MONDAY'S SCORES
Omaha 80,
Eastern Illinois 68 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
@#18 West Virginia 84,
Eastern Kentucky 59
@UT Martin 70, Alcorn State 47
@Jacksonville State 79, Northern Colorado 76
@USC 70,
SIUE 51
OMAHA 80, EASTERN ILLINOIS 68
LAS VEGAS - Omaha used a 14-3 run late in the first half to open up a narrow lead as the Mavericks beat Eastern Illinois, 80-68, at the Global Sports Classic in Las Vegas.
EIU will play at 1 p.m. (Central) on Tuesday against either North Carolina Central or Southern University in the final game of the Global Sports Classic. EIU fell to 2-8 while Omaha improved to 7-6.
EIU had an early lead but Omaha turned up the defensive pressure as they built an eight point lead. Tra-Deon Hollis, the nation's steal leader, had four steals as Omaha had 13 as a team. Omaha converted 13 first half EIU turnovers into 21 points.
The late run was started by turnovers and low post baskets by Jake White who finished with a game high 20 points. EIU had a basket by Lucas Jones and free throw by Trae Anderson as its scoring over the final four minutes. Omaha led 41-25 at the half.
Omaha extended the lead to as high as 22 points at the 13:05 mark of the second half. EIU chipped away at the lead with Anderson taking the ball into the paint. Anderson led EIU with 15 points with nine rebounds. EIU won the battle on the glass for the first time this season finishing with a 46-30 rebound edge including 23 offensive rebounds.
EIU was able to get the Omaha lead down to ten points on a 3-pointer by Demetrius McReynolds with 1:48 to play as the Mavericks led 72-62 at that point. McReynolds had 11 points. Cornell Johnston rounded out the double figure scorers for EIU with 12 points.
Omaha had 18 points from Tre'Shawn Thurman and 15 points from Devin Patterson. Hollins had 11 assists for the Mavericks.
#18 WEST VIRGINIA 84, EASTERN KENTUCKY 59
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team led No. 19 West Virginia midway through the first half, but the Mountaineers closed the half on a 40-8 run en route to an 84-59 win over the Colonels on Monday night at WVU Coliseum.
Playing without leading scorer and rebounder, senior Jarelle Reischel (back), EKU (8-6) was led on the night by junior JaVontae Hawkins, who finished with 16 points, four rebounds and two assists. Junior Jaylen Babb-Harrison came off the bench to contribute 15 points, while sophomore Greg King scored seven points and grabbed a career-high six rebounds.
Eastern shot 9-of-23 from three-point range on the night, the ninth time the Colonels have hit more than nine three-pointers in a game this season; however, the Colonels also shot a season-low 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from the foul line.
Jaysean Paige led four WVU players in double figures with 17 points.
EKU started quick and led by as many as four points, 14-10, following a pair of free throws by Babb-Harrison with 11:43 remaining in the first half.
WVU (10-1), however, regrouped and took the lead, 15-14, on a three-pointer by Jevon Carter with just under 11 minutes on the clock. Carter’s three-pointer helped spark a 40-8 WVU run that ended when Esa Ahmad threw down a thunderous dunk in the lane just before halftime to make it 50-22 at the break.
EKU was held scoreless for just under six minutes during WVU’s decisive run late in the first half.
The Colonels shot nearly 60 percent (13-of-22) from the field and outscored the Mountaineers, 37-34, in the second half; however, the first-half deficit was too much to overcome.
WVU outscored EKU 30-16 in the paint and 26-7 on second-chance points.
UT MARTIN 70, ALCORN STATE 47
MARTIN, Tenn. - A swarming University of Tennessee at Martin defense held its first opponent under 50 points this season as the Skyhawks cruised to a 70-47 victory over Alcorn State at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center tonight.
UT Martin (6-7) rolled to its fourth consecutive victory behind a defense that limited the visiting Braves to just 25.9 percent shooting (14-for-54) for the game, including an 11.1 percent (2-for-18) effort from beyond the three-point arc. The Skyhawks’ previous season-low in points allowed was 57 against Harris-Stowe on Nov. 25.
Jacolby Mobley jumpstarted UT Martin offensively, scoring all of his game-high 16 points in the first half. Myles Taylor battled foul trouble but still added 11 points in 14 minutes while Twymond Howard (game-best 11 rebounds), Kedar Edwards (game-high six assists) and Javier Martinez (nine points, nine rebounds in 12 minutes) also paced the Skyhawks.
