THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 72, Tennessee State 57
@Murray State 82, Southeast Missouri 72
UT Martin 76, @Austin Peay 64
@Eastern Kentucky 81, Belmont 69
MOREHEAD STATE 72, TENNESSEE STATE 57
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior Karam Mashour posted his third Division I double-double, with a game-high 21 points and career-best 14 rebounds, to power the Morehead State men's basketball team to a 72-57 Ohio Valley Conference win over Tennessee State on Thursday evening at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who have won four of their last five contests, improve to 11-14 overall, 6-4 in league play and 4-6 at home. The Tigers fall to 5-19 overall, 2-7 in conference action and 0-13 on the road. Morehead State also improves to 34-30 in the all-time series against Tennessee State.
Mashour, playing in his 27th tilt at Morehead State, finished with the most rebounds of any Eagle this season. He drilled 9-of-16 from the field and handed out a team-high four assists in 37 minutes. The native of Israel is averaging 14.4 points and 8.6 rebounds over his last seven games.
Junior Brent Arrington added 13 points for Morehead State, while senior Angelo Warner and junior Anthony Elechi contributed eight each. Senior Billy Reader registered a career-best five blocks for the Eagles. MSU had seven different players with at least one board and one assist.
Morehead State never trailed in the contest. The Eagles opened up a 17-point advantage shortly before halftime and led by 10 at intermission. Tennessee State trimmed the deficit to single digits multiple times and 59-53 with 4:02 to play, but MSU closed out the affair on a 13-4 run.
Tennessee State was limited to 36 percent (20-of-56) from the field, including just 25 percent (8-of-32) in the opening half. The Tigers converted on just 27 percent (4-of-15) of their long-range attempts. Morehead State, meanwhile, knocked down 53 percent (28-of-53) from the floor.
Morehead State posted advantages of 19-13 in assists, 8-4 in blocks, 14-0 in fast-break points, 36-28 in paint points and 34-30 in rebounds. The Eagles, who pace the OVC in rebounding margin, are +66 in total boards over their past 11 games. MSU has only been outrebounded once during that stretch.
Freshman Christian Mekowulu canned 7-of-10 from the field and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to finish with a team-best 20 points for Tennessee State.
MURRAY STATE 82, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 72
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers kept their winning ways and winning streak going Thursday with an 82-72 victory over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers, who haven't dropped a game since Thanksgiving weekend, pushed their winning streak to 18 and improved to 20-4 overall and 10-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SEMO fell to 10-13 and 4-6.
Steve Prohm joined the first coach in school history, Carlisle Cutchin, with four straight 20-win seasons. Additionally, Prohm is the only coach in school history to begin his era with four straight.
The Racers did it with a tremendous burst after leading at halftime 36-31.
Leading 50-43 with 14:59 remaining, the Racers put together a 20-5 run over the next nine minutes to lead by 22 points 70-48. Leading by the same margin on a Justin Seymour 3-pointer with 4:55 left, the Racers had to hold off a SEMO rally that cut the lead to six with 1:02 left.
Jarvis Williams led the Racers with his ninth double-double this season and his 23rd at MSU with 23 points and 11 rebounds. T.J. Sapp added 19 points, while Cameron Payne added 16 points and a game-high six assists. Jeffery Moss rounded out four Racers in double-figure scoring with 10 points.
The Racers won the battle of the boards 37-27 making it eight-straight games winning the rebound stat.
For the game, MSU shot 52 percent on 29-of-56 shots from the field, while SEMO was 24-of-55 for 44 percent.
UT MARTIN 76, AUSTIN PEAY 64
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Redshirt senior guard Marshun Newell accumulated career-high totals of 23 points and 17 rebounds to boost the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team to a 76-64 victory over Austin Peay at the Dunn Center this evening.
A 6-3, 195-pound Memphis native, Newell accounted for his fourth double-double of the season while adding three assists and three steals for the Skyhawks (14-8, 6-3 Ohio Valley Conference). He went 8-for-12 from the floor (including 4-of-5 from three-point range) and knocked down four of his five free throw attempts. He became the first Skyhawk to pull down at least 15 rebounds in a game since Djero Riedewald accomplished the feat against Elon on Nov. 22, 2008.
Alex Anderson also had a big night offensively, establishing a new career-high with 19 points while logging all 40 minutes. He made all six of his free throw attempts – all of which came in the final 49 seconds after Austin Peay got within single-digits.
Deville Smith compiled 15 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Skyhawks, who shot 62.5 percent (15-for-24) in the second half to win in Clarksville for the first time in exactly six years (Feb. 5, 2009).
