THURSDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 84, @Morehead State 78
Tennessee State 63, @Eastern Kentucky 49
Murray State 83, @Eastern Illinois 72
Austin Peay 83, @SIUE 81 (OT)
BELMONT 84, MOREHEAD STATE 78
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Behind 32 points and 10 rebounds from senior All-America candidate Evan Bradds, Belmont (10-4, 4-0 OVC) defeated Morehead State, 84-78, Thursday night.
Bradds went 12-for-18 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free throw line in leading the Bruins.
Morehead State scored 11 of the first 14 points, before Bradds and senior Nick Smith helped flip the script. The duo combined on 29 first half points as the Bruins led 43-42 at halftime.
After DeJuan Marrero pushed Morehead State to a 56-53 lead with 14:02 left, Belmont answered with an 8-0 run, capped by a Smith basket.
Three-pointers from Smith and junior Austin Luke gave Belmont a 75-65 lead with 6:34 to go. The Eagles got no closer than four.
Xavier Moon led Morehead State (6-11, 2-2 OVC) with 18 points.
Belmont has won nine of its last 10 games.
TENNESSEE STATE 63, EASTERN KENTUCKY 49
RICHMOND, Ky. - Wayne Martin put on a dominating performance with 14 points and 17 rebounds to carry the Tennessee State men’s basketball team to a 63-49 road win over Eastern Kentucky at McBrayer Arena on Thursday night in Ohio Valley play.
Delano Spencer chipped in 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range with Tahjere McCall adding 10 points, seven assists and three steals.
The Tigers (12-5, 3-1) led for 34:17 of the game and did not trail in the second half.
Darreon Reddick came up with a steal and found Ken’Darrius Hamilton in transition for a dunk to give the Tigers a 14-11 lead at the midway point of the first half.
TSU led for 14:17 of the first half, taking its largest advantage of 11 points at 32-21 with 2:15 left in the half on a Reddick three pointer.
EKU scored the final five points of the half, including a banked-in three from Nick Mayo as TSU took a 32-26 advantage into the locker room.
The Tigers again grew the lead back up to 12 early in the second half before EKU trimmed it back down to six at 45-39 with 10 minutes left. Spencer hit his fourth three of the game with 9:30 remaining to swing the momentum back to the visitors.
McCall sparked a 6-0 run with a baseline dunk to put the lead to double-digits at 52-42 with five minutes to play.
The Tigers would go on to take a 14-point advantage four times in the closing 3:23 of the game.
TSU outrebounded EKU (8-11, 1-3 OVC) by a 46-37 margin and held the Colonels to 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) shooting from three-point range.
Asante Gist led all scorers with 17 points for EKU, while Mayo finished with 15 points.
MURRAY STATE 83, EASTERN ILLINOIS 72
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Murray State Racers used a dominating rebounding performance to power past the Eastern Illinois Panthers 83-72 Thursday at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois.
MSU (9-9) moved to 3-1 as the leader in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division. EIU (9-8) fell to 1-3 in the OVC.
MSU out-rebounded EIU 46-33 and scored 18 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds. The effort was MSU’s best this season against an NCAA D-I team.
Terrell Miller recorded his third-straight double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Bryce Jones and Jonathan Stark each tossed in 17 points.
Trailing 33-22 with 7:14 remaining in the first half, the Racers showed some grit and finished the half on a 19-6 run to get the lead 41-39. The run saw a reversal from the previous 12-plus minutes. MSU finished the half 7-of-11 from the field including 2-4 from the 3-point line. EIU was 3-of-15 and 2-of-7.
Damarcus Croaker, who was scoreless in the first half, scored MSU’s first five of the second half, helping MSU to its biggest lead of the day after Miller hit a 3-pointer for a 49-45 lead with 15:26 left.
Brion Sanchious scored and the Racers turned it into a four-point play. Croaker got the rebound off the free throw miss by Sanchious and was fouled. Croaker’s free throws made it a 70-65 MSU lead with 5:56 left.
The Racers hit 10-straight free throws in the final 1:32 to seal their second road win of the season.
AUSTIN PEAY 83, SIUE 81 (OT)
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Josh Robinson scored 26 points and John Murry added 23, and Austin Peay edged SIU Edwardsville 83-81 in overtime on Thursday night to snap its 11-game losing streak.
The game was tied at 72 before Jared Savage made a layup and Robinson scored two jumpers to give the Governors a 78-73 lead with 28 seconds left in the extra period. Burak Eslik made three of four free throws to pull the Cougars to 79-76 with 14 seconds to go.
Murry and Savage each made a pair of free throws, and Eslik hit a 3 at the buzzer to cap the scoring.
Austin Peay (5-13, 1/3 Ohio Valley) shot just 4 of 20 from long range, but forced 21 turnovers.
Eslik finished with 20 points to lead SIU Edwardsville (5-13, 0-4). Keenan Simmons added 15 points, including a layup with six seconds left to tie it at 70 and force overtime.