TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Middle Tennessee 87,
Murray State 81
@UT Martin 95, Cumberland 64
@Vanderbilt 80,
Belmont 66
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 87, MURRAY STATE 81
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Murray State Racers dropped an 87-81 defeat in their first road contest of the season Tuesday against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Damarcus Croaker and Jonathan Stark led the way for the Racers each with 23 points. Bryce Jones added 17 and Terrell Miller 12 points.
Trailing 41-39 at half, the Racers (1-1) had the lead with 16:54 left on a jones jumper to make it 49-47 Racers. The Racers made a run at the 9:45 mark when Croaker hit a three to make it a three-point game at 62-59. Down by 11 with 6:32 left, the Racers charged ahead and cut the lead to four with 3:32 left, but never got any closer.
In the first half, MSU jumped out to a 9-6 lead when Stark hit a 3-point shot and Croaker followed with a corner three for a 14-8 lead just 4:30 into the game. When Croaker hit another three at the 14:00 mark, the Racers had a 19-10 lead. Stark hit another to give the Racers a 29-22 lead with 8:07 in the half. MTSU (2-0) made a push and tied the game on back-to-back threes with 6:35 left.
The Racers were 27-of-63 from the field for 43 percent, while MTSU hit 32-of-65 for 49 percent.
Stark led the Racers with eight assists, while Miller led the team with nine rebounds.
UT MARTIN 95, CUMBERLAND 64
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior forward Kedar Edwards piled up a career-high 23 points to lead a balanced University of Tennessee at Martin scoring attack as the Skyhawks rolled to a 95-64 victory over in-state NAIA opponent Cumberland at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Edwards made 10 of his 16 field goal attempts to lead four UT Martin players who scored in double-figures. Jacolby Mobley tied a career-high with five treys on his way to 19 points while Fatodd Lewis (13 points, career-high seven rebounds) and Javier Martinez (10 points, game-high nine rebounds, career-best six assists) also lifted the Skyhawks.
Matthew Butler had nine points and a game-high eight assists while Dante Bailey scored nine points for UT Martin, who shot 56.7 percent (38-of-67) with 13 three-pointers to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Cumberland (1-4) was led by Joseph Wilbert, Drexler Davis and Ronell Abaekobe, who each scored eight points apiece. The Phoenix saw 12 different players score but couldn’t overcome a 39.1 percent shooting performance.
Mobley canned a three-pointer at the 18:23 mark of the first half to open up the game’s scoring. UT Martin soon broke a 5-5 tie with 12 unanswered points, six of which came on a pair of Mobley trifectas.
The Phoenix got back within single-digits with 14:21 to go before the halftime break but a layup by Lewis capped off a 14-2 Skyhawk run that made the score 34-13 in favor of UT Martin.
Edwards scored eight consecutive points for the Skyhawks over a stretch of 1:30 before Cumberland scored the final five points of the first half, resulting in UT Martin taking a 53-34 advantage into the locker room.
Both Edwards (15 points) and Mobley (12 points) reached double-figures scoring in the first 20 minutes. The Skyhawks converted nine 3-pointers in the first half while racking up 16 assists on 20 made baskets. Wilbert, Davis and Trenton Perry each had six points for Cumberland, who were forced into nine first-half turnovers.
UT Martin’s first 10 points of the second half came in the paint, concluding with a powerful dunk by Lewis with 15:24 left in the contest.
Bailey knocked down three-pointers from the left corner on back-to-back possessions for the Skyhawks, helping push the UT Martin lead out to 69-46. Butler and Mobley also added treys before Edwards went on another scoring spree, tossing in six of the Skyhawks’ eight points during one span.
A layup by Nick Detlev with 47 seconds to go provided UT Martin with its biggest lead of the night (95-63) as the Skyhawks coasted to the finish line.
VANDERBILT 80, BELMONT 66
NASHVILLE - The 3-point line has been so good to Belmont, for so long. On this night, it betrayed them.
The Bruins battled through a perplexing off night from behind the arc in dropping an 80-66 decision at Vanderbilt Tuesday night.
Belmont, which ranked fourth nationally in three-point field goals per game (10.6) last season, went just 1-for-18 from long distance in the opening 20 minutes in trailing 36-21 at halftime. But behind junior Amanze Egekeze and senior All-America candidate Evan Bradds, Belmont trimmed a 16-point deficit to four, 63-59, with under seven minutes remaining.
However, Vanderbilt, playing its first home game under head coach Bryce Drew, got an off-balance, 4-point play from Matthew Fisher-Davis to push the margin back to eight points, and stave of the Bruin charge.
Though Belmont outscored Vanderbilt in the paint, 28-24, the Commodores outshot the Bruins from the charity stripe, 31-13 - including 23-for-27 in the second half.
The Bruins committed only nine turnovers in an uptempo game, and claimed 10 offensive rebounds. But the 9-for-41 numbers from 3-point range told the tale.
Bradds led Belmont with 19 points, while Egekeze scored 18.
Luke Kornet led Vanderbilt (1-1) with 20 points.