SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Missouri State 91,
Jacksonville State 65
@UT Martin 88, UT Rio Grande Valley 80
@Southeast Missouri 86, Hannibal-LaGrange 54
@Morehead State 89, Lipscomb 75
Tennessee State 69, @Santa Clara 61
SIUE 77, Florida Atlantic 68 (Honolulu, Hawaii)
MISSOURI STATE 91, JACKSONVILLE STATE 65
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team was unable to overcome a hot-shooting Missouri State squad Sunday afternoon, falling 91-65 at JQH Arena.
Head coach Ray Harper's squad was not able to defend the three-ball against the Missouri Valley's preseason fourth-ranked team. Missouri State nailed 15 three-pointers (48.4%). Forty-five of MSU's 91 points were scored off threes, while they were a combined 30-for-64 from the floor.
Both teams got off to slow starts following a JSU-controlled tip. It took 1:51 before the Bears got on the board with a couple of free throws from guard Dequon Miller. The Missouri State shooters heated up afterwards to run out to a 12-0 lead. The Gamecocks were kept out of the basket until the 14:29 mark when Deshawn Jones hit a jumper.
Despite holding an early rebounding advantage, pulling down 17 rebounds in the first half, Jacksonville State was not able to capitalize on second-chance points. On the other hand, Missouri State took full advantage of the Gamecocks' 15 first-half turnovers. MSU scored 45 points in the first and 19 came off JSU turnovers.
The Jacksonville State offense surged in the second half, scoring 45 after a 20-point first half. Christian Cunningham scored all 13 of his points in the second half, and 12 of Norbertas Giga's 16 points came in the second half.
Cunningham and Giga were the Gamecocks' lone double-figure scorers. The towering duo also led the rebounding effort with a combined 15 boards. Cunningham reeled in eight and Giga had seven.
UT MARTIN 88, UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY 80
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team seized control early in the first half and staved off a late UT Rio Grande Valley run to win its home opener, 88-80, at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Four Skyhawks scored in double-figures today, as Jacolby Mobley sank four treys on his way to a team-high 20 points. Kedar Edwards was responsible for his seventh career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a career-best seven assists.
Fatodd Lewis tallied 15 of his career-best 17 points in the first half while Matthew Butler pitched in 14 points. Chandler Rowe also had a great all-around game with seven points, nine rebounds and a career-high six assists (against zero turnovers) for UT Martin, who led for 37:45 of clock time while improving to 1-1 on the season.
UT Rio Grande Valley (0-1) was led by Xavier McDaniel, Jr., who scored 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Antonio Green and Nick Dixon scored 20 points and 16 points, respectively, for the Vaqueros.
Javier Martinez got the Skyhawks going with a layup on the opening possession of the contest. McDaniel then scored UT Rio Grande Valley’s first eight points as the Vaqueros claimed a brief 8-7 advantage four minutes into the game.
The Skyhawks followed with three-pointers on their next four scoring possessions, as Mobley (twice), Lewis and Rowe all connected from deep range in the span of two minutes. Moments later, Mobley added a pair of free throws to cap off a 14-0 run that provided UT Martin with a 21-8 lead.
UT Rio Grande Valley got back within single-digits but Lewis carried the Skyhawks for a stretch, as the redshirt sophomore out of Memphis tossed in eight straight points for UT Martin. Another bucket by Lewis at the 3:07 mark padded the Skyhawk lead to 15 points before UT Martin settled for a 50-36 advantage at the halftime break.
Lewis’ 15 points led all scorers at the half, as the Skyhawks shot 63 percent (17-for-27) and knocked down seven of their 11 attempts from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. McDaniel, Jr. amassed 13 points to lead UT Rio Grande Valley.
Just as he did to begin the game, Martinez muscled up for a layup to start the second half scoring. His bucket with 19:41 remaining extended UT Martin’s lead to 52-36 – the biggest advantage of the day.
However, the Vaqueros whittled their deficit down to just four points thanks to a 14-2 run. Malik Pugh temporarily stopped UT Rio Grande Valley’s run with a backdoor layup but an old fashioned three-point play by McDaniel made the score 56-53 at the 13:43 mark.
Mobley answered with five straight points, followed by two straight buckets by Edwards to help the Skyhawks push their lead out to 65-56 midway through the half.
A jumper by Lewis with 8:37 left to play made the score 69-58 in favor of UT Martin but the Vaqueros had one last run in them. UT Rio Grande Valley went on a 10-1 run over a stretch of 2:04, trailing by a 75-71 margin with 4:19 to go.
On the Skyhawks’ ensuing possession, Mobley swished a clutch trifecta to take the wind out of the Vaqueros’ sails. Edwards then closed out the game strong, scoring seven of UT Martin’s final 10 points down the stretch.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 86, HANNIBAL-LAGRANGE 54
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (1-1) established new single-game records in steals, turnovers forced and points off turnovers during a commanding 86-54 victory over Hannibal-LaGrange Sunday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
SEMO disrupted HLG into committing 30 turnovers, collected 23 steals and scored 41 points off the Trojans mishaps. All three of those marks are single-game records in the Redhawks NCAA Division I era which began in 1991-92.
SEMO used another strong start, this time going on a 12-2 run to build its first double-digit lead of the season over the opening 4:47 of the game. The Redhawks forced three turnovers and received six points from Trey Kellum to key the surge that ended on Kellum's jumper with 15:13 left to play in the first half.
