THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 66, Tennessee State 61
@UT Martin 87, Eastern Illinois 84 (OT)
SIUE 72, @Southeast Missouri 69
Belmont 86, @Eastern Kentucky 78
MOREHEAD STATE 66, TENNESSEE STATE 61
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior guard Ronnye Beamon drained a right wing three with 12 seconds left in regulation to push Morehead State men's basketball past Tennessee State, 66-61, on Thursday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles improved their season record to 16-11 and 9-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and have now tied a season-high with four straight wins. TSU falls to 18-8 and 9-4 in conference play.
At the half, Morehead State trailed 29-28, but an 11-3 run to start the second half put the home squad up, 39-32. TSU fought back to pull within three on a Tahjere McCall three-point basket with 10:11 left, but the Eagles answered again.
Morehead State then went on a 13-2 run over a three-minute stretch, capped off by a three-point bucket by senior forward Lyonell Gaines. The run gave the Eagles their largest lead of the game at 58-44.
But, the Tigers would not go away. TSU responded with a 17-1 run of their own and took the lead at 61-59 with just over a minute to go.
The lead did not last long for the Tigers as sophomore guard Miguel Dicent answered on the other end, knocking down a left corner jumper to tie the game. On the next possession, TSU's Keron DeShields turned the ball over, setting up Beamon's heroics.
With the shot clock and the game clock winding down, Beamon broke the tie with a three-point basket from the right corner. It was his lone shot attempt of the night. Following another late defensive stop, Dicent added two free throws to the lead after collecting a rebound off a potential game-tying three-point shot from McCall.
Dicent finished the night with a team-high 16 points, shooting 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Senior guard Brent Arrington collected 12 points and six rebounds, hitting 5-of-6 from the free throw line. He scored nine of his points in the second half and helped propel the run that gave the Eagles their 14-point lead. Gaines added 11 points in 25 minutes of action, marking his first double-digit scoring game since Jan. 30 against EKU.
The battle of the glass went decisively to Morehead State as they outrebounded the Tigers, 42-24. They pulled down 14 offensive rebounds resulting in 14 second chance points. The Eagles made the most of their free throw opportunities, hitting 20-of-24 from the line.
With the contributions of Dicent and Gaines, the Morehead State bench accumulated 35 points.
McCall had a game-high 17 points and was 5-of-14 from the field. Deshields contributed 13 points for the Tigers.
UT MARTIN 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 84 (OT)
MARTIN, Tenn. - For the second straight game, the University of Tennessee at Martin overcame a double-digit second half deficit to post a thrilling overtime victory, as the Skyhawks defeated Eastern Illinois by an 87-84 margin at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
With the win, UT Martin (16-12, 8-5 Ohio Valley Conference) accumulated its sixth straight conference win and moves into a tie for first place in the OVC West standings. Tonight’s result marked the first time that the Skyhawks won back-to-back overtime games since Cal Luther’s squad accomplished the feat on Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, 1998.
UT Martin’s frontcourt duo of Twymond Howard and Myles Taylor helped the Skyhawks erase an 11-point deficit with 15:37 left in regulation. Howard racked up his 12th career double-double (career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds) while Taylor was responsible for his 18th career double-double (season-best 23 points, 11 rebounds).
Terrence Durham more than doubled his previous career-high with 13 points for the Skyhawks, who sank 85.7 percent (24-for-28) of their free throw attempts.
Eastern Illinois (11-16, 7-7 OVC) was guided by Cornell Johnston’s double-double of 12 points and 10 assists. Trae Anderson and Demetrius McReynolds each scored 19 points while Casey Teson (16 points) rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Panthers, who shot 51.7 percent (15-for-29) from three-point land.
Eastern Illinois opened the game with six unanswered points but the Skyhawks answered right back with a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the contest. Two ties followed before UT Martin used a 7-0 spurt to go ahead by a 19-12 margin. Howard accounted for five of the Skyhawk points during the latter run.
The Panthers responded with a 10-3 run to even the score at 22-all before a Taylor bucket at the 6:51 mark tilted the score back in UT Martin’s favor. However, Eastern Illinois tossed in eight straight points as part of a 17-6 run to close out the first half on its way to a 39-30 halftime lead.
Howard’s nine points led the Skyhawks at the break as UT Martin shot 43.5 percent (10-for-23) from the field. The Panthers shot an even 50 percent from the floor (13-for-26) while sinking seven trifectas in the first 20 minutes. McReynolds accounted for 10 points – including a fadeaway 17-foot jumper as the halftime buzzer expired.
Eastern Illinois opened the scoring in the second half but UT Martin followed with six straight points – four of which came from Durham. However, Eastern Illinois was able to push its lead back out to 49-38 with 15:37 remaining in regulation.
A trio of different Skyhawks each scored in the paint to start a 10-2 run for UT Martin. Durham’s straightaway three-pointer at the 13:32 mark whittled the Skyhawk deficit to 51-48.
