WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 85, Tennessee Tech 55
@Belmont 81, Jacksonville State 73
Austin Peay 79, @Eastern Illinois 70
TENNESSEE STATE 85, TENNESSEE TECH 55
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team put on a dominating performance in a convincing 85-55 home victory over first-place Tennessee Tech on Wednesday night at the Gentry Center.
The Tigers (17-7, 8-3 OVC) shot 57.1 percent (36-for-63) from the field and scored 50 points in the paint. Keron DeShields scored a team-best 15 points to lead four TSU players in double figures.
Tahjere McCall also tallied 14 points, while Armani Chaney and Xavier Richards recorded 11 points apiece. For the Tigers,Demontez Loman finished two points shy of a double-double with eight points and a game-high 10 boards.
The scoring went back-and-forth in the early going with both teams establishing their offenses. The Tigers were able to level the scoring at 18-18 with 12 minutes left before half on a McCall layup followed by a Chaney layup on back-to-back possession. McCall scored eight of the Tigers’ first 16 points of the night.
The Tigers gained the upper hand and took their first double-digit lead with just under two minutes left on DeShields’ layup for a 43-33 edge.
TSU held the Golden Eagles to one basket in the final 3:18 of the half to take a 43-35 halftime advantage.
For the first eight minutes of the second half, the Tigers’ smothering defense limited Tennessee Tech to just six points as the home side took a 60-41 lead.
The lead grew to 31 at 79-48 with just under five minutes to go on Richard’s dunk off McCall's fast-break pass off the backboard. The Tigers took the largest lead for either side of 35 points on Chaney’s three with 2:08 remaining for an 85-50 lead.
For Tennessee Tech, Torrance Rowe scored 18 of his game-high 19 points in the first half, while Aleksa Jugovic posted 13 points.
BELMONT 81, JACKSONVILLE STATE 73
NASHVILLE - Behind a 22-8 scoring run to open the second half, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Jacksonville State, 81-73, Wednesday night.
A three-pointer from sophomore Amanze Egekeze capped an 8-0 run to give Belmont (18-8, 10-2 OVC) a 15-7 lead five and a half minutes in. The lead increased to 11, 37-26, on a layin from junior Evan Bradds.
But Jacksonville State scored the final seven points of the half, highlighted by a three-pointer from JaQuail Townser right before the first half buzzer to narrow the margin to 37-33.
Junior Taylor Barnette sparked Belmont out of the locker room, sinking a trio of three-pointers in the first 3:19 of the second half to push the Bruins to a 52-41 lead with 16:41 left.
In fact, Belmont would make its first six three-point field goals of the second 20 minutes, extending the margin to 18, 59-41, on an Egekeze basket.
But behind the play of Townser and reserve Ed Jones - who matched his season total of 18 points all in one evening - the Gamecocks got as close as 66-64 with 6:17 remaining.
From there, Belmont held Jacksonville State scoreless for nearly four minutes, with Egekeze punctuating a 10-0 Bruin run with a tip-slam.
All told, Belmont shot 53 percent (31-for-58) from the field - including 12-for-22 from three-point distance.
Bradds led four Bruins in double figures with 18 points and nine rebounds. Barnette added 15 points and seven assists, while Egekeze had 15 points and five rebounds.
Greg Tucker led Jacksonville State (8-19, 4-8 OVC) with 19 points.
AUSTIN PEAY 79, EASTERN ILLINOIS 70
CHARLESTON, Ill. - All of a sudden Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team is becoming a closer.
A game after closing out Murray State with a 7-0 run, the Governors utilized an 18-4 run over the final 5:10 to rally past Eastern Illinois, 79-70, Wednesday night, in Ohio Valley Conference basketball televised on the American Sports Network.
The victory was the Govs’ second straight road victory and allowed them to finish a five-game road swing with a 3-2 record. As importantly it improved the Governors’ OVC mark to 5-7 while putting their overall record at 12-15 as they return home to played UT Martin, 6:30 p.m., Saturday.
And for the second straight game the Governors took down on the road an OVC West leader. When the Governors rallied to defeat Murray State, Saturday, the Racers were tied for first. Wednesday’s win came against a Panthers team that was sitting alone atop the West. The decision dropped the Panthers to 7-5 in the division and 11-14 overall. The decision also snapped EIU’s five-game winning streak, started in Clarksville in that overtime outcome.
The Govs led 34-31 at halftime after Josh Robinson was fouled shooting a three with 1.7 seconds left. The call initiated a reaction from the EIU bench, resulting in a technical. As a result, the Govs went from trailing 31-29 to leading after Robinson made all five free throws.
But the “dry spell” early in the second half had the Govs scrambling. But surgical interior passing allowed the Govs to tie it up as Chris Horton scored twice from passes from inside cohort Kenny Jones and then Jones hit a layup off a Khalil Davis pass. As result, the game was tied at 49. For the next six-plus minutes the momentum swung back and forth. A pair of Davis free throws gave APSU a brief one-point lead only to have Trae Anderson muscle his way in for a 60-59 Eastern Illinois advantage with 6:52 left.
However, 30 seconds later Chris Horton answered with a dunk on a pass from Josh Robinson before Cornell Johnston, the lithe Panther point guard, nailed his fifth three pointer and EIU had the lead, 63-61 with 6:29 left. The Panthers seemingly had the momentum as they pushed the lead to five, 66-61, with 5:29 left after A.J. Riley made a pair of free throws.
But the Govs continued to grind away. Jones scored inside on a pass from Davis, who had a team-high six assists for the contest, with 5:10 left. Robinson then tied it with only his third three pointer with 4:04 remaining. The Governors had the momentum.
Davis nailed a 15 footer from the right elbow extended to give APSU the lead for good, 68-66, with 3:06 left. Reserve point guard Tre’ Ivory then muscled his way past Johnston for a layup to make it a 70-66 contest with 2:20 left.
EIU, which shot 60 percent from the floor during the early stages of the second half, now could snap out of its cold spell and they also could not keep the Governors off the boards, especially the offensive glass. After Robinson missed a three pointer, Horton grabbed the rebound and laid it in for six-point, 72-66, advantage with 1:29 left. The Governors dominated the glass to a 42-27 advantage, including 15 offensive grabs that led to 16 second-chance points.
Ivory then all but the put the game away with two free throws with 43 seconds left to give APSU a 74-66 lead with 43 ticks left.
Despite making only three field goals—all three pointers—Robinson led the Govs with 21 points, thanks largely to a 12-of-15 free-throw shooting effort. It was his second straight game with double-digit free throw makes.
Frontline mates Horton and Jones finished with double-doubles. Horton made it his 20th double-double this season with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Jones finished 19 points and 10 rebounds, his first career double-double. It was the first time APSU had two players record double-doubles in almost a year.
For Jones, it was his third double-digit scoring game in the past four outings. Earlier in the January, he totaled just 11 points in five games.
Davis ended with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Govs put four players in double figures.
After shooting only 38 percent from the floor in the first half, the Govs converted 15-of-28 shots (54 percent) in the second half. The Govs also made 23-of-30 free throws to offset a 4-of-16 night from three-point range.
Johnston led EIU with 16 points while Anderson and Riley had 11 and 10 points, respectively.