County Central (Bowling Green, Kentucky) teammates each scored nine points, with Savage nailing a trio of three pointers. Glotta added eight points, including two three pointers—his second one was from NBA range. In fact, Glotta and Savage combined for five of the Govs’ seven three pointers.
North Florida, which entered the contest ranked first in the nation in three pointers made (159) and three-pointers made per game (13.3), struggled from the perimeter in the opening half, making 4-of-19 three pointers in playing their third game in five days. But the Governors could not take advantage of the Ospreys’ misfiring as APSU was just 10-of-33 in the first half, going 0-of-7 from three-point range.
But in addition to the Govs’ shooting woes, they committed 10 turnovers, leading to 18 Osprey points—APSU was out-scored 18-0 in points-off-turnovers in the first half.
North Florida, which has players averaging double figures for the season, had five players score in double digits against the Govs, led by forward Chris Davenport, who had 18 points and eight rebounds. Trent Mackey, reminded the Govs of IPFW’s Max Landis in the second half, had 15 points, all on three pointers. Atlantic Sun preseason Player of the Year, Beau Beech, added 14 points and eight rebounds.
For the Govs, it was one man standing tall—Horton’s previous scoring high was 23 against Southeast Missouri Jan. 31. The 6-8 senior center entered the game leading the nation in offensive rebounding at 5.7 per game—he had 10 offensive caroms against the Ospreys. He now is just 21 rebounds of 1,000 for his career.
UT MARTIN 82, SAINT LOUIS 76
ST. LOUIS - Five University of Tennessee at Martin players scored at least 13 points this evening as the Skyhawk men’s basketball team posted an impressive 82-76 nonconference road victory over Saint Louis at Chaifetz Arena.
Playing without its leading scorer Twymond Howard, who missed the trip with an illness, UT Martin boasted a balanced scoring attack tonight. Richard Lee scored 19 points aided by a perfect 5-for-5 shooting performance while Myles Taylor and Jacolby Mobley each scored 17 points as the Skyhawks improved to 4-7 on the season.
Alex Anderson compiled 16 points while Kedar Edwards posted his first career double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) to help guide UT Martin to its first win in the series over the traditional Atlantic 10 powerhouse since Nov. 22, 2002.
Miles Reynolds scored 19 points to pace Saint Louis (5-4), who also received 10 points and 13 rebounds out of Malik Yarbrough. Mike Crawford (12 points) and Davell Roby (11) also scored in double-digits for the Billikens.
Taylor was responsible for UT Martin’s first points of the night at the 17:55 mark but the Billikens began the game on a 10-2 run. The Skyhawks answered right back with an 8-0 run of their own, bookended by three-pointers from Anderson and Lee.
Saint Louis briefly went back ahead but UT Martin went on a 9-0 spurt, thanks to five points from Lee and four points out of Taylor. The Skyhawks later pushed their lead out to double-figures thanks to treys by Anderson, Lee and Mobley. Soon thereafter, Taylor knocked down a pair of free throws at the 2:18 mark to give UT Martin a 36-21 lead.
The Billikens sliced their deficit to seven points with 12 seconds to go before the halftime break but the Skyhawks ended the first half with a bang. Mobley pulled up from 25 feet out to sink a three-pointer with two seconds remaining before Edwards came up with a steal and a 65-foot heave that found nothing but net as the buzzer sounded to give UT Martin a 44-31 lead at the break.
The Skyhawks shot 53.3 percent (8-for-15) from downtown in the first 20 minutes while Saint Louis connected on 35.7 percent (10-for-28) of its attempts. Taylor accounted for a game-high 12 points in the first half while Lee added 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance. Reynolds tallied nine points to lead the Billikens at the half.
UT Martin began the second half with eight unanswered points – six of which came from the charity stripe – to expand its lead out to 21 points. Anderson (step-back jumper) and Edwards (layup off an offensive rebound) helped the Skyhawks push their lead out to 23 points.
Saint Louis crept back into the game thanks to a 14-0 run, keeping UT Martin off the scoreboard for a stretch of 5:27 until Taylor made a free throw at the 7:25 mark. Mobley followed with back-to-back layups in a span of 18 seconds to send the Skyhawk advantage out to double-digits at 63-51.
A 9-0 Billiken run resulted in a one-possession game (63-60) with five minutes to go. UT Martin used a 6-1 run to go back ahead by eight points with 3:25 remaining. Saint Louis wouldn’t get any closer than five points the rest of the way, thanks in large part to UT Martin converting nine of its 11 free throw attempts in the final 1:02.