SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Cleveland State 67,
Belmont 65
@Houston 81,
Eastern Illinois 65
Tennessee State 81, Alcorn State 76 (Memphis, Tenn.)
@Northern Kentucky 79,
Southeast Missouri 69
CLEVELAND STATE 67, BELMONT 65
CLEVELAND - Belmont University men's basketball waged a furious second-half comeback before dropping a 67-65 decision at Cleveland State Saturday.
The Bruins, playing their 10th out of 13 games away from home, were never able to work into an offensive rhythm.
After sophomore Mack Mercer got Belmont within one, 11-10, at the 12:29 mark, Andre Yates capped an 8-0 run to give the host Vikings a 21-12 lead. Junior Taylor Barnette kept Belmont within striking distance with trademark sharpshooting, but Cleveland State seemingly had an answer at every turn.
The Vikings, who entered the game shooting under 40 percent from the field as a team, made a number of contested shots against Belmont defense in the first half. In addition, 10 points off the bench from reserve Tim Hasbargen provided Cleveland State a big lift.
The Vikings led 40-31 at halftime. Belmont shot 42 percent (10-for-24) from the field in the opening 20 minutes - including 5-for-13 from three-point distance. The Bruins committed nine first half turnovers, several on player control fouls.
The second half began inauspiciously for Belmont as junior Evan Bradds had a finger roll basket disallowed on a charging call. He was forced to the bench with his third personal foul with 19:18 left. Two free throws from senior Craig Bradshaw closed the margin to 44-37 with 15:48 remaining, before Rob Edwards and Vinny Zollo replied with five points for Cleveland State.
Despite engaged Belmont defense, Cleveland State took a 59-46 lead with 9:10 left on a baseline three-pointer fro Daniel Levitt. From there, Belmont tightened the screws, holding the Vikings to one made field goal over the next seven minutes. A conventional three-point play from Bradshaw got the Bruins within 59-55 with 5:33 to go. Following two Bradshaw free throws, Egekeze buried a wing three-pointer to tie the score at 61 with 3:31 left.
After another defensive stop, Mercer gave Belmont its first lead of the game, 63-61, with 2:43 left. Demonte Flannigan tied the score moments later with a putback basket. After an exchange of defensive stops - which included Bradds fouling out - Mercer made two free throws with 49 seconds left to put Belmont ahead 65-63. It capped a 19-4 Belmont run.
On Cleveland State's next possession, Flannigan made an impressive and contested right-handed hook to tie the score at 65 with 35 seconds remaining. With a five second differential between the game clock and shot clock, Belmont worked its offensive possession and freed Mercer inside. But his baseline shot missed, and the Vikings secured the rebound. After racing into the frontcout and calling timeout with 4.3 seconds left, Cleveland State again turned to Flannigan, who spun baseline and made a left-handed bank shot with 1.8 seconds left to put the Vikings back in front.
Belmont called timeout to set up one final play, but a baseball pass downcourt from senior Jeff Laidig (Mishawaka, Ind.) would be deflected away as the horn sounded.
All told, Belmont shot 35 percent (20-for-58) from the field - including 6-for-23 from three-point distance. The Bruins were just 1-for-10 from behind the arc in the second half. Mercer led three Bruins in double figures with a career-high 20 points. He added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Barnette had 16 points, while Egekeze added 15 points and six rebounds.
Flannigan led Cleveland State (4-7) with 16 points.
HOUSTON 81, EASTERN ILLINOIS 65
HOUSTON - Eastern Illinois went toe-to-toe with Houston in the first half holding the lead for close to seven minutes. In the second half the Cougars warmed up from the field pulling away for an 81-65 win.
EIU fell to 2-7 overall while Houston improved to 8-1.
Houston led 41-37 at the half and quickly pushed the lead to eight points behind the hot hand of Ronnie Johnson as the guard had four of his 25 points in the first 45 seconds of the half to put the Cougars in front 45-37.
Demetrius McReynolds and Cornell Johnston answered with 3-pointers for EIU as the Panthers trimmed the lead back to four points at 47-43. EIU was 8-of-21 from 3-point range on the day with Johnston going 6-of-7 to lead EIU with 19 points.
Johnson gave Houston a double digit lead for the first time in the game at 12:17. Johnston answered with a 3-pointer to get the lead back under ten. Wes Vanbeck had a three point play with 9:53 to play in the game sparking a long Houston run that handed the Cougars the win.
Houston built an early eight point lead at the 15:27 mark in the first half behind the hot shooting of Damyean Dotson who had 14 first half points going 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Dotson knocked down his fourth 3-pointer at the 11 minute mark and was held scoreless the rest of the first half.
