SUNDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 78, @Morehead State 74
@Southeast Missouri 68, UT Martin 60 (OT)
@Belmont 103, Tennessee State 95
JACKSONVILLE STATE 78, MOREHEAD STATE 74
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Jacksonville State made the most of its extended stay in Morehead, Kentucky.
The Gamecocks (8-15, 4-4 Ohio Valley Conference) were snowed in for two days and had their road game at the Eagles (10-9, 4-3 OVC) pushed back a day after 8-10 inches of snow fell on the area Friday. They brought the heat to Johnson Arena from the opening tip and grabbed a 78-74 road win.
Erik Durham made his first six 3-point attempts and led the Gamecocks to a 10-for-14 first half from behind the arc to open a 20-point lead. JSU then held off several late MSU charges to grab its first win at MSU since 2012 and just the fourth in program history.
Greg Tucker took over in the second half, scoring 13 of his career-high 24 in the final 20 minutes. More importantly, it was his timely drives and baskets that stopped MSU runs and kept JSU on top until the final horn.
Tucker's 24 and Durham's 20 made them the first Gamecocks to score 20 points in the same game since Nov. 11, 2013, when Darion Rackley and Brian Williams each had 23 at Chicago State.
JSU got double figures from four players in its third win in the last four games, two of which have been on the road. Its only blemish in that stretch was a three-point loss at Eastern Kentucky on Thursday.
Malcolm Drumwright scored 13 on a night in which he struggled early from the floor, but he made some key baskets down the stretch to help JSU hold on and dished nine assists for the second time in his last three games. Freshman Andre Statam made is first three 3-pointers to start his 11-point night, while Jeremy Watson led all players with nine rebounds.
The Eagles got 22 points from Xavier Moon and 15 from Anthony Elechi, who also grabbed eight boards.
The Gamecocks started the game on fire, thanks to Durham's outside shooting. The junior was 6-for-6 from the floor and 5-for-5 from behind the arc by the halfway point of the opening period.
JSU started fast and used a 17-0 run to extend a 10-8 lead into a 27-8 advantage with 11:12 on the clock. The Gamecocks would lead 30-10 before Morehead State started to slowly cut into the lead.
The Eagles pulled to within 11 on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Elechi with 14 seconds on the clock, but a Drumwright jumper at the horn sent the teams into the half with the Gamecocks leading 41-28.
Durham led all scorers with his 17 first-half points, thanks to a 6-for-6 start that included making his first five attempts from behind the arc. Tucker added 11 by going 3-for-6 from 3-point range.
The Eagles took control to start the second half. They opened on a 12-2 run that cut their deficit to 43-40 with 15 minutes to play. The Gamecocks stopped the bleeding on a drive from Tucker and a trey from Statam that pushed it back to a nine-point lead at 49-40.
MSU got within four at 53-49, but a pair of free throws from Tucker and a scoop-and-score from Drumwright gave the Gamecocks a little breathing room again at 57-49 with just under nine minutes on the clock.
After Durham's first basket of the second half, a 3-pointer from the corner, made it a 62-55 JSU lead, the Eagles made another charge. They pulled to within a point at 62-61 on another Elechi 3-point play with 4:25 left.
Tucker drove and got contact to push the lead back to three and then got a lay up to make it a 66-61 score with 2:57 left. The Gamecocks went to work on the defensive end, forcing turnovers on four of the next five MSU possessions to create some separation.
The Gamecocks took advantage of their trips to the stripe, making their first 16 in the second half to keep the Eagles at bay and seal the win.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68, UT MARTIN 60 (OT)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Antonius Cleveland and Trey Kellum each had a double-double to lift Southeast Missouri (4-16, 1-6) to a thrilling 68-60 overtime victory over UT Martin (10-11, 2-4) Sunday at the Show Me Center.
Southeast held a 19-point lead before Alex Anderson made a 3-pointer on four of five possessions late in the second half to get UTM back in the game.
Anderson was fouled on his fourth trey and converted a 4-point play to tie the game at 47-47 with 5:35 left to play. Myles Taylor then made two free throws to give the Skyhawks their first lead 48 seconds later. Taylor's two free throws ignited a 6-0 UTM run as the Skyhawks pulled ahead, 53-47, with 3:17 remaining.
