2015 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - First Round

3/4/2015 8:00:55 AM

#5 MOREHEAD STATE 79, #8 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74
NASHVILLE (AP) - Kareem Storey and Angelo Warner combined to sink four foul shots in the final nine seconds as fifth-seeded Morehead State squeaked past No. 8 seed Southeast Missouri State 79-74 in the opening round of the Ohio Valley tournament Wednesday night.

Morehead State (16-16) barely survived the first-round upset as a dunk from Jarekious Bradley pulled the Redhawks (13-17) within 73-72 with 39 seconds left and Antonius Cleveland made two from the line for the Redhawks with 10 seconds left, closing to 75-74.

Storey and Warner were perfect down the stretch and Southeast Missouri's Jamaal Calvin missed a 3-point shot with two seconds remaining.

Billy Reader led Morehead State with 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting and 10 rebounds. Warner finished with 16 points, including 7 of 9 at the line, and Corban Collins and Karam Mashour each added 12 points.

Bradley led SE Missouri State with 23.

Morehead State faces fourth-seeded UT Martin Thursday.

#6 EASTERN ILLINOIS 78, #7 SIUE 66
NASHVILLE - Eastern Illinois had four players score in double figures as the Panthers won their first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament game since 2010 on Wednesday night with a 78-66 win over SIU Edwardsville at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.

EIU improved to 17-13 overall and will play No. 3 seed Belmont on Thursday night at 8 p.m. SIUE ended the season at 12-16.

The Panthers led 30-26 at the half as EIU had balanced scoring from Chris Olivier and Trae Anderson, both finishing with nine points in the first half.

In the second half EIU dumped the ball in the low block to Olivier as they extended the lead to 39-28 on a dunk by the junior post player. Olivier was 10-of-13 from the field finishing with 24 points.

Maurice Wiltz had a 3-pointer and a jumper to cut into the Panthers lead as Wiltz jumper at 12:46 trimmed EIU's lead to six points. Keaton Jackson would hit a free throw with 8:20 to play to cut the margin to five.

Each time EIU was able to answer as Cornell Johnston took aim from 3-point range in the second half. Johnston finished with 22 points hitting 5-of-6 from 3-point range. EIU was 9-of-20 from 3-point range for the game while shooting 50 percent from the field.

An Olivier lay-up with 4:01 to play staked EIU to a double figure lead as the Panthers closed out the win. Anderson added 14 points while Reggie Smith scored 13 all off the bench.

Wiltz had 14 points for SIUE while C.J. Carr led the Cougars with 15 points.