FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Central Michigan 70,
SIUE 52
@Marshall 91,
Eastern Kentucky 71
@Saint Louis 78,
Southeast Missouri 48
Murray State 81, @Detroit Mercy 72
@UT Martin 74, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 68
Western Kentucky 72,
@Austin Peay 53
CENTRAL MICHIGAN 70, SIUE 52
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - SIUE men's basketball's three-game winning streak came to an end Friday at the hands of Central Michigan. The Chippewas defeated the Cougars 70-52 in the final nonconference game of the season for the Cougars.
SIUE dipped to 4-7 with the loss. Central Michigan improved to 10-2 overall and 6-0 at home with the win.
Both teams struggled to find a rhythm on offense. The Cougars shot just 36.1 percent (22-61), while Central Michigan connected on only 33.9 percent (21-62) of its shots.
The Cougars held a lead for nearly eight minutes to start the game. In a sign of things to come, Cecil Williams knocked down a pair of free throws to give CMU its first lead, at 13-11, with 10:37 left before halftime. A 9-0 run followed and helped the Chippewas take an 11-point lead into the half. SIUE never led the rest of the game.
Central Michigan got out to an 8-2 start to the second half and never lost its double-digit lead. For the game, the Chippewas went 21-26 (80.8 percent) from the free throw line. SIUE was just 3-5 at the charity stripe in the game.
Williams led the Chippewas with 17 points, including 11 from the free throw line. Three others added double figures for Central Michgan.
Christian Ellis led the way for SIUE, scoring 14 points while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. He added eight assists. Justin Benton scored 10 points off the bench. Daniel Kinchen scored eight points. Both Jalen Henry and Keenan Simmons battled foul trouble. Henry scored six points and pulled down six rebounds. Simmons scored two points, added six rebounds and three blocks.
Simmons now has 102 blocks for his career which is tied for fifth all-time at SIUE.
MARSHALL 91, EASTERN KENTUCKY 71
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team fell at Marshall, 91-71, on Friday night in the Colonels’ non-conference finale at the Cam Henderson Center.
Junior Nick Mayo led EKU (6-7) with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. He added six rebounds and two assists.
Junior Jackson Davis finished with a new EKU career high of 17 points, to go along with six boards and four steals. Sophomore DeAndre Dishman came off the bench to tally 16 points and a team-best eight rebounds in only 19 minutes of action.
Freshman JacQuess Hobbs, making his second consecutive start, finished with only two points, but led EKU with 10 assists and seven steals.
As a team, EKU recorded a season-high 15 steals and forced Marshall into a season-best 20 turnovers.
However, the Thundering Herd shot a blistering 62 percent (34-of-55) from the field and 44 percent (11-of-25) from deep. The Colonels, meanwhile, shot 39 percent (29-of-74) from the floor and a season-low 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from beyond the arc.
Marshall (9-4) grabbed an early 8-0 lead when Jon Elmore knocked down a three-pointer less than three minutes into the game. A three-pointer by C.J. Burks at the 12:17 mark of the first half gave the Thundering Herd a 22-10 advantage, and the hosts led by double digits the rest of the way.
Elmore and Burks paced Marshall with 26 and 25 points apiece, respectively.
SAINT LOUIS 78, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 48
ST. LOUIS - Davell Roby scored a career-high 23 points and Jordan Goodwin added 20 to lead Saint Louis (7-6) to a 78-48 victory over Southeast Missouri (6-7) Friday night at Chaifetz Arena.
SEMO, which suffered its third-straight loss, simply couldn't get anything going against its regional rival.
SLU heated up to shoot 51.6 percent in the first half behind Goodwin, who set the tone early with 16 points in his first 18 minutes. The Billikens scored 28 points in the paint, 10 points off turnovers and made 11 layups en route to building a 35-23 halftime advantage.
Daniel Simmons knocked down a deep 3-pointer from the left corner to pull SEMO within a point at 12-11 before the Billikens answered with a 14-3 run to widen their lead to double figures. Hasahn French got free for an uncontested dunk and Jalen Johnson buried a three at the end of the surge to put SLU ahead, 25-15, with 6:42 left.
SEMO's 23 points were second-lowest in a first half this season. The Redhawks shot just 32 percent (8-of-25) from the field and only 1-of-11 from 3-point range during the opening stanza. SEMO also went the last 5:25 of the first half without a field goal.
While Goodwin stole the show in the first half, it was Roby who took over in the second. After dropping in just two points in the first half, Roby poured in 21 and buried four 3-pointers on 8-of-11 field goals in the game's final 20 minutes.
Roby opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers and exited the game shortly after his layup with 2:53 on the clock.
SLU outscored SEMO, 43-25, in the second stanza and the Billikens picked up their second win in a row.
Roby finished at 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. He also had two rebounds, dished out three assists and had two steals. Goodwin went 9-of-13 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds. Javon Bess turned in a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Aaron Hines pitched in 12 points off the bench. SLU shot 55.2 percent (32-of-58) for the game and hit 59.3 percent (16-of-27) of its field goals in the second half alone.