EIU’s defensive effort allowed the Panthers to battle back into the game. A.J. Riley tied the game at 8:25 with a pair of free throws that made it 24-24. Riley then had a steal and lay-up on the next possession giving EIU its first lead of the game.
The Panthers held the lead until the final 1:28 of the first half as Ronnie Johnson gave the Cougars the lead with free throws. Galen Robinson drained a 3-pointer in the final minute to give Houston a 41-37 halftime lead.
McReynolds returned to the Panthers line-up after missing the last the couple of weeks with an injury. McReynolds had ten first half points. He finished with 13 points. Patrick Muldoon added ten points for EIU.
EIU held its own on the glass in the first half finishing with a 17-15 rebound margin. Houston ended the game with rebounding edge 32-31.
Dotson had 16 points, Robinson 11 for Houston.
TENNESSEE STATE 81, ALCORN STATE 76
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Senior Marcus Roper scored a season-high 26 points off the bench to help the Tennessee State men’s basketball team defeat Alcorn State by an 81-76 final score on Saturday at Verties Sails Gymnasium on the campus of Southwest Tennessee Community College.
The Tigers improve to 9-2 with their seventh-consecutive victory. The nine non-conference regular season victories are the most for TSU at the Division I level since joining the Ohio Valley Conference prior to the 1987-88 season.
Alcorn State (1-8) shot 44.4 percent from the field and led by seven points in the first half. The Tigers were able to bounce back thanks to a strong shooting performance of their own, finishing 29-for-55 (52.7 percent) from the field.
In addition to Roper’s 26 points, Keron DeShields scored 12 points with Wayne Martin and Darreon Reddick adding 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Tigers trailed by as many as seven in the first half before a 16-5 run gave TSU a 31-27 lead with 5:02 to go before the half.
Alcorn State scored eight of the final 13 points of the half to cut TSU's lead down to 36-35 heading into the break. Roper finished the half shooting 7-for-8 from the field for 18 points.
With TSU up by seven at 68-61 with 5:41 to go in the second half, the Tigers reeled off seven-straight points for their largest lead of 14 points at 75-61 with four minutes left.
The Braves trimmed the deficit to just one with 23.2 seconds to play before DeShields hit a pair of free throws for a three-point cushion with the score at 79-76. On Alcorn State’s next possession, Xavier Richards came up with a huge block with 13.5 seconds left, and Reddick hit two free throws on the other end to ice the game.
DeShields tied a career high with eight rebounds as the Tigers outrebounded the Braves, 35-32. Reddick also set a career high with eight assists on the night.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 79, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 69
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Isiah Jones tied a career-high 21 points to lead three starters in double figures, as Southeast Missouri (0-10) fell to Northern Kentucky (3-6), 79-69, Saturday night at BB&T Arena.
Joel Angus III's layup 47 seconds into the game gave Southeast its only lead of the night.
NKU, which entered the contest ranked eighth in the Horizon League in 3-point field goal percentage, made five of its first eight attempts from beyond the arc.
The Redhawks trailed by two after Jones knocked down a three to make it an 11-9 game. NKU answered with a 9-0 run to open a double-digit advantage.
Lavone Holland scored a layup, Deontae Cole buried a 3-pointer and freshman Drew McDonald made a pair of layups off the bench to push NKU's lead to 20-9 with 13:33 left to play in the first half.
Jalen Billups later threw down a dunk off a pass from Dean Danos to extend the Norse lead to 14 before NKU went into the locker room with a 39-30 advantage.
NKU outscored Southeast 18-3 from 3-point range and shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the field in the first half.
The Norse took their biggest lead at 75-56 on a Danos 3-pointer with 4:43 remaining.
Southeast then finished strong with a 13-4 run, making each of its final five field goals. Angus and Antonius Cleveland had four points apiece to key the late surge.
Jones made 7-of-12 field goals, buried three 3-pointers and added 4-of-6 free throws in 32 minutes to lead Southeast.
Angus followed with 16 points and four rebounds, while Cleveland contributed 13 points and six boards.
The Redhawks shot a season-high 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field and hit 51.9 percent (14-of-27) of its shots in the first half alone.
Southeast, which turned the ball over 11 times in the first half, committed only three in the game's final 20 minutes.
Billups led NKU with a double-double 17 points and 11 rebounds. Cole Murray (12), Holland (10) and Danos (10) also scored double-digits. The Norse had eight 3-pointers and shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) from the floor.