SATURDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 72, @Jacksonville State 69
@Eastern Illinois 75, SIUE 60
Southeast Missouri 82, @Austin Peay 71
@Murray State 94, UT Martin 86
Belmont 93, @Tennessee State 76
Eastern Kentucky 79, @Tennessee Tech 66
MOREHEAD STATE 72, JACKSONVILLE STATE 69
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Morehead State men's basketball erased an 11-point second half deficit and rallied to defeat host Jacksonville State 72-69 at the Pete Mathews Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles (10-12/6-3 OVC) fell behind 57-46 with less than 10 minutes remaining, but used a 22-5 run to pull back ahead. The Gamecocks fell to 13-11 and 5-4 in the league.
Senior guard Xavier Moon led the charge with 21 points, his sixth 20-point effort this year and third in the last four games. He also added five assists and three steals. Senior guard Miguel Dicent registered a season-high 20 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
Senior forward Dejuan Marrero notched his league-best 11th double-double and second straight with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Eagles nailed 19-of-22 from the charity stripe and are now 51-of-58 (.879) in the last three games.
Morehead State used a 15-2 run to build its largest first half lead (25-15) with 9:08 left after Moon's first three-pointer. But the Gamecocks rallied back with an 11-0 flurry, capped by a dunk from Jacara Cross, to regain the advantage 26-25. The hosts led by five twice in the final three minutes before a Marrero bucket with six ticks remaining left the Eagles trailing 39-36 at the half.
JSU opened the second half on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes to push ahead 49-38. The Eagles used the 22-5 run, started by two Lamontray Harris free throws, to catapult to a 68-62 cushion with 2:56 left. A Malcolm Drumwright trey with 44 ticks left pulled the hosts to within 70-68, but Dicent iced the win with a pair of free tosses at the six-second mark
JSU's Greg Tucker led all players with 27 points, including five triples.
Morehead State finished with a 46-percent (24-of-52) shooting efficiency, while JSU managed 45 percent.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 75, SIUE 60
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Terrell Lewis became just the 11th player in Eastern Illinois history to hit seven or more 3-pointers in a game on Saturday afternoon as the junior went 8-of-12 from beyond the arc to pace Eastern Illinois to a 75-60 win over SIU Edwardsville in Lantz Arena.
The win moved EIU to 10-12 overall, 2-7 in the OVC while SIUE dropped to 5-18 overall, 0-9 in the OVC.
Lewis made 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half as the Panthers moved out to a 41-32 lead over the Cougars. Lewis hit two of his 3-pointers during a 14-6 run midway through the second half that opened the Panthers lead from eight points to 16 points as Muusa Dama converted a pair of free throws with 3:24 left in the half. EIU led 36-20 at the point. SIUE would get the lead back to single digits just before half as Burak Eslik hit a pair of free throws with ten seconds left in the half.
In the second half Lewis contributed in other ways as he quickly pushed the Panthers lead back to out to double figures on two occasions assisting on baskets by Demetrius McReynolds and Ray Crossland. Crossland’s basket with 16:07 left in the game gave the Panthers a 46-35 lead.
Crossland pulled down a defensive rebound on the next SIUE possession, a missed jumper by Eslik. Patrick Muldoon made a free throw and Lewis drained a 3-pointer with 14:21 remaining as SIUE never got closer than 11 points the remainder of the game. Crossland posted his first career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Lewis finished with 24 points and eight assists. McReynolds rounded out the EIU double figure scorers with 16 points. The last EIU player to hit seven or more 3-pointers in a game was Romain Martin with eight on Feb. 28, 2009 at Tennessee State.
SIUE closed the Panthers lead to 11 points with 6:22 to play on a lay-up by Christian Ellis that made it 65-54. EIU quickly extended the lead to as high as 19 points on a Crossland jumper with 1:45 to play. The Cougars closed out with two baskets for the final margin.
Jalen Henry and Keenan Simmons both finished in double figures in the low block for SIUE as they held a 26-16 points in the paint advantage. Henry had 16 points and Simmons 12.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 82, AUSTIN PEAY 71
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman Denzel Mahoney scored 22 points to lead Southeast Missouri (11-13, 6-3) to an 82-71 win over Austin Peay (7-16, 3-6) Saturday night at the Dunn Center.
Mahoney finished as SEMO's leading scorer for the second-straight game and fourth time in five starts. The Redhawks picked up their fourth consecutive win and swept the Murray State/Austin Peay road trip for only the second time in school history.
Still feeling the effects from its thrilling one-point victory at Murray State two nights ago, SEMO rallied behind another strong outing by Mahoney, who averaged 22.5 points for the two-game stretch.
The Redhawks led for 16:03 of the game's opening 20 minutes and shot a scorching 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the field en route to getting a 44-39 halftime lead.
Mahoney dropped in 13 points and drained two of SEMO's four 3-pointers in the first half. The Redhawks widened their lead to six on two occasions when Milos Vranes came off the bench to knock down a three (15-9) and Mahoney made a jumper. Mahoney's shot put SEMO ahead, 17-11, with just under 13 minutes to play.
APSU tied the game six times and led twice for a quick 55 seconds in the first half.
Vranes rebounded a missed layup by Jonathan Dalton and scored the final basket of the half as the Redhawks went into the locker room with a lead for the ninth time this season.
The Governors, who never led in the second half, were within three on five occasions, but that was as close as they would get.
Antonius Cleveland made two free throws to give SEMO its first double-digit lead at 70-60 with 3:52 left to play.
The Redhawks added more free throws, this time by Jamaal Calvin, to take an 80-69 lead with 38 seconds remaining before closing out the victory.
