THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 76, Morehead State 73
Eastern Kentucky 57, @Jacksonville State 52
Southeast Missouri 75, @Murray State 74
UT Martin 85, @Austin Peay 79
TENNESSEE TECH 76, MOREHEAD STATE 73
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Not even a 12-0 run to start the game by Ohio Valley Conference East Division foe Morehead State (9-12, 5-3) could keep the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team (9-14, 5-3) from the winner's column Thursday night, as the Golden Eagles rallied behind lights-out shooting from deep for a 76-73 victory in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tech guards Aleksa Jugovic and Hakeem Rogers put the team on their backs on the night, scoring a combined 46 points on 10-for-17 shooting from beyond the arc. Curtis Phillips Jr. added 13 points to the mix, tying his season-high output while also leading the Golden Eagles with five rebounds and tying for the team-lead with two steals.
Morehead State kicked off the affair on a blistering, 12-0 run while the Cookeville squad missed its first five shots of the game and made three turnovers in the opening five minutes. Tech quickly rallied behind a quick start from Phillips Jr., a Campbell transfer who made his season debut Dec. 10 at Michigan State.
The junior forward sank his first four shots of the contest, all in-a-row, to ignite the TTU offense. Rogers took over, ending a small cold spell of his own – a 1-for-4 start from the field – with a couple of free throws with just five minutes to go in the half. He followed with a layup, sandwiched by two triples that closed the gap to within four.
At the break, the original 12-point Eagle lead had already been cut to six.
Jugovic took his turn running the offense in the second half, scoring 20 of his team-high 25 points over the final 17 minutes. He hit back-to-back treys early in the period before returning the offensive torch back to his backcourt mate.
Rogers sank three big buckets from beyond the arc in a span of three minutes, tying the game with the second and forcing a Morehead State timeout. He followed with an assist on a Phillips Jr. 3-pointer right out of the break, giving Tech its first lead of the game at 55-52.
The hot hand returned to Jugovic with five minutes to play, as the Leskovac, Serbia native notched two more triples and went on a free-throw run. He finished 6-for-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch, including a 4-for-4 showing following a foul and Morehead State technical with just 22 seconds to play and the Golden Eagles up just one.
For the game, "Serbian Sugar" was a sweet, 5-for-10 from downtown and perfect 8-for-8 at the line. Rogers tallied 21 points on a highly efficient night. The Elizabeth, N.J. native hit 5-of-7 attempts from deep and 7-of-13 tries from the floor in 26 minutes off the bench.
Senior guard Kajon Mack added eight points, four rebounds and three assists while redshirt freshman Micaiah Henry boasted three big blocks in the paint.
The Golden Eagles finished a sizzling 52.4 percent from 3-point range on the night and hit 73.1 percent of its free throw attempts. The defense was also hot, forcing 20 Morehead State turnovers, blocking five shots and collecting eight steals. Tech totaled a whopping 37 bench points on the night – compared to just nine for the visiting Eagles – and scored 24 points off turnovers.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 57, JACKSONVILLE STATE 52
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Sophomore forward Nick Mayo had 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a career-high seven blocks to lead the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team past host Jacksonville State, 57-52, on Thursday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
EKU (9-14, 2-6 OVC) ramped up the defense to secure the crucial road victory. The Colonels blocked a season-high 13 shots and stifled the Gamecocks to 30 percent (18-of-60) shooting from the field, their second-worst shooting performance of the season.
EKU’s 13 blocks are the most by a Colonel team in over 14 years. Mayo’s seven blocks are the most by a Colonel since Eric Stutz had seven at Southeast Missouri on February 2, 2013.
Freshman guard Asante Gist finished with 13 points, while junior forward Zach Charles contributed 11 points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
The game was tied, 39-39, following a three-pointer by JSU’s Greg Tucker with 9:10 remaining in the game; however, a three-pointer by senior Isaac McGlone sparked EKU on a 14-5 run and the Colonels grabbed a nine-point advantage, 53-44, when McGlone sank a foul shot with 1:02 on the clock.
Jacksonville State (13-10, 5-3) tried to rally in the final minute, as a three-pointer by Erik Durham made it a four-point game, 56-52, with 11 seconds on the clock. But, Mayo sank a free throw on one end, and Durham’s desperation three-pointer on the other end missed, giving Eastern only its second true road win of the season.
The win snapped EKU’s five-game losing streak.
EKU shot 40 percent from the field (19-of-48). The Colonels out-rebounded the Gamecocks, 41-38.
Christian Cunningham paced Jacksonville State with a double-double of 11 points and 15 rebounds.
EKU came out firing on all cylinders and took its largest lead of the night, 25-14, when Mayo knocked down a pair of free throws with 3:10 remaining in the first half.
The Gamecocks, however, closed out the half on an 8-2 run to close the gap to six, 27-21, at the break.
JSU carried that momentum into the second half, as the hosts opened the second stanza on a 7-0 spurt and took the lead, 28-27, following a dunk by Cunningham with 18:02 on the clock.
It was the Gamecocks’ final lead of the game.
Eastern exploded on a 9-2 run and went ahead by seven, 37-30, when Mayo came down the lane for a dunk. The Colonels never trailed again.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 75, MURRAY STATE 74
MURRAY, Ky. - Senior Trey Kellum made two free throws with 5.6 seconds left and freshman Denzel Mahoney matched a career-high 23 points to lead Southeast Missouri (10-13, 5-3) to a 75-74 win over Murray State (11-11, 5-3) Thursday night at the CFSB Center.
Senior Trey Kellum made two free throws with 5.6 seconds left and freshman Denzel Mahoney matched a career-high 23 points to lead Southeast Missouri (10-13, 5-3) to a 75-74 win over Murray State (11-11, 5-3) Thursday night at the CFSB Center.
