SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 90, UT Martin 61
@Belmont 89, Morehead State 73
@Austin Peay 92, SIUE 84
Eastern Illinois 82, @Murray State 65
Tennessee Tech 79, @Jacksonville State 78 (OT)
@Tennessee State 68, Eastern Kentucky 66
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 90, UT MARTIN 61
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Antonius Cleveland scored 21 points to lead five players in double figures as Southeast Missouri (13-16, 8-6) dismantled Ohio Valley Conference West Division leader UT Martin (18-11, 8-6), 90-61, Saturday morning at the Show Me Center.
The early American Sports Network television start time didn't affect SEMO which shot 53.3 percent from the field to ground the Skyhawks. The Redhawks handed UTM its largest loss in Ohio Valley Conference play and second-largest loss only to a 35-point defeat by Kentucky this season.
SEMO and UTM went back-and-forth to five ties in the first 7:41 of the game.
A steal and breakaway dunk by Cleveland knotted things up at 15-15 at the 12:19 mark, igniting a 29-12 run for the Redhawks.
SEMO, which began the morning just 2-of-6 from 3-point range, knocked down six of its next seven. The Redhawks also heated up to make eight-straight field goals and drained three of their threes in a stretch of 3:39 to build a 44-27 advantage at the 4:17 mark.
Jamaal Calvin and Daniel Simmons buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions at the end of SEMO's hefty run.
Calvin later buried another trey to give SEMO its second 17-point lead (47-30) with 3:39 on the clock before the Redhawks led, 49-38, at the half.
Three of SEMO's five starters reached double figures in the scoring column in the first half. Cleveland led all scorers with 16 points, while Denzel Mahoney and Calvin followed with 13 and 12 points, respectively. SEMO shot a scorching 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from the field in the game's opening 20 minutes.
Mobley, who had three fouls in the first half, scored just two points in the first 26:42 of the contest.
SEMO continued to pour it on in the second half, outscoring UTM, 41-23, in the final period.
Jaylen Benton, who came off the bench to score 11 second-half points, made two free throws to give the Redhawks their biggest lead at 90-57 with 1:19 remaining.
SEMO established new season-highs in points and 3-pointers made. The Redhawks scored 80 or more points in a game for the 11th time this year. SEMO finished at 16-of-34 from beyond the arc with five players draining multiple threes. The Redhawks 3-point success came despite the fact their top 3-point shooter (Tahj Eaddy) went 0-of-6.
Cleveland shot 9-of-14 from the field and drained three 3-pointers en route to his team-high ninth 20-point effort. He also pulled down five rebounds and had three steals.
Mahoney wound up with 17 points and five rebounds, while Calvin ended up with 15. Simmons added 15 points, as well, on 5-of-6 three-pointers. For Simmons, it was his first double-digit game since Jan. 19.
SEMO shot 53.3 percent from the field, making 32-of-60 shots. In addition, the Redhawks dished out 24 assists, forced 18 turnovers, collected 12 steals and made a near-perfect 10-of-11 free throws.
Not to mention, the Redhawks put up 23 points off turnovers and scored 15 fastbreak points.
Javier Martinez led UTM with a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jacolby Mobley, who scored 25 points in the first meeting between SEMO and UTM this season, had only four against the Redhawks today.
The Redhawks entered the game third in the OVC West Division standings, but moved into a tie for second with UTM as both teams are behind Murray State with two regular-season games left.
BELMONT 89, MOREHEAD STATE 73
NASHVILLE - Senior All-America candidate Evan Bradds led six double figure scorers as Belmont University men's basketball defeated Morehead State, 89-73, Saturday.
The Bruins and Eagles roared out of the gates in a first half that featured seven ties and seven lead changes.
A Djimon Henson 3-pointer gave the visitors a 28-22 lead at the 8:04 mark before Belmont closed the half strong. A 3-pointer from junior Austin Luke to close the first half and a triple from sophomore Dylan Windler to open the second half turned a two point game into a 44-36 advantage for Belmont with 19:43 left. From there, hot shooting from senior Nick Smith and Taylor Barnette pushed the lead to 64-44 with 13:08 remaining.
Belmont (20-5, 14-1 OVC) led by as many as 23.
The Bruins shot 55 percent (32-for-58) from the field - including 15-for-30 from 3-point distance. Bradds had 19 points and nine rebounds. Smith and Barnette each had 17. Windler, Luke and junior Amanze Egekeze added 11. Luke, second in the nation in assists per game, also had 10 assists.
Xavier Moon and Lamontray Harris had 16 points each for Morehead State (13-14, 9-5 OVC).
The Bruins secured their 11th 20-plus win season in the last 12 years. Belmont has won 88 of its last 94 home games, and is 38-1 in OVC games at the Curb Event Center.
AUSTIN PEAY 92, SIUE 84
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - John Murry and Kenny Jones made the most of their final appearances on the hardwood at the Dunn Center, leading Austin Peay to a 92-84 victory against SIU Edwardsville to keep the Governors Ohio Valley Conference Tournament hopes alive.
Murry scored a game-high 25 points—his fourth 20-point night in the last five outings—while Jones contributed 20, including a timely 8-for-11 showing at the charity stripe, as Austin Peay had its most efficient shooting night of the season.
