THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 82, UT Martin 74
Belmont 72, @Jacksonville State 63
Southeast Missouri 58, @SIUE 51
@Tennessee Tech 81, Tennessee State 79
EASTERN ILLINOIS 82, UT MARTIN 74
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois collected 16 offensive rebounds on Thursday and second chance points proved to be the difference as the Panthers beat UT Martin, 82-74, in Lantz Arena. EIU converted those 16 offensive boards into 16 second chance points with A.J. Riley pulling down four of his 11 rebounds on the offensive glass.
EIU improved to 8-13 overall, 5-4 in the OVC while UTM fell to 10-12 overall, 2-5 in the OVC.
The second chance points along with some timely 3-point shooting allowed the Panthers to overcome a 50 percent shooting night by the Skyhawks.
Demetrius McReynolds had the hot hand for the Panthers in the second half scoring 20 of his 27 points in the half. It was the third time this season the junior guard has scored 19 or more points in a half. McReynolds opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers allowing EIU to extend the lead to four points. McReynolds big shot of the half was a four-point play which gave EIU a 59-55 lead with 12:44 to play.
UT Martin countered by dumping the ball in the paint where they had a 38-24 points in the paint scoring advantage. Javier Martinez had 12 points off the bench with six of them during a six minute stretch that saw UTM take a 71-68 lead with 5:53 to play. Jacolby Mobley sank a pair of 3-pointers during the same time frame for the Skyhawks.
After Mobley’s second 3-pointer at the 5:53 mark, EIU went on a 9-0 run with two free throws by McReynolds, two buckets by Trae Anderson and a 3-pointer by Cornell Johnston. Johnston’s 3-pointer with 3:14 left to play staked EIU to a 77-71 lead as the Panthers held off the Skyhawks with three free throws and an Anderson lay-up. Anderson scored 17 points with eight rebounds. Johnston had 18 points. Riley had seven points and six assists to go with his 11 rebounds.
UT Martin shot 50 percent in both halves but was 8-of-23 from 3-point range on the night. Twymond Howard led UTM with 14 points. Myles Taylor (11 points) and Alex Anderson (10 points) also finished in double figures.
BELMONT 72, JACKSONVILLE STATE 63
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Behind 30 points and 11 rebounds from junior Evan Bradds, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Jacksonville State, 72-63, Thursday night.
The Bruins (16-6, 8-0 OVC) held Jacksonville State scoreless during a six-minute stretch in the first half as Bradds scored six points during an 11-0 run.
After Greg Tucker gave the hosts an 18-17 lead, Belmont closed the half on a 20-8 spurt, highlighted by a baseline three-pointer from Dylan Windler. Belmont led 37-26 at halftime.
Two more field goals from Bradds - off assists from senior Craig Bradshaw - increased the lead to 41-26 with 17:01 left.
A Tucker three-pointer got Jacksonville State within 50-45 at the 11:07 mark, but seven more points from Bradds pushed the Belmont lead back to 59-46. Jacksonville State never got closer than eight.
Bradds, the nation's field goal percentage leader, went 12-for-15 from the field, after going 12-for-14 from the field en route to a career-high 36 points Jan. 24 versus Tennessee State.
Tucker led Jacksonville State (8-16, 4-5 OVC) with 15 points.
Belmont has won nine straight games.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58, SIUE 51
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Jamaal Calvin scored 15 points and made six big free throws in the final 41 seconds of the game to lead Southeast Missouri (5-16, 2-6) to a 58-51 victory over SIU Edwardsville (4-17, 1-8) Thursday night at the Vadalabene Center.
In a low scoring affair, Southeast overcame a season-low .286 field goal percentage with excellent defense and a mammoth second-half effort at the free throw line to eke out its third-straight win.
Southeast made only three field goals in the first 10:29 of the second half. After Antonius Cleveland's dunk narrowed SIUE's lead to 28-26 at the 17:29 mark, the Redhawks went almost eight minutes without a field goal. The Cougars capitalized on the drought, stringing together a 15-4 run to build their biggest lead at 41-32 with 11:34 remaining.
After Calvin's free throw closed SIUE's lead to three at the 8:07 mark, the Cougars managed to get back up by seven (45-38) right before Southeast's decisive rally down the stretch.
Isiah Jones stole the ball and pitched it ahead to Eric McGill who scored his lone field goal on a fastbreak layup to dice SIUE's lead to four. Then, McGill rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Burak Eslik and Trey Kellum scored on Southeast's ensuing possession to pull the Redhawks to within two (45-43).