Mahoney shot 7-of-11 from the field and 6-of-10 at the free throw line, collecting his fourth 20-point game in five starts. He also had five rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes, as he led all scorers.
Cleveland followed with 17 points on 6-of-12 field goals and 5-of-7 free throws. He added six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Cleveland went over 400 points this season in his 100th career start. His 414 points are the most in a season for his career.
Trey Kellum contributed 13 points and six boards, and Calvin gave the Redhawks quality minutes off the bench. He finished with 10 points in 18 minutes.
SEMO shot 54 percent (27-of-50) for the night and improved to 7-2 in games where it shoots 50 percent or better this year. The Redhawks shot 50 percent or better for the seventh time in 10 contests.
Defensively, SEMO held APSU's top scorer, Josh Robinson, to 10 points on 3-of-12 from the floor. Robinson came into the game averaging 21.9 points per game and 23 in league play. The Redhawks held the Governors to a .320 field goal percentage in the second half.
All five APSU starters scored double figures.
SEMO is on a four-game winning streak for the first time since the 2013-14 season. That year, the Redhawks' longest winning streak was five games.
MURRAY STATE 94, UT MARTIN 86
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Terrell Miller Jr. scored a career-high 30 points and Murray State pulled away in the second half to beat UT Martin 94-86 on Saturday night and break a three-way tie with Southeast Missouri for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division.
Demarcus Croaker scored 23 points, Jonathan Stark scored 13 points and made a career-high 10 assists, and Bryce Jones had 13 points with four 3-pointers for the Racers (12-11, 6-3), who ended a two-game skid.
Murray State led 49-46 at halftime behind Croaker's 12 points on 61.3 percent shooting from the floor and opened the second half with a 13-6 run for a 10-point lead, 62-52.
Miller's 3 gave the Racers a 19-point lead with 8:20 to go. The Skyhawks closed to 90-85 on Jacolby Mobley's layup with 1:57 left but got no closer.
Mobley scored 26 points and Javier Martinez had 18 with nine rebounds for the Skyhawks (15-9, 5-4), who saw their four-game win streak end.
BELMONT 93, TENNESSEE STATE 76
NASHVILLE - In arguably its most complete performance of the season, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee State, 93-76, Saturday night.
Belmont shot 61 percent from the field - including 64 percent in the second half - in seizing control midway through the first half.
The Bruins scored 15 of the final 22 points of the first half, punctuated by a steal and slam from sophomore Dylan Windler.
Belmont led 39-28 at halftime.
Tennessee State closed within 39-34 on a Christian Mekowulu dunk, but 3-pointers from seniors Austin Luke and Nick Smith and a layin from Windler made the score 55-40 with 14:37 left.
Senior All-America candidate Evan Bradds scored 14 second half points as a 3-pointer from senior Taylor Barnette made the score 80-55 with 6:54 left.
Bradds led five Bruins in double figures with 20 points.
Luke had 18 points, five rebounds, nine assists and only one turnover in 34 minutes.
Tahjere McCall led Tennessee State (13-9, 4-5 OVC) with 22 points.
Belmont (15-4, 9-0) has won 11 straight games and 14 of its last 15. The Bruins have won an NCAA-best eight straight road games.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 79, TENNESSEE TECH 66
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team erased a 17-point first-half deficit and stormed back to defeat host Tennessee Tech, 79-66, on Saturday night at the Eblen Center.
It is the Colonels’ second straight OVC road win, and their first win in Cookeville since February of 2013.
Sophomore Nick Mayo led the way for the second straight game, scoring 21 points, grabbing six rebounds, dishing out four assists and blocking three shots.
Freshman Asante Gist finished with 20 points, five assists and five rebounds, while junior Zach Charles just missed a double-double, pouring in a career-high 19 points to go along with nine rebounds and four blocks.
EKU (10-14, 3-6 OVC) went down by 17 when Tennessee Tech’s Stephaun Adams drilled a three-pointer to make it 27-10 with 7:05 remaining in the game.
Gist, however, knocked down a triple on the Colonels’ ensuing possession to spark a 10-0 EKU run. A layup by Gist ended the spurt and made it 27-20 with 4:51 showing on the clock.
After a jumper by Curtis Phillips made it 34-27 in favor of TTU, EKU closed out the half on a 6-0 run as a dunk by Mayo sent the Colonels into the locker room at the break down by only a point, 34-33.
Overall, Eastern closed the first half on a 24-7 run. The Colonels shot 4-of-18 to open the half, but hit nine of their last 12 attempts to spark the rally.
Mayo carried that momentum out of the locker room and scored the second half’s opening bucket, giving EKU its first lead of the game, 35-34.
Tennessee Tech (9-15, 5-4 OVC) retook the lead, 40-39, on a Mason Ramsey layup, but the Colonels responded by reeling off 11 of the game’s next 12 points as a three-pointer by junior Dillon Avare made it 50-41 in favor of EKU with 12:25 showing. The Colonels never trailed again.
Avare sparked the Colonels in the second half. TTU pulled to within four, 53-49, with 8:17 remaining, but Avare continued to knock down long-range shots to fend off any semblance of a Golden Eagle rally. He connected on four three-pointers in a five-minute span in the second half to finish with 12 points off the bench.
Easter took its largest lead, 69-53, when Charles sank a pair of foul shots with 4:34 remaining.
Aleksa Jugovic paced TTU with 18 points.
The Colonels stifled the Golden Eagles to 37 percent (24-of-65) shooting from the field and 22 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range.