Alcorn State (1-9) was led by Tyrel Hunt and Reginald Johnson, who each scored nine points off the bench. Octavious Brown added 10 rebounds for the Breaves, who committed 15 turnovers for the contest.
Taylor helped the Skyhawks shake off a slow start, as he was responsible for UT Martin’s first seven points. Meanwhile, UT Martin limited Alcorn State to 1-of-9 shooting in the opening 6:45 of the contest.
Alex Anderson knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the span of 3:20 while Mobley accounted for five points during a 13-2 Skyhawk run that opened up a double-digit lead for UT Martin.
Mobley canned treys on back-to-back possessions before converting a tough reverse layup that gave the Skyhawks a 16-point advantage. Following a free throw on the Braves’ end, Mobley found Richard Lee in the left corner for a buzzer-beating trifecta that resulted in a 36-18 halftime lead for UT Martin.
The Skyhawks received a game-high 16 points out of Mobley while holding Alcorn State to just 22.7 percent shooting (5-for-22) in the first half. Johnson had five points to guide seven Braves who found the scoring column in the opening 20 minutes.
Taylor once again controlled the opening minutes of the second half, scoring UT Martin’s first four points to give the Skyhawks a 40-20 lead. Alcorn State followed with six unanswered points and would eventually close within 13 points before four straight points by Martinez ignited a 9-0 run for UT Martin. Martinez would later come away with back-to-back layups to extend the Skyhawk lead out to 59-35 with just under eight minutes to play.
A three-pointer from the left wing by Fatodd Lewis – the 10th of the evening for the Skyhawks – resulted in the biggest lead of the night (70-42) with 1:18 remaining.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 79, NORTHERN COLORADO 76
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State got off to a fast start and then held off Northern Colorado for a 79-76 win on Monday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The win was due in large part to a 21-of-25 (84.0 percent) shooting night from the free throw line, highlighted by sophomore guard Malcolm Drumwright's perfect 9-for-9 night from the line as part of his game-high 28-point performance.
After Northern Colorado tied the game at 71 with 1:36 remaining in the game, Christian Cunningham's layup combined with two Drumwright free throws gave Jacksonville State a four-point lead with under 25 seconds left to play. The Bears got within two points of tying the score in the game's closing seconds, but two more Drumwright free throws along with two made free throws from Jeremy Watson helped sealed the Gamecocks' fourth win on the season.
In his third straight start, junior guard Greg Tucker was just one-point shy of tying his career-high during the first half. He went on to score five more points during the game's final 20 minutes to set a new career-high with 15 points in 37 minutes of game action. He also had five rebounds.
Watson and Cunningham added 10 points apiece while Cunningham brought down a game-high seven rebounds along with a game-high three blocks. JaQuail Townser chipped in six points, all coming from behind the 3-point arc, while Jared Hamilton and DelFincko Bogan both had five.
For Northern Colorado, Dallas Anglin had a team-high 23 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field, seven of eight from the free throw line. Jordan Wilson added to the Bears' comeback attempted by finished with 12 points while Anthony Johnson had 10 points and five rebounds. Jordan Davis chipped in with eight points while Spencer Mathis, Ibrahim Sylla and Tanner Morgan all had five points on the night.
Rounding out the scoring for the Bears, Jeremy Verhagen had six points and Miles Sewards scored two points.
USC 70, SIUE 51
LOS ANGELES - SIUE men's basketball shot just 27.9 percent from the field and committed 19 turnovers Monday, dropping a 70-51 decision at Southern California.
The Cougars fell to 3-8 overall with the loss. USC, which has won four five straight, improved to 10-2.
USC led 39-21 at the break, following a first half in which the Cougars connected on just 24.3 percent (9 of 37) of their shots. For the game, SIUE was 19 of 68 from the field.
The Cougars twice trimmed the lead to 12 in the second half, but each time USC was able to extend the advantage.
The 19 turnovers were the second-most committed by SIUE this season.
Carlos Anderson and Jalen Henry led SIUE with 10 points each. Keenan Simmons and Yemi Makanjuola each added eight points. Grant Fiorentinos scored six points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds.
Nikola Jovanovic led all scorers with 21 points and 16 rebounds to pace USC. Jordan McLaughlin chipped in 12 points and six assists. Katin Reinhardt scored 10 points.