Jones came up with another big steal, was fouled and made two free throws to tie the game at 45-45. Eslik missed again from long range and Kellum was fouled the next time Southeast had the ball. Kellum's free throws gave the Redhawks a slight 47-45 advantage with 3:15 on the clock. Shortly after Carlos Anderson's two free throws brought the game to a 47-47 deadlock, the Redhawks took over for good.
Kellum grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup after Michael Chandler blocked a shot by Calvin. Kellum was fouled on the play and converted the 3-point play. Southeast's defense stopped SIUE again and, this time, Calvin rebounded a missed layup by Kellum. Cleveland followed with a huge basket, giving Southeast a 52-47 lead with 59 seconds remaining.
Calvin took it from there, sinking his final six free throws to nail down the win.
The Ohio Valley Conference's 11th and 12th-place scoring teams combined for only 42 points in the first half. Southeast forced nine turnovers, as SIUE had more turnovers than made field goals (8) in the game's opening 20 minutes. SIUE held a 22-20 halftime lead.
The Redhawks, also 12th in the OVC in free throw percentage, outscored SIUE, 21-11, at the charity stripe in the second half. Southeast made 21-of-25 free throws for 84 percent.
Calvin pulled down a career-high eight rebounds and scored seven of his points (7-of-9) at the free throw line. Kellum added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Cleveland finished with 10 points. Joel Angus III contributed eight points and three blocks, and McGill collected six rebounds, as well.
In all, Southeast's guards had 22 of the Redhawks 43 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Defensively, the Redhawks forced 16 turnovers.
Eslik led SIUE with a game-high 16 points and Chandler gathered an OVC single-game high eight blocks.
TENNESSEE TECH 81, TENNESSEE STATE 79
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Hakeem Rogers came off the bench to score a career-high 23 points and Ryan Martin had his sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but it was two free throws by Torrance Rowe with one-half second left to deliver an 81-79 Ohio Valley Conference victory for the Golden Eagles over Tennessee State Thursday night in Eblen Center.
Trailing by 10 at halftime and taking their first lead of the second half with just 3.23 to play, the Golden Eagles (15-7/7-2 OVC) remained unbeaten at home with an 11-0 mark. Tech is off to its best start of the season since 2005-06.
Tennessee State (14-6/5-2 OVC) lost its second consecutive conference game, after falling at Belmont Sunday afternoon.
Tech held a 79-76 lead with just 10 seconds to play when Keron DeShields drew an off-balance foul while firing up a desperation 3-pointer with 5.5 seconds to play. He made two free tosses to get the Tigers within one, then came back following a Tech timeout to knock down the third and tie the contest.
The Golden Eagles got the ball inbounds to Rowe, who raced the length of the floor and pulled up for 3-pointer in the face of a leaping Tahjere McCall, who was whistled for the foul as the horn sounded.
After an official review of the replay, Rowe made his first two free throws then missed the final try, and TSU wasn’t able to coral the rebound in time to launch another shot.
After shadow boxing through the first fie minutes, the Tigers surged into a lead behind 3-pointers by DeShields and McCall on the way to a 14-8 lead with 14:16 to play in the half. Tennessee State was able to maintain its lead the remainder of the period, eventually opening it to a 10-point spread at halftime, 43-33.
The largest margin of the night came early in the second half when TSU pushed it to 11 points, 52-41, with 15:47 to play.
Tech went on a 10-0 run, featuring three free throws and a layup from Rogers and capped by Rowe’s jumper.
TSU took it back to nine with a 10-2 stretch, and the Golden Eagles continued to play catch-up.
Finally, with 4:11 remaining, Martin’s slam dunk tied the game at 67-67.
The Golden Eagles were up by four points, 77-73, before DeShields hit a free throw followed by a layup to make it just one point. Rogers made two charity tosses before DeShields hit the three with five seconds left to set the stage for Rowe’s game-winning points.
It was the third time this season that the Golden Eagle senior scored the decisive points, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer at Lipscomb and scored a game-tying layup at the buzzer against Jackson State and Tech went on to win in overtime.
The win also marked the fifth time this season that the Golden Eagles have posted a win after trailing by double figures, and the third-largest deficit they have overcome this season for a victory.
DeShields led all scorers with 37 points, going 10-for-19 from the field including 5-for-10 from long distance, and 12-of-14 at the free throw line. McCall finished with 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. He also had five assists and three steals. Wayne Martin added eight points and nine rebounds.
Rogers went 7-for-11 from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range, on his way to 23 points. Rowe finished with 19 points and four assists while Martin added 17 points and 14 rebounds, along with a career-high four assists.
Aleksa Jugovic scored 10 points, while Anthony Morse had six rebounds and a season-high four blocked shots. Shirmane Thomas finished with five points, seven rebounds and four assists.