THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 84, SIUE 73
@Austin Peay 85, Eastern Illinois 80
@Belmont 76, Eastern Kentucky 72
@Tennessee State 64, Morehead State 52
MURRAY STATE 84, SIUE 73
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers rolled to their second-straight win Thursday with an 84-73 victory over the SIUE Cougars At the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (14-13) moved them closer to the goal of winning the Ohio Valley Conference West Division. MSU’s win tied them for first place in the division with UT Martin. Both teams are 8-5.
Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller, Jr., led the Racers dominating performances. Stark had a game-high 27 points was boosted by 6-of-7 from 3-point range. Miller had his ninth double-double this season with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Damarcus Croaker added 16 points and one highlight slam-dunk late in the first half, a play that was getting traction nationally on social media.
The Racers’ largest lead of the first half came with 5:07 left when it was 32-21 after a Croaker drive and Stark 3-pointer. With 51-seconds remaining in the half, Croaker took a pass from the left wing in the half-court and drove to the rim and produced an impressive slam-dunk. The Racers led 38-35 at the halftime intermission.
In the second half MSU scored on five of its first six possessions of the second half to lead 50-38 with 15:59 remaining. Stark’s sixth 3-pointer of the game gave MSU a 73-55 lead with 4:59 left. MSU’s largest lead of the game was 75-55 with 3:48 left.
AUSTIN PEAY 85, EASTERN ILLINOIS 80
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Career victory No. 500 certainly didn't go exactly how Austin Peay State University head men's basketball coach Dave Loos drew it up, but he'll gladly take it all the same.
After trailing by as many as 19 points in the first half, Loos' Governors staged a furious second-half rally to post an 85-80 victory to remain alive in the Ohio Valley Conference race and secure a hallowed milestone for the longtime head of the program.
The Governors could not get going in the first half, going down by double digits before the first media timeout and hitting rock-bottom to trail by 19 points at the 8:47 mark. John Murry then provided the first spark for the Govs, scoring a dozen points over the final 6:36 of the first half to drag the Govs within 10 points, 43-33, at the break.
The Govs would need less than 10 minutes to erase the entire deficit in the second half, with Josh Robinson erasing a 1-for-6 start with a seven-point outburst that took the Govs to within four points. Jared Savage capped the comeback with a jumper-steal-putback dunk sequence to give the Governors a lead they would never relinquish.
The latter stages of the game were not without drama in their own right. After stretching the lead to double-digits with 5:10 to go, a 14-6 run would get the Panthers within a bucket at the 1:53 mark, but that would be as close as Eastern Illinois could get as the Govs—who shot 65.6 percent from the free-throw line for the game—hit 8-of-11 to close out the contest.
The night belonged to Loos, who became the 97th head coach in Division I history to amass 500 career wins. Research pegs him as the fourth coach with OVC ties, joining Cal Luther (500, UT Martin and Murray State), Gene Keady (531 after starting his career at Western Kentucky during their OVC days) and Belmont's Rick Byrd.
BELMONT 76, EASTERN KENTUCKY 72
NASHVILLE - Behind 25 points and 12 rebounds from senior All-America candidate Evan Bradds, Belmont University men’s basketball defeated Eastern Kentucky, 76-72, Thursday night.
With the victory, Belmont (19-5, 13-1 OVC) secures at least a share of a ninth conference regular season championship since 2006 – only Kansas and Gonzaga have more over that span.
The Colonels made 7 of their first eight shots – including five 3-pointers – in taking an early 19-11 lead.
Belmont led 31-26 on a layin from Kevin McClain, but Eastern Kentucky would score the next eight points and lead 38-37 at halftime.
Belmont built the lead to 50-42 with 15:26 remaining on a conventional 3-point play from Amanze Egekeze, but the duo of Nick Mayo and Asante Gist kept Eastern Kentucky in the game.
The Bruins led 69-60 with 2:39 left, but empty possessions and six straight points from Gist narrowed the margin to 69-68 with 1:24 to go.
Bradds would deliver a conventional 3-point play with 1:02 left, and Belmont made four straight free throws in the final 29 seconds to secure the victory.
Dylan Windler added a career-high tying 23 points for Belmont.
Gist led Eastern Kentucky (10-18, 3-10 OVC) with 28 points.
TENNESSEE STATE 64, MOREHEAD STATE 52
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team secured a crucial Ohio Valley Conference victory, taking down Morehead State, 64-52, in an ESPNU broadcast at the Gentry Center on Thursday night. The win guarantees TSU its second-consecutive winning season.
TSU (16-11, 7-7 OVC) held Morehead State (13-13, 9-4 OVC) to 27.0 percent shooting on the night and outscored the Eagles by a 36-16 margin in the paint. Wayne Martin picked up his 10th double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Darreon Reddick scored 13 points.
Tennessee State sprinted out of the gate and took 12-2 lead on Reddick’s three with 13:30 left in the first half. The Tigers would lead by as many as 12 points at 18-6 with 9:25 to go before halftime thanks to a 6-0 run.
Morehead State answered with a 9-0 run with all nine points coming on Xavier Moon three pointers to cut the TSU edge down to 18-15.
TSU regained the upper hand and took a 28-20 lead into the locker rooms. The Tigers shot 48.0 percent from the field in the first half.
In the second half, Morehead State cut the lead down to 34-30 with just under 12 minutes to play, but the four-point deficit was as close as the Eagles would get down the stretch.
A 10-3 run put the Tigers back up by double digits. TSU would go on to lead by 10 or more points to secure the home win.
Moon led Morhead State with 18 points on the night with DeJuan Marrero adding 11 rebounds for the visitors.