SEMO trailed, 74-73, after Jonathan Stark made a jumper with 1:15 remaining. Following two misses by Tahj Eaddy, Kellum rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Mahoney and was fouled on the play. He made his first free throw and MSU quickly called timeout. Kellum then calmly buried the decisive shot.
Kellum stole the ball from Stark on the Racers ensuing possession, but was called for a double-dribble giving the ball back to MSU with one-tenth of a second on the clock. The Racers inbounded the ball to Terrell Miller, who caught the pass in the air and put up a shot that went off the backboard as the buzzer sounded.
Tonight's win gave SEMO its 10th win of the season and snapped a 10-game losing streak outside of Cape Girardeau. More importantly, it put the Redhawks in a tie for first in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division.
Cleveland turned in a double-double 12 points and 11 rebounds as one of three starters in double figures. He had 10 points and eight boards in the second half alone and secured the ninth double-double of his career.
SEMO trailed, 41-32, at halftime, but used an 18-4 run early in the seocnd half to erase the deficit.
Mahoney's jumper put the Redhawks ahead, 46-45, at the 15:15 mark. SEMO went on to build its biggest lead to 69-61 when Eaddy got a steal and scored a layup with 5:06 remaining.
Stark came up big one other time in the final minutes when his layup grabbed MSU a 72-71 advantage at the 2:10 mark.
Mahoney shot 9-of-15 from the field and was a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line en route to his fourth 20-point performance this season.He also had five rebounds in 38 minutes.
Meanwhile, Kellum scored 12 points on 4-of-5 field goals and 4-of-6 free throws. He, too, pulled down five rebounds and added a steal in 18 minutes.
SEMO outscored MSU, 43-33, and shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) in its strong second half. The Redhawks finished at 52.6 percent (30-of-57) from the field for the night. SEMO turned the ball over just four times in the second half after committing 10 in the game's first 20 minutes.
Additionally, SEMO outrebounded the Racers, 30-28.
Stark led MSU with a game-high 24 points on 12-of-20 from the floor. Gee Mcghee and Miller followed with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Bryce Jones chipped in 11.
The Racers shot 53.7 percent (29-of-54) from the field.
There were a total of 12 lead changes in the back-and-forth battle.
UT MARTIN 85, AUSTIN PEAY 79
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Jacolby Mobley carried the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team in the first half while Javier Martinez helped close out the win in an impressive 85-79 Ohio Valley Conference win at Austin Peay.
Mobley supplied 27 of his career-best 36 points in the first half before departing the game with 6:10 remaining because of an injury. The senior out of Starkville, Miss. canned 12 of his 17 field goal attempts (including a 5-of-8 effort from three-point range) while going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.
A senior from St. Croix, Virgin Islands, Martinez wrapped up 16 points to go along with a career-high 19 rebounds. Nine of his rebounds came on the offensive end as he hauled in the most rebounds of any Skyhawk in 2016-17.
Kahari Beaufort came off the bench to score 12 big points while Matthew Butler accumulated 10 points and a game-high five assists for UT Martin, who improved to 15-8 with a 5-3 OVC mark – resulting in a three-way tie (with Murray State and Southeast Missouri) in the OVC West standings.
The Governors (7-15, 3-5 OVC) were keyed by Josh Robinson’s 21 points while John Murry (18), Kenny Jones (16) and Jared Savage (12) each scored double-digits. Austin Peay connected on 56 percent of its field goal attempts in the final 20 minutes to close an 18-point second half gap to just four points but the Governors could only manage a 22.7 percent shooting effort (5-of-22) for the game.
Austin Peay scored the first points of the game but Mobley reeled off eight straight points as part of a 12-1 run. Mobley scored on a leaner and added three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor to ignite a spurt that resulted in a 12-3 lead at the first media timeout.
Mobley continued his scoring spree with a four-point play at the 14:47 mark. He followed with a bucket on a strong take to the hoop before converting an old-fashioned three-point play to expand UT Martin’s lead out to 21-7 with 13:15 remaining in the first half.
The Governors closed within 10 points before Dante Bailey knocked down a three-pointer from the right wing. Martinez and Butler then combined to score the Skyhawks’ next eight points to give UT Martin an 18-point lead (33-15) with a little over nine minutes to play in the opening stanza.
Austin Peay was able to close within single-digits thanks to an 11-2 run, trimming the Skyhawk lead to 35-26 at the 5:13 mark. However, Mobley heated up once again – scoring eight of UT Martin’s final 12 points of the first half to help the Skyhawks take a 51-37 lead into the locker room.
Mobley’s 27 points and Martinez’s 10 points led the way in the first half for UT Martin, who shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field. The Governors were paced by Jones’ 10 points but Austin Peay struggled from three-point land, making only one of its nine attempts for a 9.1 percent performance.
Following a Kedar Edwards bucket less than two minutes into the second half, the Governors scored eight of the next 10 points to make the score 55-47. Mobley then broke loose for another scoring surge, tossing in seven points in the span of 1:48. Martinez followed with a backdown and right-hand hook in the paint to pad the Skyhawk advantage to 67-49 with 12:46 remaining.
Robinson sank a three-pointer from the left wing at the 9:15 mark but Beaufort came right back with an old-fashioned three-point play 30 seconds later to push UT Martin’s lead back out to 16 points.
With Mobley out, Austin Peay was able to get back in the game late. The Governors used a 17-5 run to whittle the Skyhawk lead to 79-75 with a little under two minutes to go. Chandler Rowe responded with one of the biggest buckets of the game, a 12-foot turnaround jumper with 1:26 remaining to make the score 81-75.
Austin Peay scored again with 29 seconds left but Edwards and Martinez went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 24 seconds to seal the win.