Denzel Mahoney led SEMO with 12 points, his 10th-straight game scoring double figures.
SEMO's 48 points, .321 field goal percentage marked season-lows.
MURRAY STATE 81, DETROIT MERCY 72
DETROIT - The Murray State Racers earned an 81-72 victory over the Detroit Mercy Titans at Calihan Hall in Detroit Michigan as they head into the Christmas break with an 8-3 mark for their best start since 2012.
Freshman guard Ja Morant was one assist from a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while Jonathan Stark pumped in 21 points and Terrell Miller, Jr., added 14.
Coming out of halftime leading 40-36, the Racers (8-3) made a push on a pair of baskets from Brion Sanchious for a 66-59 lead with 9:16 left. They kept the pressure on the Titans and had four-straight trips down the floor for scores with three-straight dunks from Jalen Dupree and Shaq Buchanan for a 77-69 lead with 1:08 left.
The Racers hit their first five tries from the 3-point line to start the game and when the fifth one dropped on a shot by Stark, the Racers led UDM 29-21 with 9:25 before the intermission. The Racers had a pair of eight-point leads in the opening 20 minutes. MSU had to adjust their attack in the final minutes of the half when Miller, Dupree and Buchanan each picked up their second personal foul.
UT MARTIN 74, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 68
MARTIN, Tenn. - Fatodd Lewis was responsible for his fifth double-double of the season as the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team bounced Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 74-68, at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center this evening.
Lewis produced game-highs of 27 points and 12 rebounds while logging a career-best 40 minutes tonight for the Skyhawks, who improved to 5-8 on the season with their fourth win in the last five games.
Dominique Williams added 10 points in just 11 minutes off the bench for UT Martin, who led for over 35 minutes of clock time tonight. Matthew Butler (nine points, five assists), Mike Fofana (season-best eight points, five assists), Jailen Gill (eight points, seven rebounds) and Darius Thompson (career-highs of six rebounds and five assists) helped the Skyhawks shoot 52.9 percent (27-of-51) and outrebound the visiting Golden Lions by a 37-24 margin.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-14) was led by Martaveous McKnight’s 17 points. Joe’Randle Toliver and Charles Jackson added 15 and 14 points, respectively for the Golden Lions, who were held to 38.2 percent shooting (21-of-55).
Lewis accounted for the Skyhawks’ first five points and would later add two more buckets to put UT Martin on top by a 13-7 margin seven minutes into the contest. A dunk by Gill and three-pointer by Delfincko Bogan on back-to-back trips down the floor helped the Skyhawks expand their lead out to 18-10 at the second media timeout.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff soon went on an 8-0 run to take a 24-23 advantage but that lead was short-lived as Fofana buried a jumper on UT Martin’s next possession to erase the deficit.
Another Fofana bucket with 24 seconds remaining in the first half provided the halftime score of 32-29 in favor of the Skyhawks.
Lewis had 12 points and six rebounds at the break, pacing a UT Martin attack that had 12 assists on 14 made baskets. The Golden Lions were led by McKnight’s seven points.
Terrence Parker opened the scoring in the second half with a hook shot in the paint to extend the Skyhawk lead to 34-29. UT Martin maintained its lead until Arkansas-Pine Bluff connected on trifectas on three consecutive possessions to go on top by a 41-40 margin at the 14:55 mark.
The Skyhawks answered with an 8-0 run, as Lewis buried a pair of three-pointers and Gill knocked down a mid-range jumper to make the score 48-41.
After the Golden Lions managed to get back within three points with eight minutes to play, Williams converted an old-fashioned three-point play coming out of the under-8-minute media timeout. His jumper and free throw resulted in a 58-52 UT Martin advantage.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff responded with the next four points to close within a single possession at 58-56. Butler and Thompson followed with clutch three-pointers to quickly push the Skyhawk lead out to their biggest of the night at eight points.
McKnight hit a three-pointer with 49 seconds remaining but the UT Martin trio of Lewis, Williams and Butler combined to go a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe from that point forward to ice the Skyhawk victory.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 72, AUSTIN PEAY 53
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University men’s basketball simply found the iron unkind in Friday’s non-conference finale against Western Kentucky, falling 72-55 to the Hilltoppers, who made their first visit to Clarksville since 2004.
The black-clad Governors shook off a rough start that saw Western Kentucky take a 13-2 lead in the opening minutes and ripped off a quick 9-0 run in less than two minutes to jump back into the contest. A trio of three-pointers—including the first two of Ed Stephens’ Austin Peay career—jump-started the Govs and plugged the Dunn Center crowd back into the game.
The Govs closed the first half on an 11-4 run and seemed poised to build on it early in the second half, stretching the lead to seven (39-32) at the 18:08 mark after an Averyl Ugba three-pointer. But the Hilltoppers immediately countered with a 17-3 run of their own to retake the lead.
Back came the Govs, thanks to another Stephens three-pointer and three free-throws from freshman Terry Taylor to cut the Western Kentucky lead to a point with 12:23 to go in the contest. But a game-ending 23-7 run over the final 11:54 ultimately proved to be the Governors undoing in their final pre-Christmas contest.