Austin Peay (7-16, 2-7 OVC) was led by Josh Robinson’s 15 points off the bench. Chris Horton tallied 14 points and nine rebounds while Ed Dyson tallied 10 points for the Governors, who shot 38.9 percent for the contest (21-for-54).
Newell had the hot hand early, scoring the Skyhawks’ first eight points of the game – including back-to-back three-pointers from the right corner. A mere 10 seconds after Newell’s second three-pointer, Anderson canned a trifecta from the left corner off a Governor turnover to give UT Martin an 11-3 lead.
Austin Peay would later go on an 8-2 run to close within two points at the 11:48 mark. Back-to-back buckets by Twymond Howard and Arkeem Joseph extended the Skyhawk lead back out to six points at 19-13 midway through the first half.
The Governors were able to cut UT Martin’s lead back down to two points before back-to-back baskets by Newell closed out the half and provided the Skyhawks with a 29-24 lead.
Newell poured in a game-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting while corralling eight rebounds in the first half for UT Martin. Dyson had nine points off a trio of three-pointers to lead Austin Peay at the break.
After Horton scored the first points of the second half, the Skyhawks posted an extended run to create some breathing room. Anderson scored eight points – including five points in the span of 16 seconds – during an 18-0 run to provide UT Martin with a 47-26 lead with 14 minutes left to play.
A fast break dunk by Smith at the 12:12 mark made the score 51-31 in favor of the Skyhawks. Austin Peay was able to make a push thanks to three 3-pointers, getting within 11 points (53-42) with 9:16 remaining.
However, Newell delivered daggers down the stretch to will UT Martin to the win. He swished a three-pointer from the left wing at the 7:36 mark to stretch the Skyhawk lead out to 15 points. A little over three minutes later, Newell knocked down another trifecta – this time from the right corner – to build UT Martin’s lead out to 65-47 with 4:34 left to play.
Austin Peay used a 13-3 run in the waning moments of the game to get within eight points but that was ultimately as close as the Governors would get the rest of the way.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 81, BELMONT 69
RICHMOND, Ky. - In a game of runs, it was Eastern Kentucky that took control of the game with a 15-4 spurt in the second half on its way to a 81-69 victory over Belmont on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
The Bruins (15-8, 7-3 OVC), the leaders of the Ohio Valley Conference East Division, opened the second half with 10 straight points to close within one, 40-39. It took three minutes for the Colonels (13-9, 5-4 OVC) to score their first points of the half, but once Eric Stutz got it started with a lay-up EKU scored 15 of the next 19 to build a 12-point advantage.
Stutz took a pass from Timmy Knipp and thundered down the lane for a dunk. Corey Walden came up with a steal at the other end, took it to the house for a lay-up and drew the foul. His free throw capped the game-changing run and put Eastern ahead 55-43 with 12:41 left to play.
EKU essentially put the game away by extending its run to 21-7 to go in front by 15 with 9:39 remaining. Belmont got as close as six with just over four minutes to go.
Stutz made 10-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range, to finish with a career-best 27 points. He also had six rebounds and three steals. Walden finished with 15 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Taylor Barnette and Reece Chamberlain scored 14 points each for the Bruins. Evan Bradds had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Craig Bradshaw, the third leading scorer in the OVC at 18.7 points per night, finished with just six on 2-of-6 shooting.
EKU shot 62 percent in the second half and 57 percent for the game. The Bruins made 53 percent of their shots but turned the ball over nine more times. Eastern out-scored BU 32-10 off turnovers.
The first half was a series of runs. With Belmont leading 5-3 early, the Colonels rolled off a 19-4 run that had the large crowd going crazy. Eastern hit three 3-pointers during the run. A triple from the right wing by Walden followed by a steal and lay-up from the senior finished it off and put the home squad in front 22-9.
Later in the half, the Bruins scored 12 unanswered to close a 15-point deficit to two. Seven of Belmont’s points came off four EKU turnovers. Chamberlain’s three-pointer made it 31-28 with 4:18 left in the first half.
Eastern had a scoring drought of 3:36 during the Belmont run, but then the Bruins went the final 4:18 scoring only one free throw. Stutz went to work inside. On headband night at McBrayer Arena, the senior who has made headwear a campus-wide trend scored six straight points. Knipp’s three-pointer with 36 seconds on the clock made it a 9-1 run and sent EKU to the locker room in front by 11, 40-29.
Knipp finished the night with 12 points.