MONDAY'S SCORES
@South Florida 74,
Austin Peay 70 (OT)
@Penn State 76,
Jacksonville State 61
@Southeast Missouri 102, Quincy 66
@Belmont 92, Middle Tennessee 73
SOUTH FLORIDA 74, AUSTIN PEAY 70 (OT)
TAMPA, Fla. - In a physical, back-and-forth affair that saw both squads grab the upper hand on numerous occasions, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team unfortunately came out on the short end of a 74-70 decision against USF at the Yuengling Center, Monday.
Austin Peay (1-2) fought through myriad foul troubles and the limitation of two key members of the roster for much of the contest due to injury yet still pushed American Athletic Conference foe USF (2-0) to an extra session, on the road no less.
The Govs got out to a big start; in fact, Austin Peay was threatening to run away with the contest at one point, needing less than seven minutes to build a nine-point lead and maintaining a healthy advantage through the under-eight media timeout. However, a combination of foul trouble to key components—sophomores Dayton Gumm and Terry Taylor both spent large parts of the first half on the bench with two fouls—and cold shooting gave the hosts time to chip away at the Governor lead, ultimately tying the game at 29 just before halftime.
If the Govs cooled to end the first half, they were downright frigid to start the second. The Govs missed their first seven shots from the floor in the second half, which allowed the hosts to take a tie game and build a 10-point lead.
Austin Peay would be down by as many as 11 points but a rally was soon at hand. From the 11-minute mark until Taylor's game-tying free-throw with 3:48 to go, the Govs outscored the Bulls 20-9. Taylor scored eight of those points, and he and senior Zach Glotta hit threes on back-to-back possessions to swing the momentum back in the Governors favor.
The teams traded (metaphorical) punches down the stretch. Glotta hit another big three-pointer to put the Govs ahead for the first time since late in the first half. After USF clawed back into the lead, Jarrett Givens drilled a three with eight seconds left to put the Govs up two points.
It appeared that victory was at hand when Taylor swatted a Laquincy Rideau offering with two seconds left, but in the loose ball scrum a foul was whistled on the Governors. With 0.4 seconds left, USF's Justin Brown hit two free-throws to force overtime.
Despite three players fouling out and two more forced to the bench with injury concerns, the Govs valiantly battled throughout the extra session. After a David Collins three, Taylor sank a layup, the last of his game-high 21 points. When USF went up five, Glotta was fouled on a three and sank all three of his free-throw attempts with 11 seconds left to give the Govs life. However, Rideau—who was an abysmal 4-for-10 at the charity stripe for the game—sank both free-throws with two seconds left to put the game away.
PENN STATE 76, JACKSONVILLE STATE 61
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team came up short at Penn State on Monday, falling 76-61 to the Big 10 foes.
Jacksonville State's Jason Burnell scored the first double-double of the season for the Gamecocks (0-2), posting 14 points and 10 rebounds. The senior reeled in 10 defensive rebounds and was 5-for-12 from the floor.
Lamar Stevens and Rasir Bolton scored 25 points each for Penn State, accounting for more than 65 percent of the Nittany Lions' point total. Bolton, who was not in Patrick Chambers' starting five, helped PSU to 30 points off the bench.
The Gamecocks led by as much as four halfway through the first period, up 18-14 with 9:21 to go before halftime. Burnell had scored 10 points, thus far, and the JSU defense had held the Penn State shooters to 0-for-8 from long range.
The Nittany Lions flipped the script soon after, erasing the four-point deficit by hitting five of their next eight 3-point attempts. PSU outscored the Gamecocks 23-14 through the final eight minutes to take a 37-32 lead to the locker room.
After scoring 12 first-half points, the Penn State defense shortened its leash on Burnell. For the remainder of the game, Burnell was held to two points with one of six shots falling. Christian Cunningham stepped up during Burnell's drought, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half. This coming after Cunningham didn't take a shot in the opening period.
The PSU lead was whittled down to six points, 61-55, with 4:44 remaining, but 15-6 run by the Nittany Lions put away any chance Jacksonville State had of escaping Bryce Jordan Center with a win.
Redshirt-senior Detrick Mostella scored a season-high 17 points, eclipsing Burnell's 16 scored at Samford. The first-year Gamecock was 7-for-16 with one 3-pointer.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 102, QUINCY 66
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Freshman Alex Caldwell scored 15 points to lead six players in double figures as Southeast Missouri (1-2) picked up its first win of the season with a 102-66 pasting of Quincy University (1-1) Monday night at the Show Me Center.
Eleven different players wound up in the scoring column for SEMO, which drained 14 three-pointers and shot a blazing 62.9 percent (39-of-62) from the field. The Redhawks also finished with 22 assists and turned the ball over seven times, including just twice in the second half.
SEMO led for all but 2:28 of the contest and started its onslaught behind Caldwell's four 3-pointers in a span of 4:42. His fourth trey during that stretch gave the Redhawks a comfortable 34-18 advantage with 8:20 remaining in the first half.
Ledarrius Brewer's jumper and Isaiah Gable's 3-pointer widened SEMO's lead to 25 on two occasions before the Redhawks carried a 53-32 lead into the intermission.
Less than five minutes into the second half, SEMO put together a 18-5 jaunt to pull ahead, 80-50. Caldwell knocked down another 3-pointer, while Nygal Russell added seven points to key the surge that ended on a pair of Russell free throws at the 8:43 mark.
Redshirt-freshman Khalil Cuffee stole the show toward the end scoring 12 points in eight minutes. Cuffee hit a near-perfect 5-of-6 field goals, buried a pair of 3-pointers and had a breakaway crowd-pleasing dunk en route to his career high. He also scored the basket that gave SEMO 100 points and followed with another bucket to put the Redhawks over the century mark.
SEMO went a stretch of 12:30 without turning the ball over in the second half as seven players went turnover free.
Caldwell shot 5-of-7 from the field and missed just one of his 3-point attempts (5-of-6). Mark Laros followed with a career-high 13 points off the bench, while Skyler Hogan and Cuffee each added 12, and Brewer and Russell pitched in 10.
SEMO's freshmen combined for 47 points on the night.
As a team, the Redhawks shot 50 percent (14-of-28) from 3-point range, outrebounded the Hawks, 34-31, and scored 58 bench points.
Demetrius Houston and Jah-Kobe Womack topped Quincy with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
The 102 points were SEMO's most in a game since the Redhawks scored 118 against Murray State on Mar. 1, 2014.
BELMONT 92, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 73
NASHVILLE - The Belmont men's basketball team burst out of the halftime break on fire in a 92-73 come-from-behind victory over Middle Tennessee State at the Curb Event Center on Monday night.
The Bruins trailed 54-46 at intermission despite shooting 51.5 percent from the field in the opening half, but it was their defense that made the difference from there on out. Belmont opened the second half with 16 straight points, while stymieing the visiting Blue Raiders at ever turn.
After shooting 56.8 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play, MTSU connected on just 21.4 percent of its shots in the second half. Belmont forced 14 turnovers in the second half with 21 takeaways overall.
Belmont senior Dylan Windler went off for 34 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Nick Muszynski added 18 points. Fellow freshman Grayson Murphy scored 15 points and rounded out his day with eight assists and seven rebounds.
Karl Gamble led Middle Tennessee (2-1) with 20 points.