THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 83, UT Martin 67
@Morehead State 85, Eastern Illinois 75
@Eastern Kentucky 78, SIUE 61
@Tennessee Tech 76, Austin Peay 67
Murray State 76, @Jacksonville State 63
@Tennessee State 65, Southeast Missouri 62
BELMONT 83, UT MARTIN 67
NASHVILLE - Behind a career-high 30 points from senior Nick Smith, Belmont University men's basketball defeated UT Martin, 83-67, Thursday night.
Smith tied the OVC and Curb Event Center single-game record of 10 made 3-pointers
The Bruins poured in a program-record 14 3-point field goals in the first half in building a 54-35 halftime lead.
In fact, Belmont's first 12 field goals of the game came from long distance, before a driving basket from junior Burton Sampson provided the Bruins' first two-point field goal nearly 15 minutes into the game.
The Bruin lead grew to 59-36 with 18:01 remaining on a 3-pointer from sophomore Dylan Windler. UT Martin closed within 70-61 on a 3-pointer from Jacolby Mobley, but Belmont scored 11 of the final 15 points.
All told, Belmont made 18 3-pointers, one shy of a program record and two shy of the OVC mark.
Mobley led UT Martin (11-7, 1-2 OVC) with 22 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 85, EASTERN ILLINOIS 75
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State men's basketball (5-10, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) bounced back from last Saturday's conference opener with an 85-75 win over Eastern Illinois (8-7, 0-2 OVC) at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles were led in part by another perfect performance from senior Treshaad Williams, who has connected on his last 21 field goal attempts at home. The 6-foot-5 forward dropped 22 points on 8-for-8 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line, with six rebounds and two blocks in 33 minutes.
Morehead State entered halftime with a 39-36 lead, but poured in 11 straight points to open the second half. The Eagles ultimately outscored the Panthers 40-12 in the paint, and won the rebounding battle, 42-30.
Senior guard Xavier Moon led all scorers with 25 (on 12-of-14, .857 shooting from the charity stripe), in addition to nine assists, six rebounds, and two blocks. The Eagles received another double-double from senior big man DeJuan Marrero, who tallied 16 points and 12 boards in 31 minutes.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 78, SIUE 61
RICHMOND, Ky. - Trailing by eight midway through the first half, the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team turned up the defense and proceeded to cruise to a 78-61 victory over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Thursday night at McBrayer Arena.
SIUE (5-11, 0-2 OVC) got off to a hot start, hitting on 9-of-15 from the field, including 5-of-9 from outside the arc. A pair of free throws by Keenan Simmons with 9:59 left in the first half gave the Cougars an eight-point lead, 26-18. However after a three-pointer by Tre Harris with 10:36 showing on the clock, the visitors went cold from the field the rest of the half, missing 15 straight field goals, including six from deep.
Eastern Kentucky (8-9, 1-1 OVC) turned the Cougar cold streak into a 19-4 run and went to the locker room at halftime in front by seven, 37-30. Six different Colonels scored during the run. Freshman guard Parker Chitty had a nifty baseline drive reverse lay-up. Senior guard Isaac McGlone went coast-to-coast for one of his two lay-ups during the run.
SIU Edwardsville finished the first half 9-for-30 from the field for 30 percent. EKU hit on 15-of-26 for 58 percent.
SIUE missed its first four shots of the second half to run its streak to 19 straight misses from the field. Eastern scored 11 of the first 15 points of the second stanza to double its halftime lead to 14. Freshman guard Asante Gist scored seven of the 11. The lead went to 20-plus on back-to-back lay-ups from McGlone that capped a 7-0 spurt and made it 64-41 with 8:03 remaining in the game.
The Cougars never got closer than 17 the rest of the way, which occurred in the final 30 seconds.
Gist finished with a career-best and game-high 25 points to go along with five assists. He connected on 6-of-12 from the field and 13-of-14 at the free throw line. Sophomore forward Nick Mayo added 16 points and seven rebounds. Junior forward Zach Charles posted 10 points and five rebounds, while McGlone contributed eight points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Harris came off the bench to lead SIU Edwardsville with 21 points. He went 4-of-13 from three-point range. SIUE shot 29 percent in the second half and finished the night 16-of-54 form the field (29.6 percent). The Cougars made just 7-of-25 (28 percent) from behind the arc.
The Colonels shot 51 percent on the night and went 20-of-24 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe. EKU had a 42-33 rebounding advantage and outscored the Cougars 54-8 in the paint.
TENNESSEE TECH 76, AUSTIN PEAY 67
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A stout offensive attack over the final 14 minutes of play helped spark the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team (6-11, 2-0) to a 76-67, comeback victory over in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay (4-12, 0-2) Saturday evening.
After 20 minutes of what seemed destined to be a defensive struggle all night, the Golden Eagles entered the break with a three-point advantage, leading the Governors, 28-25. Tech extended that lead to five early in the second half, but quickly found itself on the wrong end of a massive offensive surge.
Two minutes into the half, Austin Peay kicked things into another gear, cruising out to a 12-point lead on the heels of an 18-1 run right up to the 14:37 mark. Payne wisely called for a 30-second timeout, using the chance to calm his team and get the confidence of the offense back to level.
