SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 78, Belmont 77
Tennessee State 79, @Eastern Kentucky 78
SIUE 72, @Eastern Illinois 64
@Murray State 83, Southeast Missouri 56
UT Martin 85, @Austin Peay 84 (OT)
@Tennessee Tech 72, Jacksonville State 70
MOREHEAD STATE 78, BELMONT 77
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior guard Brent Arrington tied a career-high with 24 points to help propel Morehead State men's basketball to a 78-77 win over Belmont on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles move their record to 14-11 and 8-5 in OVC play. Belmont remains atop the OVC with an 18-9 record, they are 10-3 in the OVC. The two teams repeated the same results from a year ago, as each team won at home.
With 9.5 seconds left in the contest, senior forward Anthony Elechi stepped to the line with the Eagles trailing, 77-76. He hit both attempts from the charity stripe, giving the Eagles a 78-77 lead.
Following a Bruins' timeout, guard Craig Bradshaw's 15-foot jumper from the right side of the floor came up short and junior guard Ronnye Beamon snatched the game-ending rebound in front of an excited home crowd.
Leading up to the clutch free throws by Elechi was the strong second half performance of Arrington. He scored 19 of his 24 points in the half, leading the Eagles back from a 14-point halftime deficit.
At the 17:40 mark, Belmont led 47-34 and had not trailed. The Eagles went on a 27-12 run, capped off by a 15-0 spurt, to take their first lead of the game with 8:08 to play at 61-59. The Eagles expanded their lead to as many as six at 70-64 with 4:11 left in regulation, but the Bruins fought back with a 13-5 run to retake the lead at 77-75 with 1:06 to go.
In the closing minute, Arrington hit one of two from the free throw line to trim the lead to one, setting up Elechi's heroics at the stripe on the next possession.
Arrington shot 9-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range, as he played the majority of the second half in foul trouble. With 24 points, he also surpassed the 1,000 point scoring mark at Morehead State.
Elechi finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass.
Junior forward DeJuan Marrero recorded his team-leading sixth double-double in the win, finishing with a career-high 21 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds. Like Elechi, he had a strong night on the offensive glass, recording six offensive rebounds.
The Eagles outrebounded the Bruins, 38-23, and finished with 19 offensive rebounds to Belmont's seven. The offensive boards led to more opportunities as the Eagles accumulated 28 second chance points and finished with 24 more shot attempts.
Bradshaw scored a game-high 28 points for Belmont, tying a season-high. Forward Mack Mercer added 12 points and nine rebounds and point guard Austin Luke dropped a career-high 13 assists.
TENNESSEE STATE 79, EASTERN KENTUCKY 78
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team earned a thrilling 79-78 Ohio Valley Conference road victory at Eastern Kentucky at McBrayer Arena on Saturday afternoon for the Tigers first win at EKU since March 1, 2008.
Redshirt senior Keron DeShields scored 18 points and eclipsed 1,000 career points on the day TSU (18-7, 9-3 OVC), which trailed by 10 with just over 16 minutes left, stormed all the way back to take the lead for the last 6:30 of the game. Down by one with 1.9 seconds left, Jarelle Reischel’s jumper was off the mark for EKU (14-14, 5-8 OVC) as the Tigers picked up their third win in a row.
DeShields also dished out a season-best seven assists. The Baltimore, Md. native scored 604 points in three seasons at Montana from 2011-14 before transferring to TSU.
Tahjere McCall paced the offense with 22 points, while Xavier Richards added 11. For the second game in a row, Demontez Loman led the rebounding effort with nine.
After trailing since the opening minutes of the game, a three from Marcus Roper with 2:43 left before half gave the Tigers a 35-34 advantage. The Colonels closed the half on a 7-2 run to take a 41-37 halftime edge.
EKU was able to grow its lead to 10 in the first four minutes of the second half before the Tigers clawed back into the game. TSU leveled the scoring at 56-56 when McCall banked in a three as the shot clock expired with 9:35 remaining. On the next possession, McCall was fouled while shooting a three and made all three free throws for a 59-56 lead.
From there, the score remained close with TSU unable to pull away from the Colonels.
McCall, who shot 11-for-13 from the line, was fouled with 20.0 seconds left, making both for a 77-74 lead. EKU’s Paul Jackson answered with two free throws on the other end with 14.4 seconds left before DeShields knocked down two at the line with 13.6 seconds remaining for a 79-76 edge.
Reischel’s tip in with 6.0 seconds left cut the lead to 79-78, and the Colonels forced a jump ball with 1.9 seconds left to gain possession. Off the inbounds play, Reischel missed a contested jumper as the buzzer sounded.
Both teams committed 18 turnovers in the game. TSU finished 47.8 percent from the field, while EKU had a 35-31 rebounding advantage.
Ja’Mill Powell scored a game-high 25 points for the Colonels.
SIUE 72, EASTERN ILLINOIS 64
CHARLESTON, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball scored its first-ever win in Charleston, knocking off Eastern Illinois 72-64 Saturday night at Lantz Arena.
SIUE improved to 5-20 overall and 2-11 in the OVC. The Cougars had been 0-6 all-time in Charleston before Saturday's win. EIU dropped to 11-15 overall and 7-6 in the OVC.
The Panthers got out to a fast start, leading 12-3 at the first media timeout. The Cougars answered with a 13-0 run and led 16-12 following a pair of Burak Eslik free throws with 11:34 to play in the half. The Cougars had two more runs of six points each, including to end the half, and carried a 32-25 lead into the break.
