TUESDAY'S SCORES
North Carolina Central 57,
Eastern Illinois 52 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
@Wright State 65,
Murray State 49
@Illinois State 66,
Tennessee State 55
@Austin Peay 84, Wofford 77
Southeast Missouri 78, @Missouri State 74
@Iowa 85,
Tennessee Tech 63
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 57, EASTERN ILLINOIS 52
LAS VEGAS - Eastern Illinois could not get the ball to bounce their way in the final minutes on Tuesday in Las Vegas as North Carolina Central held off the Panthers, 57-52 , in the final game of the Global Sports Classic. EIU fell to 2-9 on the year. NCCU improved to 4-8.
Leading 27-24 at the half, Jamal Ferguson extended the Eagles lead to 30-24 with a lay-up to open the second half. The Panthers battled back and tied the game at 37-37 as A.J. Riley hit a 3-pointer. Riley scored ten points, one of two EIU players in double figures.
Trae Anderson gave EIU its first lead since early in the game with a lay-up at 11:09. The two schools traded the lead before Jeremiah Ingram gave NCCU the lead 44-41 with 8:33 to play.
EIU was unable to get a big shot to fall when it needed it over the final eight minutes. The Panthers cut the lead to one possession six times but could not get the lead. In the final 1:09 EIU was able to get to the line twice but converted only two free throws as NCCU held on to a 54-52 lead.
Eastern Illinois opened with a 5-0 run as Joe Kuligoski knocked down a 3-pointer and Anderson had a hook in the lane in the first 1:06 of the game. Anderson scored ten first half points finishing the game with 15.
North Carolina Central answered with a 6-0 run of its own to take the lead. Ingram scored three of his 13 points during the opening run. Ingram’s tip-in on with 3:06 left in the first half gave NCCU its biggest lead of the first half at 25-20.
The two teams traded the lead seven times in the first half with NCCU leading 27-24 at the half as EIU missed two 3-pointers in the final 45 seconds and had one of its three first half turnovers on the final possession as time expired. EIU was 1-of-9 on 3-pointers in the first half.
The Panthers were 5-of-22 for the game from beyond the arc.
Patrick Cole added 12 points for NCCU as the Eagles won the battle on the glass by a 36-22 margin with 15 second chance points.
WRIGHT STATE 65, MURRAY STATE 49
DAYTON, Ohio - Murray State Racers dropped 65-49 loss Tuesday to the Wright State Raiders.
The loss made the Racers 5-7, while the Raiders improved to 6-7.
Jeffery Moss led the Racers with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds.
The game was tied early 9-9 when Chad Culbreath made a layup at the 12:21 mark. However the Racers trailed by six in the last part of the first half, when WSU finished with a 7-0 run to lead 36-23 at the intermission.
Led by Moss' eight points at the start of the second half, the Racers hit the Raiders with a 13-4 run that cut the lead to 40-39 with 14:43 left. The Racers had a chance to take the lead on the next possession but missed in the lane.
The Raiders responded with a 16-2 run that ended the Racers' comeback bid. After the run, the Racers trailed 55-42 with 10:14 remaining. MSU got as close as 11 points when Moss hit a jumper with 8:38 left.
This was the third meeting between the Racers and Raiders and all of them have been played on Dec. 22. They first played at WSU in 1990, then 2008 in Puerto Rico and today. Wright State will make a trip to play at Murray State next season.
ILLINOIS STATE 66, TENNESSEE STATE 55
NORMAL, Ill. - Completing a stretch with five games in 11 days, the Tennessee State men's basketball team suffered a 66-55 road defeat at Illinois State on Tuesday night at Redbird Arena. The loss snaps a seven-game winning streak for the Tigers.
Keron DeShields scored a game-high 16 points, while Christian Griggs-Williams added a career-best 12 points to go with six rebounds for the Tigers (9-3). TSU could not overcome a strong shooting effort by Illinois State (6-7), which finished 22-for-47 (46.8 percent) from the field and made nine three-pointers.
Ford, who played at Illinois State from 2002-06 and was the Associate Head Coach for ISU from 2012-14, was facing his alma mater for the first time as a head coach.