It didn't take long for the action to pay off, as senior guard Kajon Mack sparked a 16-4 run by the Golden Eagles to even things at 49 with just under 10 minutes to play. The Tulane transfer created havoc on both ends of the court for the Govs, leading Tech to a four-minute span that saw four steals and two of the team's sharp shooters begin to heat up.
Senior Hakeem Rogers snapped his scoreless drought in the contest, making a nifty jumper in the lane to cut Austin Peay's lead to two. After two free throws by Josh Robinson, he followed that up with a 3-point play to trim it to just a single point.
Two more Robinson freebies made it a three-point lead once again for the Govs, but junior Aleksa Jugovic picked the perfect time to catch fire from beyond the arc, hitting his first of back-to-back triples to notch things up. His second 3-ball gave Tech the lead once more and put the Eblen Center into a frenzy.
Tech inched out to a seven-point lead with five and a half to play, but Peay put together one more stand, tying things at 63 with just over three minutes left in action. Rogers hammered home a huge 3-pointer to give the Golden Eagles the lead for good, one punctuated by a timely trey from sophomore guard Stephaun Adams.
His triple made it a four-point game with just a little over two to play, forcing Austin Peay into some uncomfortable shots and to begin fouling.
The Golden Eagles knocked down seven free throws down the stretch to close things out, gathering their second consecutive season with a 2-0 start to league play, the first time a Tech team accomplished the feat since the 2004-05 and 2005-06 squads.
Jugovic led the Tech scoring effort, sinking 5-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc on his way to 17 points. Not far behind, Mack, who initially sparked the Golden Eagle comeback, finished with 16 points on a highly efficient 7-for-9 showing from the floor. He also gathered four rebounds, dished out three assists and made three steals.
Both Rogers and Adams joined their teammates with double-digit scoring efforts, posting totals of 13 and 10, respectively. Adams dished out a team-high five assists while making his second straight start.
MURRAY STATE 76, JACKSONVILLE STATE 63
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Murray State Racers hit an amazing 13-of-18 from beyond the 3-point line in a 76-63 win over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
Terrell Miller, Jr., and Jonathan Stark paced the Racers to their third-straight win with 28 and 23 points respectively as they combined to hit 11 of MSU’s threes at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.
The Racers improved their Ohio Valley Conference mark to 2-0 and evened their overall record at 8-8. JSU fell to 9-8 and 2-1.
Leading 38-35 at the half, MSU saw JSU get to a 53-49 score with 9:45 left. The Racers’ defense locked down and didn’t allow another JSU field goal for the next 5:15 and by then, MSU held a 64-54 lead with 4:30 left. A three from Miller with 1:37 left, put the Racers up by nine and they cruised from there.
The Racers’ 13-of-18 night from long range came out to .722 percent and it easily was their best 3-point percentage in 16 games this season.
The Racers also won the rebound battle 36-31 after they trailed 15-12 at half time. Miller grabbed 10 rebounds and recorded his fourth double-double of the season.
Bryce Jones tossed in 14 points on 2-of-3 from 3-point range and was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Gee McGhee grabbed six rebounds in only 18 minutes on the floor.
TENNESSEE STATE 65, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 62
NASHVILLE - Tahjere McCall scored a game-high 27 points and had a key steal on the final play of the game to lift the Tennessee State men’s basketball team to a 65-62 home victory over Southeast Missouri on Thursday night at the Gentry Center in Ohio Valley Conference action.
Leading 61-60 with 27.9 seconds left, McCall drained two free throws for a three-point advantage for TSU (10-5, 1-1 OVC). After a free throw from A’Torey Everett, SEMO’s Antonius Cleveland hit a layup to put the score at 64-62 with 13.4 seconds left.
McCall was again fouled, hitting the first free throw with 5.6 seconds remaining for a 65-62 lead. Before the Redhawks could attempt a final shot that could have leveled the score, McCall came up with a steal to seal the victory.
McCall turned in a complete game with 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals on the night. Wayne Martin also finished in double figures with 10 points.
TSU gained the upper hand in the early going, taking a 12-4 lead to force a SEMO timeout with 14:20 left in the first half. Out of the break, the Redhawks seized the momentum and the lead by a 20-19 margin.
The Tigers would grow their lead back up to six points at 28-22 with just over two minutes play. The home side went to the locker room with a 32-29 lead thanks to a pair of McCall free throws in the waning seconds. TSU held SEMO to 1-for-11 shooting (9.1 percent) from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
Tennessee State scored eight of the first 11 points of the half for a 40-32 advantage. Christian Mekowulu chipped in with a layup and a dunk during the stretch.
TSU continued to lead for most of the second half before SEMO’s 7-0 run mid-way through the half gave the visitors a 51-50 advantage. The Tigers regained the lead for good with just over four minutes left on McCall’s jumper.
Tennessee State finished with a 33-30 rebounding edge and limited SEMO to 20 percent (4-for-20) from three-point range.
Cleveland posted a team-high 15 points for the Redhawks.