THURSDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 92, @Southeast Missouri 82
@Tennessee Tech 94, Eastern Illinois 84
@Jacksonville State 72, SIUE 67
BELMONT 92, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 82
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Senior Craig Bradshaw scored a season-high 28 points as Belmont University men's basketball defeated Southeast Missouri, 92-82, Saturday afternoon.
Belmont made a season-high 17 three-point field goals, coming two shy of its single-game program record of 19.
After the host Redhawks jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, the Bruins would sink 10 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes to lead 47-44 at halftime. Junior Nick Smith capped a 10-0 Belmont run to push the lead to 59-49 with 13:34 remaining.
Southeast Missouri, which entered 27 percent from three-point distance, went a season-high 10-for-19 from behind the arc. But the hosts could get no closer than six points.
Bradshaw added seven rebounds and six assists. Junior Taylor Barnette added 20 points and six assists, while junior Evan Bradds tallied his 13th career double-double - and fifth in the last eight games - with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Isiah Jones led Southeast Missouri (2-11, 0-1 OVC) with 20 points.
Belmont has now won 13 of its last 14 conference openers.
TENNESSEE TECH 94, EASTERN ILLINOIS 84
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A hot shooting stroke, particularly from downtown, was more than enough for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to kick off its Ohio Valley Conference season on a high note Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles splashed the nets to the tune of a 94-84 victory over Eastern Illinois.
A game that featured 11 lead changes and plenty of 3-point action, the Golden Eagles (9-5, 1-0) rode the steaming hot approaches of sophomore Aleksa Jugovic and seniors Ryan Martin and Torrance Rowe to an all-important win over the Panthers (3-10, 0-1), one that preserved the team's undefeated mark (8-0) in the Eblen Center in 2015-16.
Tech shot a staggering 62.7 percent from the field and a blistering 54.2 percent from deep, the team's best performance from beyond the arc since hitting 57.1 percent (8-for-14) against Utah Valley on Nov. 30, 2013. One must go back even further to find a Golden Eagle squad to shoot that well and make at least 10 treys. Back to a Jan. 10, 2013 tilt at none other than Eastern Illinois. TTU shot 12-for-22 from downtown in the contest, earning a 77-73 victory.
Jugovic led the way, leading all scorers with a career-high 26 points, thanks to 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, 8-of-11 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 showing from the charity stripe. The Leskovac, Serbia native also dished out a career-best seven assists in the contest while playing a game-high 38 minutes.
After falling into early foul trouble and subsequently taking a seat on the bench for all but eight minutes of the first half, Rowe blasted the scoreboard with 18 second-half points to finish 21 for the game. He also hit five treys on the day (on nine attempts) and posted four dimes while finished 7-for-12 from the field.
Martin battled inside the paint and stepped out for a couple of deep bombs, notching his third 20-point performance of the season. He finished 8-of-15 from the field in 30 minutes of action. Fellow big man Anthony Morse took care of the dirty business on the glass, hauling in a career-high 14 rebounds while also finishing a perfect 3-for-3 from the field. He posted eight points, just missing out on his second career double-double, and rejected three more shots, tying his career-high for a season with 32 on the year.
One game removed from posting a career mark in rebounding, Shirmane Thomas tied his best performance sharing the ball, collecting seven assists with just two turnovers.
The Panthers saw four of its own reach double figures in scoring, led by Cornell Johnston and Trae Anderson with 17 points apiece. Demetrius McReynolds added 16 and Casey Teson notched 12, all of which came from downtown. Johnston nearly posted a double-double, racking up nine assists.
Eastern Illinois looked very comfortable early in the contest, jumping out to a stunning 9-0 lead. Tech immediately answered, however, jumping on an 8-0 run of its own to make it contest that wouldn't see a double-digit lead until the closing minute.
The Golden Eagles ended the first half with a slight 38-35 advantage, before nearly blowing the roof off the Eblen Center with a 56-point second half showing. The Tech squad simply didn't miss over the final 20 minutes, firing at a 73.9 percent clip from the field and a mind-blowing 66.7 percent showing from 3-point range. Tech also hit 16 of its 22 second-half free throw attempts.
Jugovic, Rowe and Martin all notched 20 or more points, becoming the first Tech trio to accomplish the feat since Jan. 5, 2012. In a contest against Tennessee State, Jud Dillard (29), Kevin Murphy (29) and Zac Swansey (20) also accomplished the feat.
Tech's 23 assists marked the fourth time of the 2015-16 season that the squad dished out at least 20 dimes in a contest, doing so in victories over Piedmont College, UC Clermont and Mississippi Valley State. The Golden Eagles' 13 made 3-pointers represented the second-highest output from downtown on the year, trailing the team's 14 treys against Piedmont College.
The team's 62.7 field goal percentage represented the highest mark since shooting 64.4 percent from the floor in a 94-64 victory over Reinhardt College on Nov. 15, 2011.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 72, SIUE 67
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - In a game that never saw a double-digit lead, the Jacksonville State men's basketball team held off SIU Edwardsville to close 2015 and open Ohio Valley Conference play with a 72-67 win on Thursday.
The Gamecocks (5-11, 1-0 OVC) and Cougars (3-10, 0-1 OVC) exchanged blows early before JSU took the lead for good with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. An early 7-0 run by JSU, its longest of the game, turned a three-point SIUE lead into a four-point JSU lead it would cling to the rest of the night.
The Gamecocks got 14 points from Greg Tucker in the second half and 16 on the night, one of three Gamecocks in double figures in the game. The junior from Charleston, Mo., was 3-for-4 from behind the arc in the second half to help JSU hold off several comeback attempts by the Cougars. Tucker also dished four assists and grabbed four boards.
Sophomore Malcolm Drumwright led JSU with 19 points, while freshman Jared Hamilton added 10. Senior Jeremy Watson scored eight while leading the Gamecocks with nine rebounds. Freshman Andre Statam went 3-fof-3 from behind the arc to account for his nine points.
The Cougars got 21 points in the paint from center Yemi Makanjoula, who went 8-for-10 from the field and pulled down eight rebounds. Keenan Simmons led all players with 10 boards to pace SIUE to a 32-28 advantage on the glass.
SIUE scored the game's first five points and held a four-point lead with 15:27 left in the first half. The Gamecocks got a Drumwright 3-pointer and back-to-back layups from Watson and Tucker to take their first lead of the night. SIUE got it back on a Carlos Anderson trey, but JSU went on its game-winning seven-point run to take the lead for good.
A JaQuail Townser jumper at the end of the half sent JSU into the locker room with a 33-28 lead, and the Gamecocks would build it to 46-37 by the 14-minute mark of the second half.
SIUE cut it to one with 11:07 to play, but another Drumwright triple stopped the bleeding. A 5-0 Cougar run that tied the game at 56-56 was their biggest threat, but another 3-point play, an old-fashioned one by Hamilton, put JSU back on top for good.