THURSDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 75, Southeast Missouri 72
@Belmont 66, Eastern Kentucky 61
UT Martin 75, @Eastern Illinois 73 (OT)
SIUE 75, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 72
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball locked up its second straight Ohio Valley Conference tournament bid with a 75-72 victory over Southeast Missouri Thursday at Vadalabene Center.
Thursday's win is No. 600 in the history of SIUE's men's basketball program.
SIUE improved to 11-14 overall, matching its win total from last season. The Cougars are now 7-7 in the OVC, which also matches last year's win mark. Southeast Missouri fell to 12-15 overall and 6-8 in the OVC.
It what truly was a game of runs, it was SIUE who, for the second consecutive game, got out to a fast start. The Cougars opened up a 7-1 lead before the first media timeout. SIUE pushed its lead to 30-17 before Southeast Missouri pushed back.
Isiah Jones personally ran off the next 13 points for Southeast Missouri to knot the score 30-30 with 1:46 to play before halftime. The Redhawks finished the half on a 17-2 run to lead 34-32 at the break.
Southeast Missouri continued its run after the break, swelling the lead to nine points (51-42) with 13:05 to play in the game.
Kris Davis capped off a 17-4 SIUE run with a layup at 6:55 to make it 59-55 Cougars. Though the Redhawks pulled even once, they did not lead again. Donivine Stewart gave SIUE its largest lead of the second half with a layup to make it 70-61 with just 51 seconds left.
Jones hit three-pointers on consecutive Southeast Missouri possessions to trim SIUE's lead to just 73-70 with 22 seconds left. Keaton Jackson hit one of two free throws to extend the Cougar lead back to four. Nino Johnson cut it to 74-72 with a dunk with just eight seconds to play. Davis hit one of two free throws with seven seconds left for the final margin.
Davis led three SIUE players in double figures with 15 points. Jackson finished the game with 13 points while Rozell Nunn added 12. In all, six Cougars scored at least seven points. Michael Messer and Jake Newton each scored nine points. Stewart added seven points and four assists.
SIUE connected on 51.8 percent (29-56) of its shots, marking back-to-back games the Cougars have shot 50 percent or better from the field. SIUE scored 46 points in the paint and tuned 14 Southeast Missouri turnovers into 23 points.
Jones and Jarekious Bradley each scored 21 points to lead the Redhawks. Bradley added 12 rebounds for the double-double. Johnson added 15 points in the loss.
BELMONT 66, EASTERN KENTUCKY 61
NASHVILLE - Craig Bradshaw scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Belmont to a 68-61 win over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday night.
Taylor Barnette added 11 points and Caleb Chowbay 10 for the Bruins (17-10, 9-5 Ohio Valley), who trailed 35-29 at the half.
Belmont hit 6 of its 11 3-pointers and went 11 of 14 from the line in the second half to rally past the Colonels, scoring the last eight points of the game.
Timmy Knipp had 18 for Eastern Kentucky (16-10, 8-5), which went 6 of 27 (22 percent) beyond the arc.
The Colonels pounded the ball inside, outscoring Belmont 32-12 in the paint but the Bruins dominated the boards 40-22, including 14-4 on the offensive end for a plus-10 on second-chance points.
Belmont trailed 47-31 five minutes into the second half but went on a 20-3 run, taking a 51-50 lead on Chowbay's 3 less than five minutes later.
Belmont has won 29 consecutive conference home games and is 23-0 in OVC home games.
EKU played without leading scorer Corey Walden who missed the game with a minor injury.
UT MARTIN 75, EASTERN KENTUCKY 73 (OT)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Junior forward Twymond Howard accumulated his fourth double-double of the season – including the game-winning layup with less than four seconds to go in overtime – to lift the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team to a 75-73 victory at Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Illinois.
Howard’s offensive rebound preceding the final bucket of the game gave him a career-best 13 boards while his layup resulted in 14 points for the evening. His game-winner improved the Skyhawks to 17-9 overall and 9-4 in the OVC standings.
UT Martin also received a huge effort out of redshirt senior Marshun Newell, who scored a career-high 24 points to go along with seven rebounds while logging all 45 minutes of playing time. The 6-3, 195-pound Memphis, Tenn. native poured in seven straight points for the Skyhawks in the final 2:05 of regulation to send the game into overtime.
Alex Anderson compiled 14 points (including four 3-pointers) while Arkeem Joseph (nine points, seven rebounds) and Deville Smith (eight points, six rebounds, six assists) also had noteworthy performances for UT Martin, who improves to 3-0 in overtime games this season.
Chris Olivier posted 25 points, seven rebounds and six blocks for Eastern Illinois (15-12, 8-6 OVC) while Cornell Johnston tallied 15 points and LeTrell Viser added 11 points for the Panthers.
UT Martin began the game on a lengthy run, scoring the first 13 points of the contest. Four different Skyhawks scored during the early run, as Newell buried a step-back three-pointer to provide UT Martin with a 13-0 lead.
The Skyhawks held Eastern Illinois scoreless for the first 6:15 of the game but upon scoring, the Panthers went on a 16-5 run to pull within two points until back-to-back buckets by Joseph extended UT Martin’s lead out to 22-16 with 6:04 to go in the first half.
Eastern Illinois would tie the game twice but the Skyhawks took a 33-28 lead into the locker room thanks to a right wing three-pointer by Smith and layup by Joseph to close out the half.
The Skyhawk trio of Howard, Newell and Joseph each had eight points in the first half to lead UT Martin, who outrebounded the Panthers by a 21-11 margin in the first 20 minutes. Olivier, Johnston and Viser had six points apiece to pace Eastern Illinois.
Anderson sank a three-pointer early in the second half to extend UT Martin’s lead out to 36-30 but the Panthers answered with an 8-2 run to even the score at 38-all with 16:30 left to play in regulation.
The two teams kept trading blows, as UT Martin was not able to push its lead to more than three points through the next nine-plus minutes. Five more ties followed until Eastern Illinois grabbed its first lead of the contest when Johnston made a three-pointer from the left corner to make the score 55-52 with 6:21 left to play in the second half.
UT Martin’s deficit was four points until a short jumper by Howard and a free throw by Joseph pulled the Skyhawks within one (58-57) with 3:29 to go in regulation. Olivier made a pair of free throws on Eastern Illinois’ next possession but seven straight points by Newell in the next 1:05 resulted in a tie at 64-all with a minute left to play in regulation. The Skyhawks came away with a defensive stop but Newell’s potential game-winner shot was partially blocked and the game was sent into overtime.
The Panthers accounted for the first four points in overtime but Anderson buried a deep three-pointer and Smith added a pair of free throws at the 2:08 mark to propel UT Martin to a 69-68 lead. Olivier answered with a dunk to put Eastern Illinois ahead by a 70-69 margin but Newell and Howard each sank a pair of free throws to make the score 73-70 in favor of the Skyhawks.
Johnston corralled a loose ball and sank a three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining to result in the 11th tie of the game. Coming out of a timeout, Howard crashed the boards on a missed UT Martin shot and converted a tough contested layup to put the Skyhawks ahead 75-73 with 3.7 seconds remaining.
Eastern Illinois then called a full timeout to set up the final play of the game. Reggie Smith’s halfcourt heave rimmed out as time expired, clinching the win for UT Martin.