WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@#4 Kentucky 88,
Eastern Kentucky 67
@Marshall 82,
Eastern Illinois 76
SIUE 76, @Southern Illinois 74
@Texas Tech 68,
UT Martin 49
#4 KENTUCKY 88, EASTERN KENTUCKY 67
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team pulled to within eight points of Kentucky with just over six minutes to play, but the No. 4 Wildcats closed out the game on a 15-2 run to beat the Colonels, 88-67, on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
EKU (7-3) trailed the entire game, but never backed down from the much-bigger Kentucky team (8-1). In all, the Colonels cut a double-digit deficit to single-digits seven times in the game.
After trailing by 14 at halftime, Eastern opened the second half on a 10-2 run and got to within six, 52-46, when freshman Nick Mayo converted a fast-break layup with 17:47 remaining in the game.
When UK pushed its lead back to 16, 69-53, EKU responded again, this time with a 12-4 run that culminated with a pair of free throws by sophomore Paul Jackson that made it 73-65 with just over six minutes to play.
However, the Colonels did not score over the next four minutes, as the Wildcats pulled away late with 15-2 run.
Redshirt junior JaVontae Hawkins led the Colonels with 19 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Senior Jarelle Reischel added 12 points and six rebounds. Jackson tallied 10 points along with three assists and only one turnover.
The up-tempo Colonels won the turnover battle on the night, 17-13.
Kentucky’s length gave EKU trouble shooting from deep, though. The Colonels came into the game ranked sixth in the country in three-point field goal percentage (44.3), but shot only 28 percent (5-of-18) from long-range on Wednesday night.
Alex Poythress posted a game-high 21 points for Kentucky. In all, five Wildcats scored in double figures.
After Kentucky outscored EKU 12-2 in the opening minutes, the Colonels used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to one, 14-13, on a three-pointer by senior K.J. Bluford with 13:44 on the clock.
Eastern was still within six of the Wildcats when Jackson knocked down a jumper to make it 36-30 with 4:23 to play in the first half; however, Kentucky closed out the half on a 14-6 run to make it 50-36 at the break.
MARSHALL 82, EASTERN ILLINOIS 76
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Long scoring droughts in the second half by both teams played a factor in Wednesday night’s Global Sports Classic game between Marshall and Eastern Illinois. At the end of the night Marshall was able to use its early second half lead to the Thundering Herd’s advantage hanging on for an 82-76 win.
EIU fell to 2-5 on the year. Marshall won its first game of the year to move to 1-6. EIU returns to action on Saturday afternoon at Western Illinois.
Eastern Illinois cut the halftime lead to one point with Trae Anderson scoring two quick buckets to open the second half. After a Marshall basket, Patrick Muldoon would cut the Thundering Herd lead back to one point.
Good offensive rebounding by Marshall led to quick baskets by C.J. Burks and James Kelly that started a 14-4 Marshall run. EIU would go on a scoring drought of nearly 5:30 following a 3-pointer by Anthony Johnson at the 15:43 mark. EIU’s next basket would come at 10:11 on a 3-pointer by Casey Teson. Marshall led 66-51 at that point.
EIU went on a 10-0 run led by Anderson as the Panthers eventually closed the Marshall lead to five points with 3:18 left to play. The Panthers had several chances in the final three minutes to get closer but Marshall pulled down four offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive. Anderson’s bucket with 19 seconds left in the game cut the lead to four.
Anderson carried Eastern Illinois in the first half with 13 of his 31 points. Anderson pushed the Panthers to an early 9-5 lead with his basket at the 17:29 mark.
Austin Loop answered with back-to-back 3-pointers that started a 13-0 Marshall run giving the Thundering Herd an 18-9 lead with 15:04 to play in the first.
Marshall extended its lead to 15 points at the 10:26 mark with Ryan Taylor sinking a 3-pointer, one of eight first half 3-pointers by Marshall. They would finish 8-of-24 from 3-point range on the night.
Anderson helped EIU slowly cut into the lead with a basket at 9:59. Two baskets by Muldoon off of Marshall turnovers were part of a late 8-0 EIU that cut Marshall’s lead to one point with 1:07 left in the first half as A.J. Riley hit a runner in the lane.
Loop’s third 3-pointer of the first half with 27 seconds left in the half gave Marshall a 42-37 halftime lead.
Marshall had five players score in double figures led by Taylor with 21 and Burks with 19. Kelly had 16 points, 14 rebounds. Muldoon had 12 points for EIU and Riley added 13.