For the Redbirds, Deontae Hawkins, Roland Griffin and DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell posted 10 points apiece. ISU won the battle on the glass with 39 rebounds to TSU's 28. It is just the second time all season the Tigers were outrebounded.
A jumper from Demontez Loman nearly four minutes into the game gave TSU an early 6-5 advantage. Over the next six minutes, however, the Redbirds limited the Tigers to one basket as ISU took advantage with an 11-2 run for a 16-8 lead midway through the half.
The Redbirds saw their lead grow to as much as 15 points at 34-19 with just under two minutes on the first-half clock. Griggs-Williams, who led all scorers through 20 minutes with nine points, tallied TSU’s final four points of the half to cut the deficit to 35-23 heading into the intermission.
In the first half, Illinois State shot 13-for-24 (54.2 percent), including 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from three-point range.
The Redbirds held onto the advantage throughout the second half, leading by 18 points on four occasions. The Tigers battled back and cut the deficit down to 10 at 63-53 on a three from Neville Fincher with 2:22 to play, but that was as close as the visitors would get down the stretch.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season, DeShields scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half.
The Tigers defense forced Illinois State to turn the ball over 17 times and scored 19 points off turnovers.
AUSTIN PEAY 84, WOFFORD 77
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Josh Robinson scored a career-high 30 points, including a Dunn Center record 14-of-14 free throws, while Chris Horton snatched his 1,000th career rebound as Austin Peay State University held off Wofford, 84-77, Tuesday night, in non-conference basketball action.
The victory was the Govs' second straight and pulled them one game shy of .500 at 6-7. It was the fourth straight loss for Wofford, the two-time defending Southern Conference tournament champions, and dropped it to 3-8 on the season.
The Terriers used the near-heroic play of freshman guard Fletcher Magee to almost pull off a miracle comeback. He had 16 second-half points and nailed fourth final-half three pointer with 59 seconds left to pull the Terriers within four, 78-74, after APSU led by as much as 19 second-half points.
But two free throws by Terrell Thompson and four by Robinson over the final 58 seconds finally put the game away. Robinson was six-for-six at the line in the second half, all coming in the final 1:08. In fact, his 14-for-14 effort exceeded the Dunn Center mark of 11-for-11, set by Morehead State's Marty Cline (1/15/94). APSU's previous facility record was 10-for-10, set by Donald Tivis (1/23/91) and tied by Travis Betran (2/15/14).
For the game Robinson connected on 7-of-9 field goals, including a pair of three-pointers, in reaching 30 points for the first time. His previous high was 25 against IPFW, Nov. 18.
Horton, meanwhile, entered the game needing eight rebounds to become only the second APSU in history to reach that total (Tom Morgan, 1431. 1952-58). He didn't get his first rebound until the 5:01 mark of the first half and only have three at halftime. But with 8:15 left in the game he snatched his eighth of the contest. Horton finished with 13 rebounds for the night to go with 20 points, his 10th straight double-double and 11th overall.
Khalil Davis (15 points) and Thompson (10) points rounded out the Govs double-figure scoring as the Govs shot 61 percent (26 of 43) from the floor and 76 percent (28 of 37) from the free-throw line, thanks largely to Robinson.
Magree ended the contest with a career-best 27 points, his first 20-point game since the opener at Missouri.
The first half seemingly was a game of turnovers before the Governors settled down offensively while continuing to turn up the defensive pressure. Wofford came in averaging an NCAA-low 9.7 turnovers per game—the Govs forced 11 in the first half.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 78, MISSOURI STATE 74
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Antonius Cleveland had a double-double 18 points and 10 rebounds, and all five starters scored double figures to lead Southeast Missouri (1-10) to a 78-74 win over in-state rival Missouri State (4-8) Tuesday night.
Southeast snapped an 11-game losing streak, its fourth-longest in program history. The Redhawks also gave Rick Ray his first win as their head coach.
Southeast created lots of problems for MSU, which turned the ball over 16 times and shot only 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from 3-point range against the Ohio Valley Conference's top 3-point field goal percentage defense.
MSU led only once when Dequon Miller's 3-pointer gave the Bears a 6-5 edge with 18:08 left to play in the first half. After that, Southeast never relinquished its lead.
