MONDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 80, Hiwassee College 47
@UMKC 86,
Southeast Missouri 75
SIUE 76, @Grand Canyon 64
TENNESSEE TECH 80, HIWASSEE COLLEGE 47
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team jumped back into the win column Monday evening, collecting a lopsided victory in the friendly confines of the Eblen Center, 80-47 over Hiwassee College.
The Golden Eagle defense was out in full force on the night, forcing 15 turnovers while holding the Tigers to a meager 22.4 percent shooting from the field and 20.0 percent from downtown. Tech's dominance in the paint extended throughout the interior of the circle, as the team out-rebounded Hiwassee 50-39 and blocked a season-high 10 shots.
On the flip side, the Tech offense was eager to spread the love around in the scoring column, with 10 of the 11 players to see the court contributing in that department. The Golden Eagles collected a season-high 27 assists in the contest, with sophomore Savonte Frazier leading the way with a career-best mark of seven.
Individually, Aleksa Jugovic posted his fourth 20-point outing of the season and second in-a-row while firing at a red-hot pace from the floor. The junior finished 8-for-12 while knocking down three of his seven attempts from beyond the arc, accounting for a team-high 20 points. He also dished out three assists.
Fellow junior Markell Henderson also posted double figures in the scoring column, boasting 12 points while also corralling a season-high four rebounds. Senior guard Hakeem Rogers marked Tech's third double-figure scorer, totaling 11 points behind a 4-for-9 night from the field. He also knocked down three triples in the contest.
Courtney Alexander II, Micaiah Henry and Frazier each finished the night with team-high totals of six rebounds while Ja'Cardo Hawkins and Mason Ramsey each added five. Ramsey also totaled a career-high five helpers. True freshman Colton Blevins proved highly productive in just six minutes of action, tallying seven points on 2-of-3 shooting and a 3-for-4 showing from the charity stripe.
The Golden Eagle fast break offense got out and running often in the affair, producing 22 points. Tech saw nearly half of its offensive output come from the bench, with the non-starting five tallying 36 of the team's 80 points.
UMKC 86, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 75
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - UMKC (5-2) shot 63.2 percent from 3-point range and buried 12 treys to key an 86-75 win over Southeast Missouri (3-3) Monday night at Municipal Auditorium.
UMKC entered the game as the Western Athletic Conference leader in 3-point field goals made and had seven different players pump in a trifecta. The Kangaroos rallied without their second-leading scorer in Martez Harrison who was suspended prior to tipoff.
SEMO led by one point on two occasions in the first three minutes of the game and that was it as the Redhawks were challenged by UMKC's long range game.
The Redhawks managed to pull to within five points on Antonius Cleveland's 3-pointer with 4:56 left to play, but that was as close as they would get. LaVell Boyd's jumper later gave UMKC its largest lead at 57-40 at the 13:25 mark before the Kangaroos closed out their win.
SEMO struggled to get shots to fall missing 11 of its first 13 field goals of the contest. The Redhawks went a period of 4:36 without scoring and missed 10-straight shots in that stretch, while UMKCpulled ahead, 14-6, with 12:29 remaining in the first half.
Danell Timman's layup grabbed the Kangaroos their first double-digit lead and a 3-pointer by Broderick Robinson followed to widen the margin to 35-21 at the 3:32 mark. SEMO then trailed by double figures at the half for the first time this season when it headed into the locker room down, 39-27.
The Redhawks wound up shooting just 27.8 percent (10-of-36) from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes, their lowest first-half field goal percentage this year. UMKC shot a blistering 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the floor with 21 of its points coming from 3-point range (7-of-11, 63.6 pct.).
Boyd led all scorers with 24 points and seven assists in 31 minutes. He pitched in 20 points and made a perfect 12-of-12 free throws in the second half alone. Johnson and Kyle Steward followed with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
UMKC's strong effort from 3-point range overpowered its .543 (25-of-46) field goal percentage for the night.
Denzel Mahoney led SEMO with a season-high 20 points on 8-of-14 field goals, including three from downtown. Cleveland added 16 points, Trey Kellum pitched in 14 and had a game-high eight rebounds, and Milos Vranes chipped in 10 points off the bench.
SEMO outrebounded UMKC, 38-33, and held a commanding 17-5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Redhawks also outscored the Kangaroos, 48-47, in the second half.
SIUE 76, GRAND CANYON 64
PHOENIX - SIUE men's basketball scored the first 12 points of the game, built a 20-point halftime lead and held out for a 76-64 win over Grand Canyon in nonconference action Monday night at GCU Arena.
The Cougars have won two straight and improved to 4-3 for the season. The win is the second true road win of the year for SIUE. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Grand Canyon which fell to 3-3.
Burak Eslik opened the scoring with a three-pointer to get the Cougars off and running just over a minute into the game. Jalen Henry scored four points, Christian Ellis added three and Carlos Anderson scored two to give SIUE a 12-0 lead at the first media timeout with 15:11 remaining in the first half.
The Lopes got on the board with a free throw after the timeout and then scored their first field goal on a Dewayne Russell layup with 14:35 left in the half which sparked an 8-0 run.
SIUE followed with a 7-0 run to push the score to 21-8 with 10:45 to play. The Cougars' lead hovered between 9-15 points for much of the remainder of the half.
A Kerwin Smith dunk with 1:59 left brought GCU within 12 (37-25), but SIUE finished the half on an 8-0 run, punctuated by an Eslik three-pointer with seven seconds left and the Cougars held a 45-25 halftime lead.
The 45 points are the most in a first half by the Cougars this year and the second-most points in any half.
The Cougars never trailed and extended their lead to as many as 23 when Anderson converted a traditional three-point play with a reverse layup and a free throw with 18:17 to play to make it 50-27.
Grand Canyon made several runs on the Cougars and got as close as 10 points at 69-59, but never trimmed SIUE's lead to single digits.
GCU finished the game at 31.7 percent (19-60) shooting. The Lopes were just 4 for 24 from three-point range.
SIUE was 25-53 (47.2 percent) from the field, including hitting seven of 15 attempts from three-point range.
Anderson led five SIUE players in double figures. He tied his career high with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He was 6 for 7 at the free throw line.
Eslik and Henry each scored 13 points. Tre Harris and Keenan Simmons each scored 11. Simmons added 12 rebounds for his second double-double this season and of his career.
SIUE outrebounded Grand Canyon 40-36. It is the second consecutive game the Cougars have grabbed at least 40 rebounds and outrebounded their opponent.