After the Panthers led by seven points a little under two minutes later, a Richard Lee trey from the left corner and an old-fashioned three-point play by Taylor helped get UT Martin back within a single point (60-59) with 8:21 to go.
The Skyhawks eventually broke through with a 7-0 run that resulted in a 69-67 UT Martin advantage. Taylor scored the first four points of the run from the charity stripe before an old-fashioned three-point play by Howard with 3:35 left in regulation tilted the score back in favor of the Skyhawks for the first time since the 6:51 mark of the first half.
That was the first of seven consecutive points by Howard to pad the Skyhawk lead to 73-68 with 2:33 remaining in the second half. However, Eastern Illinois closed out regulation with five unanswered points to send the game into overtime.
Howard got things started in overtime, dropping in a layup just 46 seconds into the extra period. McReynolds then knocked down a three-pointer but the Skyhawks scored six straight points to take a lead it would not give up the rest of the way. Mobley canned a big three-pointer from the right wing to extend UT Martin’s lead to six points with 35 seconds left and the Skyhawks made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
SIUE 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 69
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball picked up its second consecutive road win Thursday, edging Southeast Missouri 72-69 at the Show Me Center.
The Cougars improved to 6-20 overall and 3-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast dropped to 5-22 overall and 2-12 in OVC play.
The Cougars broke out to a 7-2 lead to start the game and led 9-8 after a Jalen Henry jumper with 14:12 to play before halftime. Southeast Missouri got a dunk from Antonius Cleveland at the 12:34 mark which sparked a 16-2 run, giving the Redhawks their largest lead of the game at 24-11.
It was 33-20 Southeast when, for the second consecutive game, SIUE used a late first-half run to take control of the game. The Cougars ripped off a 16-0 run to lead 36-33 after a layup by Josh White with 49 seconds to play in the half. Jamaal Calvin knocked down a pair of free throws for SEMO with 26 seconds to go in the period, and the Cougars took a 36-35 lead into the break.
Like their previous game at Eastern Illinois, SIUE never trailed in the second half. The Cougars built their lead to as many as nine Thursday when Burak Eslik completed a three-point play with 11:47 left in the game.
Southeast closed the gap in the final 1:10 of the game. Joel Angus knocked down a jumper to trim the Cougars lead to 66-63 with 1:10 left. Eslik drained a pair of free throws to push the lead back to five with 32 seconds left. Calvin hit a straight-away three-pointer to cut the Cougars' advantage to 68-66 with 20 seconds left before Eslik again hit two freebies to push the lead to four.
Isiah Jones took a pass from Cleveland with five seconds left and dropped in an off-balance three to make it 70-69 SIUE. On the ensuing inboads play, Keenan Simmons slipped the defense and Carlos Anderson found him with a baseball pass. Simmons caught the pass in the opposite lane, and slammed home a two-handed dunk to put an exclamation point on the win for SIUE.
Eslik led the Cougars in scoring with 24 points. It was the second consecutive 20-point game for Eslik and the seventh this season. Eslik was 6 for 13 from the field and 9 of 10 at the free throw line. Anderson scored 12 points. He tied his career high with three three-pointers. Simmons added 10. C.J. Carr scored five points off the bench but added a game-high seven assists.
Cleveland led Southeast Missouri with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. Angus scored 13 points and Jones added 10 points.
The Cougars shot 46.2 percent (24-52) from the field. SIUE was 9 for 22 from three-point range and 6 of 11 in the second half from deep.
BELMONT 86, EASTERN KENTUCKY 78
RICHMOND, Ky. - Behind a season-high 33 points, nine rebounds and five assists from senior Craig Bradshaw, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Eastern Kentucky, 86-78, Thursday night.
In a game that featured massive momentum shifts, Belmont led from start to finish.
Holding Eastern Kentucky to four field goals in the opening 12 and a half minutes, the Bruins seized a 30-8 lead on a basket from junior Evan Bradds. But after scoring 16 points in the first 16 minutes, the Colonels closed the half on a 17-7 run to get within 42-33 at halftime.
The Bruins (19-9, 11-3 OVC) continued to fight through some unusual circumstances, as an apparent clerical error at the scorer's table assessed sophomore Amanze Egekeze two personal fouls in the first 4:25 of the second half, sending Belmont's best all-around defender to the bench with four personal fouls.
From there, Eastern Kentucky closed within 52-51 on a basket from Javontae Hawkins. But Belmont never surrendered the lead, as freshman Kevin McClain capped a 13-4 Bruin response to push the margin back to double figures. From there, Bradshaw willed Belmont to the finish, having a hand in 17 of the Bruins' final 21 points.
Bradds added his 20th double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Hawkins, Nick Mayo, and Jarelle Reischel each scored 19 points for Eastern Kentucky (14-15, 5-9 OVC), which entered play No. 6 nationally in effective field goal percentage.