THURSDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee State 69, @Eastern Illinois 65
Belmont 76, @SIUE 61
@Southeast Missouri 78, Morehead State 75
@Jacksonville State 76, Murray State 71
Eastern Kentucky 78, @UT Martin 70
Austin Peay at Tennessee Tech,
TENNESSEE STATE 69, EASTERN ILLINOIS 65
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Clutch plays down the stretch including a steal and layup by Delano Spencer in the final minute helped the Tennessee State men’s basketball team earn a hard-fought 69-65 road win at Eastern Illinois on Thursday night at Lantz Arena in Ohio Valley Conference action. The game aired before a national audience on the CBS Sports Network.
TSU (7-9, 2-3 OVC) drained four free throws in the final five seconds to seal the victory over the Panthers (6-9, 2-3 OVC).
The Tigers finished with five players scoring in double figures including 12 points apiece from Spencer, Kamar McKnight (all in the second half) and Darreon Reddick, while Ken’Darrius Hamilton added 11 and Christian Mekowulu finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
TSU overcame EIU’s strong defense in the early going that had the Tigers in a 12-1 hole seven minutes into the game. The Tigers took the lead late in the first half before the Panthers scored on their final first-half possession for a 30-28 halftime edge.
TSU forced 22 turnovers – 11 in both halves – and held EIU to 37.7 percent shooting on the night.
BELMONT 76, SIUE 61
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Behind 29 points and seven rebounds from senior Amanze Egekeze, Belmont University men's basketball defeated SIU Edwardsville, 76-61, Thursday night.
Belmont led wire-to-wire, seizing an early 10-2 lead on a 3-pointer from junior Dylan Windler. Egekeze scored 15 first half points as the Bruins led 41-29 at halftime.
A layin from senior Tyler Hadden made the score 55-37 with 11:28 left.
Belmont (12-6, 4-1 OVC) made 10 3-point field goals.
Aside from Egekeze's 29, Windler added 17 points and eight rebounds, and junior Kevin McClain flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 10 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Daniel Kinchen led SIUE (6-10, 2-3 OVC) with 14 points.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 78, MOREHEAD STATE 75
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Denzel Mahoney scored a game-high 22 points to lead a short-handed Southeast Missouri (8-10, 2-3) team to a 78-75 victory over Morehead State (4-12, 0-5) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO played with only seven players, one of which was non-scholarship. The Redhawks used a strong first half and managed to hang on down the stretch en route to keeping MSU winless in the Ohio Valley Conference.
SEMO set the tone early by going on a 22-8 run in the first 9:30 of the game.
MSU had eight of its 10 first-half turnovers during that stretch which led to 16 Redhawk points. Mahoney knocked down three 3-pointers, while Ledarrius Brewer also added nine points of his own to key the surge that ended on Brewer's trey with 10:20 left to play.
SEMO again led by 14 (32-18) at the 4:44 mark when Justin Carpenter made two free throws. The Eagles answered with a 10-0 run after that and pulled to within four, 32-28, on De'von Cooper's 3-pointer 2:41 later.
The Redhawks scored five unanswered points to take a 37-28 lead at the half.
Things would get interesting in the second half when MSU used a 12-0 run to take a 48-46 edge on Cooper's 3-pointer with 12:15 remaining. The Eagles, however, never led by more than two points as the Redhawks continued to answer. SEMO went on to lead by at least seven points on five occasions in the last 7:21 and was up, 69-61, after Brewer hit a pair of free throws at the 5:14 mark.
MSU didn't go away quietly in the final 42 seconds as it nearly came back. The Redhawks made 4-of-6 free throws in the last 31 ticks and led, 78-75, after Jonathan Dalton split a pair with 12 seconds. MSU had two chances to tie the game in the final four seconds, but Lamontray Harris and A.J. Hicks each missed from long range.
Mahoney shot 8-of-15 from the field, made three 3-pointers and grabbed four rebounds en route to his team-high eighth 20-point effort this season and 44th time scoring double figures in his career. He has now scored double-digits in 15-consecutive games. Brewer followed with 16 points, Daniel Simmons added 15, Mark Laros had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Dalton finished with 10 points.
SEMO shot 51 percent (26-of-51) from the field and 56 percent (14-of-25) in the second half alone.
Hicks scored 21 points and Harris turned in a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead MSU. The Eagles outscored the Redhawks, 47-41, in the second half.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 76, MURRAY STATE 71
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team topped Murray State 76-71 Thursday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum in front of a crowd of 3,004.
The win draws the Gamecocks (13-5, 4-1 OVC) into a tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The victory was just the second over the Racers in program history, bringing the all-time record to 20-2.
Junior Marlon Hunter scored a career-high 21 points, grabbed a career-best seven rebounds and tied his career-high in steals with four. The Memphis, Tenn., native was 9-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-2 from long range.
Senior Malcolm Drumwright pocketed 20 points, and juniors Jason Burnell and Christian Cunningham each tallied 12 points. Drumwright accounted for five assists.