After cutting UTM's lead in half with a 3-pointer, Cleveland rebounded a Eric McGill miss in transition, was fouled and went to the free throw line with three seconds left. Cleveland made his first free throw, but missed his second to win the game in regulation. Kedar Edwards rebounded Cleveland's miss and heaved a desperation shot from halfcourt that was off the mark, sending the game to overtime.
While it was Cleveland who hit the big free throw to get the game to an extra period, it was Kellum who made the difference in overtime. Kellum scored Southeast's first six points in OT, giving the Redhawks a 62-56 advantage. Kellum helped Southeast win the final period, 13-5, as the Redhawks made 7-of-9 free throws, including four-straight in the last 25 seconds to seal the victory.
Southeast forced 12 turnovers and held UTM to just 25 percent (7-of-28) from the field in the first half.
The Redhawks took advantage of the Skyhawks shooting woes, getting out to a 9-0 lead after Isiah Jones made a 3-pointer, Joel Angus III followed with a jumper and Cleveland added four more points. UTM went scoreless for the first 4:17 of the game before Taylor's jumper ended the drought. The Skyhawks missed 10 field goals and turned the ball over seven times in the opening 9:39.
Jones later put the Redhawks ahead, 28-9, with another 3-pointer at the 3:38 mark before Southeast led, 32-15, at the half. The halftime lead was Southeast's largest of the season and first in conference play.
UTM mounted its comeback by outscoring Southeast, 40-23, in the second half. The Skyhawks shot 43.3 percent (13-of-30) in the second stanza after their sluggish start.
Cleveland, who missed three games with an injured right wrist, finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in his impressive return. He also had two big steals in the final 1:33 of overtime. It was Cleveland's fourth double-double this season and sixth of his career. Kellum added 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for the first double-double of his career. He made two of his three field goals in overtime and went a near-perfect 5-of-6 at the free throw line. Angus dropped in 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Defensively, Southeast forced 18 turnovers and collected 11 steals. The Redhawks scored 20 points off UTM's mishaps.
Additionally, Southeast limited UTM to 33.8 percent (22-of-65) from the field, 15.4 percent (4-of-26) from 3-point range and held the Skyhawks top scoring threat (Twymond Howard) to only five points.
Edwards led UTM with a double-double 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Anderson followed with 16 points. Both Edwards and Anderson scored all of their points in the second half.
Southeast ended a six-game losing streak in Ohio Valley Conference play en route to giving Ray his first career OVC win.
BELMONT 103, TENNESSEE STATE 95
NASHVILLE - Behind career outings from sophomore Austin Luke and junior Evan Bradds, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee State, 103-95, Sunday afternoon.
Belmont made its five three-point field goal attempts - including three from Luke - to race out to a 30-11 lead nine minutes in.
Despite senior Craig Bradshaw picking up two early fouls, the Bruins rode Bradds to lead by as many of 24 points, 43-19, 15 minutes into the game.
Tennessee State closed to 55-39 at halftime, and got within 64-53 on a Tahjere McCall conventional three-point play, before Luke capped an 11-2 Belmont run.
After Belmont built an 88-65 lead with 8:30 left, Bradds scored 13 of the Bruins' final 16 points to close the game.
McCall's free throws with 59 seconds remaining proved to be the first time Tennessee State was within single figures since the 14:13 mark of the first half.
Bradds scored a career-high 36 points on 12-for-14 shooting - helping him regain the national field goal percentage lead. The total is two points shy of Belmont's Curb Event Center single-game scoring record of 38 points (Alex Renfroe, vs. Jacksonville (2/28/09)).
Luke added his first career double-double with a career-high 20 points and 11 assists.
Keron DeShields led Tennessee State (14-5, 5-1 OVC) with 33 points.
A myriad of records fell in this high-scoring affair, including most combined points (198), combined free throws attempted (75) and total fouls (57) in Curb Event Center history.
Belmont (15-6, 7-0 OVC) has won an NCAA-best 34 consecutive conference home games and has won 75 of its last 79 at home overall.