Following halftime, Eastern Illinois again started fast and pulled within one when Luke Piotrowski knocked down free throws to make it 34-33 with 17:20 to play. SIUE responded with an 11-2 run punctuated by three-pointers on back-to-back possessions by Eslik with 13:44 to play.
EIU got as close as four points on a foul shot by Cornell Johnston with 1:22 to play. Eslik answered with a layup to move the lead back to six (63-57). Eslik secured the win with eight free throws over the final 44 seconds.
Eslik paced the Cougars with 29 points, the second best offensive night of his career. He was 7 for 14 from the field and 12 for 12 at the free throw line. It is the sixth 20-point game of his career. It is the second time this season he has been perfect from the free throw line.
Grant Fiorentinos was the only other SIUE player in double figures. He finished with 14 points and was 6 for 10 from the field. He added five rebounds. Mike Chandler six points and led SIUE with eight rebounds. He added two assists and three blocks.
The Cougars were 23 of 28 from the free throw line, including connecting on 14 of 16 attempts during the second half.
SIUE controlled the glass, outrebounding Eastern Illinois 46-25. The Cougars had 16 offensive rebounds and scored 18 second chance points.
Trae Anderson scored 29 points and added eight rebounds to lead the Panthers. No other EIU player finished in double figures scoring. Piotrowski scored nine points.
MURRAY STATE 83, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 56
MURRAY, Ky. - he Murray State Racers drained 14 3-point baskets in the first half on their way to an 83-56 win over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers improved to 14-12 overall and 8-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division. The Redhawks fell to 5-21 and 2-11.
Gee McGhee and Jeffery Moss led the Racers with 20 and 23 points, while Justin Seymour and Wayne Langston each scored 11. Bryce Jones added 10 points.
MSU hit 6-of-7 from 3-point range to the start the game as Moss hit his first three attempts and the Racers led 16-7. With 11:43 before half, Seymour hit a pair of threes and the lead went to 23-9. The Racers' scoring binge saw three more 3-pointers go in with two from Moss and one from McGhee to push the lead to 35-12 with 8:12 remaining.
MSU led SEMO 48-25 at the half and hit 11-of-16 from 3-point range for a robust 68 percent.
The second half saw the Racers play solid and never allowed the Redhawks to get any closer than 17 points.
MSU finished the night with their best offensive game of the season hitting 32-of-56 from the field for 53 percent and 14-of-24 from 3-point range for 58 percent. It was MSU's best performance from long range since also hitting 14 threes last March at Tulsa in the NIT.
UT MARTIN 85, AUSTIN PEAY 84 (OT)
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jacolby Mobley hit a 3-pointer as time expired in overtime and UT Martin overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to beat Austin Peay 85-84 on Saturday.
Mobley's buzzer-beater was reviewed by officials after the horn and upheld.
UTM (15-12, 7-5 Ohio Valley) was down by four with under a minute left, but Alex Anderson drilled a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left. After Chris Horton made 1 of 2 from the line for Austin Peay, Twymond Howard grabbed the miss and got it to Mobley for the game-winner.
Two Horton free throws put Austin Peay up four with 53 seconds in regulation. But Howard got loose for a layup, and after a turnover another Howard layup tied it. Anderson missed a 3-pointer with one second left and it went to overtime.
Howard and Anderson had 20 points apiece for the Skyhawks, and Mobley finished with 18.
Austin Peay (12-16, 5-8) was led by Horton with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Kenny Jones had 18 and 10.
TENNESSEE TECH 72, JACKSONVILLE STATE 70
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Torrance Rowe made two free throws with 0.7 seconds to play, breaking a tie and sending Tennessee Tech (18-8/10-3 OVC) to a 72-70 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Jacksonville State (8-20/4-9 OVC) Saturday night in Eblen Center.
The close-shave left Tech unbeaten at home this season at 13-0 and bumped the Golden Eagles back into a tie for first place in the OVC East Division with Belmont, with the next game on the slate coming in one week on the Bruins home floor.
Rowe finished with 10 points and five assists, one of five Golden Eagles to score in double digits. Senior center Ryan Martin topped Tech with 16 points, with four rebounds and three assists. Junior Hakeem Rogers finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Mason Ramsey came off the bench to score 15. Senior Anthony Morse finished with 12 points.
Jacksonville State got 26 points from junior Greg Tucker, who was 11-for-11 at the free throw line. JaQuail Townser added 11 points and six rebounds, while DelFinko Bogan had 11 points.
Up by five, the Golden Eagles saw Tucker make two free throws with 1:34 to pay to pull within three. It remained that way until the final seconds, when Tucker drained his third 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to knot the score at 70-70.
Rowe tried to launch a 3-pointer just before time expired and was fouled on the attempt, with the horn sounding. After a review of the play, officials put 0.7 seconds on the clock and sent Rowe to the line to shoot three.
He made two, and JSU's desperation attempt from nearly full court harmlessly hit the top of the backboard.
Tech put together an impressive 16-4 run with deft ball-handling and nifty teamwork, recording assists on seven consecutive baskets to go up by 11 points, 62-51, with just over seven minutes to play. With the run, the Golden Eagles went from trailing by one (47-46) to leading by double digits.
A 3-pointer by Townser ended the streak, and the Gamecocks cobbled together a 9-1 run to creep back within three points with just under three to play, setting the stage for the eventual wild finish.
The Golden Eagles shot nearly 60 percent in the second half, finishing the night with a 49 percent mark from the field. JSU also picked up the pace in the second half, hitting 31 percent in the first half and 46 percent in the second.
Tech had a slim 34-32 edge in rebounds.