Things were tight between the longstanding rivals in the final 1:30, where neither team led by more than four and it was a one-possession game on four separate occasions.
Ryan Kreklow got a big bounce on a 3-pointer that clanked off the side of the iron and bounced up and hit the top of the backboard before dropping in the hoop to cut Southeast's lead to 74-73 at the 1:20 mark.
Jamaal Calvin, who was sidelined the last four games with a hamstring injury, missed three of four free throws before sinking two to give the Redhawks a 77-73 cushion with 30 seconds remaining. Miller later went to the free throw line to shoot two with 11 seconds on the clock. After making his first shot, Miller missed and Jarred Dixon grabbed the offensive rebound. Miller's jumper went off the rim and Cleveland was fouled on the rebound.
Cleveland's free throw with five seconds left iced Southeast's first victory of the season.
Southeast gained momentum with a strong start in the early going. The Redhawks forced eight MSU turnovers and scored 11 points off those mishaps. Eric McGill, who ranks fourth in the OVC in steals, had three and Isiah Jones collected two helping Southeast get ahead.
Offensively, the Redhawks made four of their first seven field goals, with Jones knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and McGill adding one. Southeast took a 15-8 lead on Joel Angus III's jumper right after McGill's trey.
Miller's layup tied the game at 25-25 with 6:15 left, but the Bears didn't get ahead. Angus answered with a jumper to kickstart a 15-8 run that closed out the period. He scored two more points on a couple free throws.
Cleveland also contributed five points and McGill made two layups. Tony Anderson rebounded a miss by Jones and scored with one second left to give Southeast a 40-33 lead at halftime.
The halftime lead was the Redhawks second of the season and first since Nov. 24 (42-36, at UT Rio Grande Valley).
Southeast, which led by 12 with 15:44 remaining in the second half, shot 48 percent (29-of-60) from the field for the second-straight game. The Redhawks posted season-highs in points, steals (11), points in the paint (42) and points off turnovers (18), as well.
Cleveland shot 6-of-10 from the field and 6-of-12 at the free throw line. He also had four assists and three steals in 35 minutes. It was Cleveland's first double-double this season and third of his career.
Jones followed with 17 points and made all but one of the Redhawks 3-pointers. He matched a career-high five 3s, shooting 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. Jones led Southeast with five assists and added three steals.
Angus scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds, while Trey Kellum and McGill each finished with 10 points to round out the Redhawks balanced scoring. McGill collected three steals and his 10 points were a season-high.
Southeast's distruptive defense limited MSU leading scorer Camyn Boone to just six points on four shot attempts. Boone entered the game averaging 13.7 points per contest.
Miller led the Bears with 17 points, while Dixon and Dorrian Williams followed with 15 and 10, respectively.
Tonight's win was the Redhawks first against the Bears in Springfield since Feb. 21, 1981.
IOWA 85, TENNESSEE TECH 63
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team was unable to put a ribbon on the end of its non-conference schedule as the Hawkeyes of the University of Iowa took down the Golden Eagles in Carver-Hawkeye Arena Tuesday evening, 85-63.
A tightly contested affair through much of the first half, the Hawkeyes caught fire down the stretch leading into the break, turning a 12-12 tie into a 43-21 halftime advantage.
That 10-minute stretch proved to be the difference in the contest, with Tech matching Iowa's offensive output in the second half. Each side put up 42 points in the final 20 minutes. On the glass, Iowa owned a slight 41-37 advantage, including a three-board swing on the offensive end. Iowa also forced the Golden Eagles into 18 turnovers while making just 10 of its own.
For the game, the Hawkeyes outshot the Golden Eagles from the field and downtown, recording percentages of 45.7 and 36.7, respectively. Tech came away from Iowa City shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Senior Torrance Rowe led the Tech scoring effort, posting 15 points while dishing out three assists and hauling in four rebounds. Junior Hakeem Rogers added 13 points off the bench, grabbing two steals and dishing out three dimes. He also ripped down a career-high six rebounds.
Peter Jok provided the top scoring effort for Iowa, leading all scorers with 21 points after hitting five treys. Nicholas Bear knocked down three attempts from downtown and finished 8-of-10 from the field to a tune of 19 points.