HLG battled back to tie the game when Tim Pace buried a 3-pointer to make it a 25-25 contest with 5:22 remaining. Izack Hively later followed with a trifecta to give the Trojans their first lead (28-27).
The Redhawks closed out the half on an 11-3 run as Denzel Mahoney scored five points, Milos Vranes added four and Jonathan Dalton contributed two to grab SEMO a 38-31 advantage at the intermission.
HLG made seven 3-pointers and shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but turned the ball over 12 times. SEMO scored 17 points off those miscues.
SEMO turned it up a notch higher on the defensive end in the second half, forcing 18 more turnovers.
That momentum carried over offensively when Vranes' 3-pointer jumpstarted a 26-1 run with 8:47 on the clock. HLG had six of their second-half turnovers during that run alone. Jaylen Benton's layup then gave SEMO its largest lead (86-52) before the Redhawks polished off the win.
SEMO improved to 6-0 all-time against HLG and 20-6 all-time in home-openers since joining the Division I ranks. The Redhawks also ran their winning streak to 25-straight games against non-Division I opponents.
The Redhawks shot 48.4 percent (31-of-64) from the field with five players scoring double figures. Antonius Cleveland paved the way with 16 points, while Mahoney followed with 13, Dondre Duffus added 12 and Kellum and Vranes each pitched in 11. Kellum pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
Meanwhile, Jamaal Calvin had a career-high six steals, Duffus notched four and both Cleveland and Benton had three apiece.
Additionally, SEMO shot 86.4 percent (19-of-22) at the free throw line, sinking its first 12 free throws of the game.
Pace led HLG with 19 points. The Trojans made only two 3-pointers in the second stanza.
MOREHEAD STATE 89, LIPSCOMB 75
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State men's basketball picked up its second consecutive victory Sunday evening, defeating Lipscomb 89-75 at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles were led by a balanced scoring attack that saw five players reach double-digit outputs. Senior DeJuan Marrero headed the charge with a monstrous 17-point, 16-rebound double-double. The Gary, Ind. native's 16 boards bettered his previous career high of 13.
Morehead State dominated several statistical categories, including team rebounds (46-23), bench points (48-25), and points in the paint (42-16). The Eagles never trailed on the scoreboard.
Senior guard Xavier Moon notched 12 points, while Soufiyane Diakite, Jordan Walker, and Ronnye Beamon combined for 32 points off the bench.
TENNESSEE STATE 69, SANTA CLARA 61
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team completed a sweep of the 50th annual Cable Car Classic with a 69-61 victory over Santa Clara on Sunday at the Leavey Center. TSU, which was the only undefeated team in the four-team field, is 3-0 for the first time since the 1994-95 season.
Delano Spencer nailed five three-pointers to lead TSU (3-0) with 15 points on the afternoon. Wayne Martin scored 12 points and Jordan Reed added 11, while Tahjere McCall and Darreon Reddick tallied 10 points apiece for the Tigers.
TSU sprinted out to a 35-22 halftime edge over Santa Clara (1-2) and continued to play well in the second half, finishing 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from three-point range.
The Tigers found themselves down 11-8 five minutes into the game as the Broncos shot 50 percent from the field in the early going. A 15-0 run by TSU highlighted by a pair of Spencer transition three-pointers gave TSU a 23-11 advantage. The TSU defense held the Broncos off the scoreboard for nearly seven minutes on the run.
TSU maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the half, taking its largest first-half lead at 35-19 on back-to-back threes from Spencer. Heading into halftime, the Tigers held a 35-22 edge behind 12 points from Spencer.
Santa Clara battled back, trimming the TSU lead down to 41-35 with 15:59 left in the second half. TSU responded with a run of its own to stretch the advantage back up to 16 at 62-46 on two threes from Reddick and another from Martin.
TSU made four free throws in the final 30 seconds of the game to pull away.
SIUE 77, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 68
HONOLULU, Hawaii - SIUE men's basketball has its first 2-0 start to a season as a Division I program after a 77-68 win over Florida Atlantic in the second game of the Outrigger Resorts Rainbow Classic.
The Cougars (2-0) nearly led wire-to-wire, leading the entire game with the exception of a stretch early in the first half and never trailed in the second half. Florida Atlantic fell to 0-2 with the loss.
The last time SIUE started a season 2-0 was the 2005-06 season in which the Cougars advanced to Elite Eight in Division II.
SIUE got double-doubles from Keenan Simmons and Tre Harris, marking the first time since the 2011-12 season that two players have collected a double-double. Three other players scored in double figures. The Cougars also finished with a 46-35 edge in rebounding.
Simmons scored 11 points and set a career high in rebounds for the second straight game, finishing with 14. Harris scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Carlos Anderson led the scoring with 15 points. Jalen Henry scored 14 points and Burak Elsik scored 10 points for SIUE.
SIUE shot 43.6 percent (24-55) for the game, but connected on 14 of 25 shots (56.0 percent) in the first half. The Cougars ballooned their lead to 12 on a three-pointer from Anderson with 11:37 to play in the first half and carried a 40-33 lead into the break.
SIUE enjoyed its largest lead, 16 points, when Henry made it 69-53 with a jumper with 7:45 left.
FAU's Gerdarius Troutman led all scorers with 20 points. He was 6 for 11 from three-point range. Nick Rutherford scored 14 points and Ronald Delph added 13 points.