SIUE 76, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 74
CARBONDALE, Ill. - IUE men's basketball connected on a season-best 54 percent of its shots Wednesday, including knocking down a season-high 10 three-pointers en route to a 76-74 upset of SIU Carbondale at SIU Arena.
SIUE's win marked the first in the series with its sister school and was the first road win for the team under Head Coach Jon Harris. The Cougars improved to 2-7. It was the first home loss this season for SIU Carbondale which dropped to 8-2 with the defeat.
The Cougars led 39-37 at the break. The Salukis got a quick three-point play by Anthony Beane to open the second half and led 40-39 just 16 seconds into the period.
Burak Eslik hit a foul shot to tie the game 40-40 and then buried a three-pointer at the 19:03 mark to move the Cougars in front 43-40. They never trailed again in the game.
SIUE built as large as a 12-point lead in the game and survived a furious late comeback attempt by the Salukis.
Eslik gave the Cougars their largest lead with a jumper with 5:34 to play which made it 68-56. From there SIUC went on a 12-2 run to pull within one at 71-70. Eslik knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the game to push the Cougars' lead back to 74-70.
On the following possession, Armon Fletcher took a handoff and slammed in a two-handed dunk for SIUC. Fletcher then stole away then ensuing inbounds pass and scored off the glass to tie the score.
Following an SIUE timeout, C.J. Carr knocked down a jumper to give the Cougars back the lead. SIU Carbondale got the ball back with 25 seconds to play. The Cougars' forced Sean O'Brien into a contested three-pointer which missed before SIUE's Carlos Anderson yanked down the rebound as time expired.
Eslik led all scorers with a career-high 23 points. He was 8 of 15 from the field and 4 for 6 from three-point range.
Carr scored a season-high 16 points, going 6 for 7 from the field and hitting both of his three-point attempts. Grant Fiorentinos added 13 points and was the only other SIUE player to score in double figures.
Devin Thornton scored a career-high nine points off the bench, drilling three second-half three-pointers.
For the game, the Cougars were 25-46 (54.3 percent) from the field and 10 for 16 (62.5 percent) from three-point range.
Beane led the Salukis with 21 points. He hit two of SIUC's three three-pointers. The Salukis finished 3 for 15 from beyond the arc. O'Brien scored 15 and Fletcher finished with 10.
TEXAS TECH 68, UT MARTIN 49
LUBBOCK, Texas - Redshirt senior forward Myles Taylor accumulated his 16th career double-double this evening but the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team couldn’t shake off a slow start in a 68-49 loss at Big 12 power Texas Tech.
Taylor tossed in a team-best 14 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds for the Skyhawks (2-7). The Little Rock, Ark. native made six of his eight shot attempts, adding two free throws to go along with a season-high three blocks in only 24 minutes of action.
Richard Lee also tallied 12 points courtesy of four 3-pointers for UT Martin, who outscored the Red Raiders by a 33-29 margin in the second half.
Texas Tech (6-1) was led by 20 points by Toddrick Gotcher while Justin Gray pitched in with 15 points. The Red Raiders – whose only loss on the season came to No. 16 Utah – turned 17 Skyhawk turnovers into 18 points on the night.
Taylor opened the game’s scoring with a tough layup in traffic at the 19:22 mark of the first half. Texas Tech then accounted for 10 unanswered points before another Taylor bucket ended the Skyhawk drought.
A Lee trifecta from the right corner cut UT Martin’s deficit to six points (15-9) at the midway point of the first half. Lee knocked down another trey a little over two minutes later but the Red Raiders followed with an 11-0 run. Taylor scored the Skyhawks’ final four points of the half but ultimately Texas Tech took a 39-16 lead into the locker room at the break.
UT Martin shot just 25 percent (6-for-24) from the floor in the first 20 minutes despite eight points out of Taylor. Gotcher’s 12 points guided Texas Tech, who forced the Skyhawks into 11 turnovers in the first half.
A barrage of three-pointers allowed UT Martin to open the second half on a 16-6 run. Lee (two), Alex Anderson and Twymond Howard each connected on trifectas while Terrence Durham added a pair of free throws in the span of 4:29 to cut the Skyhawk deficit to 45-32.
Another trey from Anderson at the 10:17 mark trimmed Texas Tech’s lead down to 11 points (50-39) but the Red Raiders came right back with six straight points.
Taylor sank another tough layup off an offensive rebound with 7:16 to go to make the score 56-41 but UT Martin ultimately would not get any closer than 15 points the rest of the way.