The Governors blazed out of the gate, taking a 17-point lead into halftime on the strength of the inside play—Jones (15 points) and Dre'Kalo Clayton (10) played huge roles for the Govs in the early going. But slowly, the Cougars chipped away at Austin Peay's deficit in the second half—rather like the Governors two nights against Eastern Illinois. After struggling to crack 40 percent from the floor in the opening stanza, SIU Edwardsville hit 54.5 percent in the second half and seemed poised to push the Govs to the limit after an 18-7 run cut the lead to four with 4:54 to play.
True to form, Murry got hot at just the right moment to propel the Govs to victory. He scored 10 points over the final 4:38—the 10th time this season and third in two games he's needed less than five minutes to score 10 points—including a back-breaking three with 1:54 to go after the Cougars had gotten within a bucket—they would not get within two possessions the rest of the way.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 82, MURRAY STATE 65
MURRAY, Ky. - Eastern Illinois won for just the third time in program history in Murray, Kentucky, on Saturday night as EIU beat Murray State, 82-65, at the CFSB Center.
EIU improved to 14-14 on the year, 6-9 in the OVC. Murray State fell to 14-14 overall, 8-6 in the OVC.
For the second straight game Eastern Illinois was hot from 3-point range. On Thursday night at Austin Peay the Panthers tied the school record with 17 made 3-pointers. On Saturday night at Murray State the Panthers went 15-of-30 from beyond the arc to tie for the third highest single game total in school history.
EIU built a ten point lead late in the first half as they had 3-pointers by Montell Goodwin, Casey Teson and Demetrius McReynolds to lead 39-29 with 3:48 to play. EIU would lead 45-31 at the half as six different Panthers had 3-pointers in the game.
Aboubacar Diallo came off the bench and provided four big points and several rebounds in the first half. He finished with nine points going 5-of-7 from the foul line.
EIU was able to keep the lead at double figures most of the second half. Jonathan Stark had a jumper at the free throw line to cut the EIU lead to seven with 18 minutes to play in the second half.
A put-back by Brion Sanchious with 8:42 to play closed the EIU lead down to ten points at 61-51. McReynolds hit three straight jumpers and the Panthers were able to put the game away at the line going 11-of-15 at the foul line.
McReynolds was 7-of-11 from 3-point range to finish with 25 points. Goodwin had 12 points and Terrell Lewis added 11.
Stark had 18 points for Murray State with Terrell Miller leading the Racers with 19 points, 12 rebounds. Bryce Jones added 11.
TENNESSEE TECH 79, JACKSONVILLE STATE 78 (OT)
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Hakeem Rogers scored 20 points, and Aleksa Jugovic made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to lift Tennessee Tech past Jacksonville State 79-78 in overtime Saturday.
Greg Tucker put the Gamecocks up 78-77 with a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to play.
Jacksonville State got a 7-0 run in 16 seconds at the end of regulation to tie it at 68. Jugovic made a 3 with 35 seconds to go, and Kajon Mack made a layup five seconds later after a Tennessee Tech (11-18, 7-7 Ohio Valley) turnover. Mack added another layup off a steal with 19 seconds to go. Malcolm Drumwright missed a 3 at the buzzer for the Golden Eagles.
Micaiah Henry's dunk put the Golden Eagles up 55-42 with 9:49 to play, but Jacksonville State (17-12, 9-5) rallied on an 18-4 run and led 60-59 lead with four minutes left.
Mack scored 18 points, Jugovic scored 17, and Micaiah Henry had 12.
Drumwright finished with 25 points, Tucker scored 11, and Jacara Cross and Andre Statam each scored 10 for the Gamecocks.
TENNESSEE STATE 68, EASTERN KENTUCKY 66
NASHVILLE - On a night when the Tennessee State men’s basketball team honored its seniors, Tahjere McCall, Jordan Reed and Wayne Martin helped lift the Tigers to a 68-66 win over Eastern Kentucky at the Gentry Center on Saturday night in the final home game of the season.
McCall broke the Tennessee State (17-11, 8-7 OVC) single-season steals record on the night, passing the 72 steals he had a year ago.
The senior from Philadelphia came up huge down the stretch with a layup and a made free throw with 1:23 left to break a 57-57 tie. On TSU’s next possession, he made another tough layup to put the Tigers up for good at 62-57 with 48.4 seconds left.
The Tigers made six free throws in the final 36 seconds to hold off the Colonels (10-19, 3-11 OVC).
McCall finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals, while Reed added eight points and 13 rebounds for Tigers.
Early on, the visitors grabbed a quick 8-5 advantage to open the game, but the lead was short lived. TSU answered with a 23-5 run for a 28-13 lead with just under six minutes left in the first half.
The Tigers led by 13 points with 1:30 left in the half when the Colonels closed the period with six-consecutive points to cut TSU’s halftime edge down to 35-28.
In the second half, Eastern Kentucky battled back, cutting the TSU lead down to 51-49 with 8:35 left. The Colonels continued to fight, tying the score at 57-57 on a tip in with 2:30 left.
Down the stretch, TSU forced three big turnovers in the final three minutes to help pull out the victory. Armani Chaney put the game away with two made free throws with 3.2 seconds on the clock.
EKU’s Nick Mayo led all scorers with 24 points to go with seven rebounds, while Dillon Avare added 15 for the Colonels.
TSU outrebounded EKU by a 36-22 margin and shot 45.1 percent from the field in the game.