WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 82, @IUPUI 81
@Dayton 79,
Tennessee Tech 66
@Southeast Missouri 91, UMKC 87
@Illinois 64,
Austin Peay 57
@Green Bay 59,
Eastern Illinois 57
SIUE 82, IUPUI 81
INDIANAPOLIS - SIUE connected on a season-high 57.4 percent of its shots Wednesday on its way to an 82-81 win over IUPUI and Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The Cougars snapped a four-game winning streak and improved to 2-6. IUPUI dropped to 2-5 with the defeat.
Jalen Henry led four SIUE scorers in double figures. Henry finished a rebound shy of his third double-double of the season with 21 points and nine rebounds. Henry scored 18 in the first half and eventually fouled out the contest. Daniel Kinchen scored 16 points including six at the free throw line. David McFarland enjoyed his best game in an SIUE uniform, scoring 15 points. He was 4-5 from the field and 3-3 from three-point range. Christian Ellis collected his four consecutive double figure scoring game, with 10 points. Jaylen McCoy scored nine points.
The Cougars shot 63.6 percent (14-22) from the field in the first half and led 42-41 at the break. For the game, SIUE connected on 27-47 attempts from the field. The Cougars were 11-16 (68.8 percent) from three-point range. The 11 three-pointers are the most for SIUE in a game since the team in 12 two separate times during the 2014-15 season.
The Cougars built as much as a 10-point lead twice in the second half. It was a nine-point cushion after two free throws from Keenan Simmons made it 65-56 with 11:31 to play. IUPUI then went on an 8-0 run to pull within one at 65-64.
McCoy gave the Cougars the lead for good with 2:12 to play with a three-pointer to make it 80-78. Simmons made it 82-78 before Aaron Brennan brought the Jaguars back within one with a three-pointer with 1:12 left.
IUPUI got the ball back with four seconds to play after a missed free throw, but failed to get a shot off before the final buzzer.
The Jaguars finished 30-60 from the field and outrebounded SIUE 31-30. Brennan led the way with 25 points. Evan Hall had 12 points for the Jaguars.
DAYTON 79, TENNESSEE TECH 66
DAYTON, Ohio - A late run fell short for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Wednesday evening, as the Dayton Flyers (4-4) defeated the visiting Golden Eagles (7-3) by a final score of 79-66 in front of a packed UD Arena and nearly 13,000 fans.
The Golden Eagles struggled to score in the first half, despite taking an early 8-4 lead into the first media timeout. The Dayton defense held Tech to just nine field goals on 28 attempts in the first half, including a 3-for-11 showing from downtown.
Despite the tough period of shooting, Tech trailed just 32-24 at the break.
The Flyers extended that lead to a game-high 17 points in the second half, using a block by Kostas Antetokounmpo (younger brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks) and dunk by Josh Cunningham to push its advantage at the 12:48 mark.
Tech quickly answered, using back-to-back triples from Kajon Mack and Curtis Phillips Jr. to cut the lead back to 11 and force a timeout by the Flyers. Dayton jumped back out to a 16-point lead with under 10 minutes to play, but the Golden Eagles once again had a run to make.
Layups by Mason Ramsey and Mack, sandwiching another 3-pointer by Phillips, cut the Dayton lead into single digits in just two minutes. Free throws by Mack and Phillips cut the deficit to just seven with as little as five minutes to go, but the Golden Eagle defense just couldn't stop the fast break offense of the Flyers.
Tech shot 54.2 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from downtown in the second half, leading to 42 points, but Dayton used the pulse and atmosphere from the crowd to shoot over 60 percent over the final 20 minutes.
For the game, Phillips led the Golden Eagles with 17 points and a 4-for-7 showing from 3-point range. Mack added 15 points, five rebounds and five assists while Courtney Alexander II scored 11 points, four rebounds and three steals. Aleksa Jugovic hit three triples for nine points while dishing out seven assists.
Five Dayton players scored in double figures with Darrell Davis leading the way with 19 points.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91, UMKC 87
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Daniel Simmons scored 18 points off the bench to lead four players in double figures and Southeast Missouri (5-4) knocked down a season-high 12 three-pointers to hold off UMKC (3-7), 91-87, Wednesday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO, which won its third-straight contest, led wire to wire for the second time in a row.
The Redhawks caught fire in the first half to bury 8-of-12 threes for 66.7 percent. Five different players, including Milos Vranes, Denzel Mahoney, Ray Kowalski, Isaiah Gable and Simmons each contributed at least one.
