THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 61, Eastern Kentucky 50
@UT Martin 79, Southeast Missouri 62
Murray State 70, @SIUE 64
MOREHEAD STATE 61, EASTERN KENTUCKY 50
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State men's basketball forced 25 turnovers in its 61-50 win over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday night at Johnson Arena.
Morehead State moved their record to 13-11 overall and 7-5 in OVC play. The win against the Colonels concludes a season sweep of its rival for the first time since 2011-12. EKU fell to 14-13 and 5-7 in the conference.
Eastern Kentucky entered tonight's contest leading the OVC in scoring with 82.0 points per game and guard Jarelle Reischel entered leading the conference with 19.0 points per game. Against the Morehead State defense, the Colonels were held to a season-low 50 points. EKU managed just 37 shots to the Eagles' 60 and Reischel was held to a season-low nine points. He also finished with seven turnovers.
The 25 turnovers by the Colonels marked a season-high and it also marked the most miscues forced by the Eagles all season. Morehead State scored 19 points off of turnovers.
The battle in the paint went to the Eagles in every facet. Morehead State outrebounded EKU 34-27, including 21 offensive rebounds resulting in 21 second chance points. EKU managed just three second chance points. Morehead State also outscored the Colonels 32-16 in the paint.
Senior forward Anthony Elechi responded after scoring just two points in the loss at Tennessee State. The Elmont, N.Y. native finished with a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds and his monster dunk midway through the second half extended the Eagles lead to double digits.
Junior forward DeJuan Marrero was second on the team in scoring with 13 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the floor. Freshman guard Malik Maitland came off the bench for 11 points, hitting 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Nick Mayo led the Colonels with 15 points and Jayle Babb-Harrison added 11 points, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
UT MARTIN 79, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 62
MARTIN, Tenn. - Junior forward Kedar Edwards continued his recent string of double-doubles as the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team muscled its way to a 77-64 Ohio Valley Conference win over Southeast Missouri in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Edwards became the first Skyhawk since 1980 to grab at least 20 rebounds in a game, hauling in 21 boards to go along with 10 points, three assists, three steals and two blocks in 36 minutes of action. He earned his fifth double-double in the past six games while also corralling the second-most rebounds in a single game in the Division-I ranks so far this season.
Twymond Howard accumulated team-highs of 19 points and five assists for UT Martin (14-12, 6-5 OVC), who won its fourth straight league game for the first time since Jan. 15-24, 2011. Jacolby Mobley added 15 points off the bench while Alex Anderson chipped in with 14 points for the Skyhawks, who outrebounded Southeast Missouri by a 44-35 margin.
Southeast Missouri (5-20, 2-10 OVC) received 19 points and eight rebounds out of Isiah Jones while Antonius Cleveland (16) and Jamaal Calvin (12) also scored in double-digits. The Redhawks were held to 40.4 percent (21-for-52) shooting from the floor and committed 16 turnovers.
Southeast Missouri scored the first seven points of the game but the Skyhawks kept chipping away. Anderson scored six straight points for UT Martin before a Myles Taylor straightaway three-pointer at the 11:52 mark gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the night at 12-11.
Back-to-back jumpers by Cleveland tilted the score back in Southeast Missouri’s favor before a 7-0 UT Martin run gave the Skyhawks a 19-15 advantage. Mobley was responsible for five consecutive points to close out the Skyhawk run.
The Redhawks briefly reclaimed the lead after six unanswered points but UT Martin responded with an 11-0 run over a span of 2:53. Back-to-back layups by Javier Martinez keyed the run while Howard concluded the spurt with five straight points to make the score 32-24 at the 2:09 mark.
After Southeast Missouri closed within four points, Anderson knocked down a trifecta from the left corner with under 30 seconds to play to give the Skyhawks a 35-28 advantage at the break.
Anderson’s 11 first-half points were a team-high for UT Martin while Southeast Missouri was paced by Cleveland’s 10 points at the half.
The Skyhawks started the second half on a 9-2 run, opening up a 44-29 lead in the process. Howard poured in 10 points in the first 7:10 of the second half – including six straight points during one stretch.
A Mobley three-pointer and old-fashioned three-point play by Martinez on two straight trips down the floor ballooned UT Martin’s lead out to 25 points (60-35) with 11:19 remaining.
However, Southeast Missouri scored the next 14 points of the contest and eventually trimmed the Skyhawk lead to single-digits after Jones buried a three-pointer to make the score 66-58 with 3:46 left to play.
UT Martin then called a timeout and essentially iced the win with a 6-0 run that followed immediately afterwards. Mobley delivered the Skyhawks’ final five points of the game to seal the victory.
MURRAY STATE 70, SIUE 64
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Wayne Langston scored 24 points to lead Murray State past SIU Edwardsville 70-64 on Thursday night.
Bryce Jones added 17 points for Murray State (13-12, 7-5 Ohio Valley Conference) and Justin Seymour had 14. The Racers shot 55 percent from the field (24 of 44) and went 16 of 19 from the free throw line, compared to SIU Edwardsville's 6 of 10.
Leading 40-27 at the break, Murray State had to hold off SIU Edwardsville (4-20, 1-11) down the stretch.
The Cougars trimmed the deficit to 56-55 on a 3-pointer from C.J. Carr that capped a 9-0 burst with 4:37 left. But then Langston hit a layup at the other end, followed by a jumper from Jones, to spark a 10-2 run to pad Murray State's advantage.
Carr finished with 13 points and Jalen Henry had 11 for SIU Edwardsville, which shot 55 percent from the field.