The Gamecock defense was outstanding, forcing 16 turnovers - 10 of which came in the first half. Along with Hunter's four steals, Cunningham swatted four shots and had three steals Jamall Gregory had three blocks. In total, Jacksonville State picked 10 passes and blocked eight shots.
Jacksonville State outscored the Racers 43-26 in the first half. The Gamecocks tallied 12 points off the half's 10 turnovers and outworked MSU 16-8 in the paint.
Murray State got out to a 4-0 lead to start the game, but the Gamecocks hit an 8-0 run after three minutes to take an 11-7 advantage. The defense held MSU to a three-minute scoring drought near the middle of the period, which helped the JSU offense to a 10-point run and 12-point lead. Drumwright scored 13 and Hunter had 12 in the half.
The Gamecocks led by as much as 19 at the 13:54 mark of the second half, but as mentioned by Harper, JSU struggled in the late minutes. The Racers outscored Jacksonville State 45-33 in the closing half.
In the last 1:25, Murray State's Jonathan Stark hit four 3-pointer to help the Racers to a bring the JSU lead to three with seven seconds to go. The Gamecocks were able to get the ball into the hands of Drumwright on the inbound, forcing the Racers to foul Jacksonville State's top free-throw shooter. Drumwright hit both freebies to put the game out of reach.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 78, UT MARTIN 70
MARTIN, Tenn. - Freshman Dedric Boyd poured in a career-high 31 points to lead the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team a 78-70 road win at UT Martin on Thursday night at the Elam Center.
Boyd connected on 9-of-12 shots from the field, 5-of-8 from deep and 8-of-8 from the free throw line to finish with the most points by any Colonel in a game this season.
Junior Jackson Davis, meanwhile, scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while senior Dillon Avare came off the bench to drain four three-pointers and score 12 points.
Junior Nick Mayo – EKU’s leading scorer at 17.3 points-per-game – finished with only two points, but grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds and dished out a team-best six assists.
UT Martin (6-12, 1-4 OVC) led 5-3 at the 17:28 mark of the first half. However, Avare came off the bench and sank a three-pointer from the corner to give EKU (7-11, 1-4 OVC) the advantage, and the Colonels led the rest of the way.
Eastern grabbed its largest lead, 59-43, when Davis sank a jumper with 9:56 remaining in the game.
The Skyhawks trimmed EKU’s lead to seven, 75-68, when Matthew Butler knocked down a foul shot with 54 seconds left. However, the Colonels converted 3-of-4 free throws in the final minute to seal the key road victory.
EKU shot 17-of-21 (81 percent) from the stripe on the night. UT Martin shot only 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from the foul line.
The Colonels sank a season-best 11 three-pointers in the win.
Butler paced the Skyhawks with 22 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 86, AUSTIN PEAY 74
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A strong finish to the first half and quick start to the second half proved more than enough to carry the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to an 86-74 victory over in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay Thursday evening in the Hooper Eblen Center.
The Golden Eagles (12-6, 4-1) improved to a perfect 8-0 in the Hoop in the 2017-18 campaign, thanks in large part to a 20-4 run from the end of the first half through the first three minutes of the second half against the Governors (9-8, 4-1).
Prior to the run, Austin Peay had held its largest lead of the contest, a 28-22 advantage with just under five minutes before the break. Tech closed off the half with a 12-2 streak on the power of four different Golden Eagle contributors. The home team followed its halftime breather with an 8-2 run to kick off the second stanza, again with four separate players denting the scoreboard.
The Govs would fight to within four points with just under six minutes to play, but the Golden Eagles proved too stout offensively, particularly at the free throw line, pulling away little-by-little for the 12-point victory.
On the night, Tech visited the charity stripe 37 times, sinking 28 tries behind a stellar effort from senior guard Aleksa Jugovic. Normally known for his prowess beyond the 3-point line, Jugovic overcame an 0-for-4 night from downtown by taking what the APSU defense offered, a lane to the basket. He finished the contest a perfect 10-of-10 from the line on his way to 22 points.
Carrying the Golden Eagle load offensively early in second half was Special Olympics Player of the Game, Curtis Phillips Jr. The senior forward tallied 17 of his game-high 26 points over the final 20 minutes, finishing 5-of-7 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line down the stretch. On the night, he tallied six rebounds and two more steals, adding to his league-leading total of 36.
Fellow senior forward Mason Ramsey was presence in the paint for Tech, connecting on five of his eight field goal attempts and both free throws for a 12-point, five-rebound outing. Graduate guard Kajon Mack also totaled 12 points and snagged six rebounds in his return to the court after missing the Tennessee State contest with an undisclosed illness.
Chris Porter-Bunton led the Govs with 23 points and seven rebounds while Averyl Ugba chipped in 16. Terry Taylor finished a rebound shy of a double-double, tallying 10 points and nine rebounds.