SEMO jumped out to an early 9-2 lead in the first 3:15 of the game. Freshman Justin Carpenter scored four points to key the spurt that ended on a dunk by Ledarrius Brewer. Kowalski, who buried three 3-pointers in the first half, gave the Redhawks their largest lead at 29-17 with 8:37 remaining before SEMO headed into the locker room ahead, 48-37.
Ahead, 50-40, following a Carpenter dunk with 17:47 left in the second half, UMKC went on a 9-2 run to pull to within three on a layup by Steve Dulley. The Kangaroos kept battling and would later close SEMO's lead to one on three occasions before the Redhawks stretched their lead to double figures again.
Leading 79-68 following Brewer's 3-pointer with 4:19 on the clock, UMKC found itself down by just two points when Isaiah Ross drained a 3-pointer at the 1:09 mark. On the next possession, Mahoney answered with a trey of his own and SEMO went on to lock down the win despite being outscored, 50-43, in the final 20 minutes.
Simmons' 18 points marked a career-high as he scored double figures for the fifth-straight game. He shot 4-of-7 from the field and 8-of-10 at the free throw line in 21 minutes. Mahoney followed with 17 points, while Kowalski pitched in a season-best 16. Twelve of Kowalski's points came on 4-of-5 three-pointers. Carpenter added 14 points and 11 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.
SEMO shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field and 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from beyond the arc. The Redhawks also held a +13 advantage at the free throw line making 23-of-30 shots to UMKC's 10-of-14.
Broderick Robinson led UMKC with 24 points and 10 boards.
ILLINOIS 64, AUSTIN PEAY 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - To the final whistle, to the final loose ball, to the very last moment, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team sought to make a little magic against Big Ten foe Illinois, Wednesday.
The Govs had chances into the final minute but couldn’t get one last dagger to fall, dropping a hotly-contested 64-57 contest to the Fighting Illini at the State Farm Center.
The Govs took a 28-26 lead into the half thanks to bulldog defense and a breakout from senior Averyl Ugba, who scored the game’s first points on a jumper and didn’t stop the rest of the half, finishing the opening 20 minutes with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting.
Austin Peay would lead by as many as five with 9:02 remaining in the contest, on the heels of a 9-3 run that saw Ugba slam home a SportsCenter-worthy dunk and freshman Dayton Gumm rain in a well-time three-pointer.
The teams would trade buckets down the stretch, with Leron Black’s free-throw at the 5:16 mark tying the game at 50. The Fighting Illini would finally pull away thanks to 6-of-8 free-throw shooting during the last five minutes, with Te’Jon Lucas scoring seven of his nine points over the final 1:53.
GREEN BAY 59, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Sukhjot Bains hit a driving lay-up with 14 seconds remaining in the game to give Green Bay a 59-57 win over Eastern Illinois.
EIU fell to 2-6 on the season while Green Bay improved to 3-4.
EIU opened quickly before Green Bay took its first lead of the game, 14-13, at the 12:45 mark of the first half. That would be the only lead of the game for the Phoenix until the final basket by Bains.
The Panthers went on an extended 18-2 run in the first half with Montell Goodwin scoring ten of EIU’s points in the run. Goodwin finished with 19 points.
EIU lead 39-26 at the half. In the first half Terrell Lewis passed out an assist on a Lucas Jones 3-pointer. That assist was number 500 of Lewis’ EIU career as he became the 9th player in Ohio Valley Conference history to score 1,000 points and pass out 500 assists for their career. Lewis finished with four assists.
Green Bay opened the second half with an 11-2 run as they cut the EIU lead to 41-37. Khalil Small had a pair of 3-pointers in the early Phoenix second half run.
Goodwin finally broke the Green Bay run knocking down EIU’s first field goal of the second half at the 13:36 mark.
Green Bay whittled down the EIU lead to 54-51 with 2:10 left to play on a Small lay-up. Small had a game high 20 points for Green Bay
Ray Crossland answered for EIU with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:50 to play that put EIU up 57-51. Small and Bains would hit 3-pointers for Green Bay. Bains 3-pointer with 1:18 to play tied the game at 57-57. Bains finished with ten points.
EIU was held to 38 percent shooting. The Panthers won the battle on the glass 36-34 with Muusa Dama pulling down ten rebounds.