TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 81, Covenant 50
TENNESSEE STATE 81, COVENANT 50
NASHVILLE - In the final tune up before the start of Ohio Valley Conference play, the Tennessee State men’s basketball team dominated visiting Covenant in an 81-50 victory on Tuesday night at the Gentry Center.
For TSU (9-3), Darreon Reddick scored a season-high 17 points with Wayne Martin picking up his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Scots played well in the early going, taking an 8-7 lead on a Bailey Spragg three-pointer five minutes into the game. The Tigers took the upperhand with a 13-0 run sparked by a trio of three-point field goals from Reddick for a 20-8 lead.
TSU continued to impose its will, quickly growing the advantage to 20 points at 30-10 with 10:46 showing on the first-half clock. The Tigers went on to lead by as many as 26 points before the break and had a 47-24 edge through 20 minutes. TSU forced 13 first-half turnovers and held the Scots to 34.6 percent shooting before the intermission.
The Tigers scored the first 10 points of the second half, helping the lead stretch to 30-plus points for the first time. TSU held Covenant without a field goal for the first 5:35 of the second half.
Covenant would go on to cut the TSU lead to 24 points at 63-39, but that was as close as the visitors would get the rest of the way.
For Covenant, Patjo Twagirayezu scored a team-best 16 points.
TSU held a 42-25 rebounding advantage on the night and forced Covenant into 26 turnovers.