MONDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 101, Kennesaw State 81 (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands)
@South Alabama 79,
Southeast Missouri 58
EASTERN KENTUCKY 101, KENNESAW STATE 81
ST. THOMAS, V.I. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team exploded for 61 points in the second half to roll past Kennesaw State, 100-81, in the Colonels’ final game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Monday afternoon.
EKU (3-3) led by only six, 39-33, at halftime, and by only five, 55-50, with 14:04 to play in the game. That is when freshman Jomaru Brown sparked the Colonels with six straight points off the bench. He buried a three-pointer and followed that up with a three-point to play to give Eastern a double-digit advantage, 61-50.
Kennesaw State (1-5) continued to hang around, pulling back to within nine, 67-58, at the 9:28 mark of the second half. EKU then buried the Owls with a decisive 17-6 run. Junior Lachlan Anderson ignited the run with a three-pointer. On the Colonels’ next trip down the court, senior Nick Mayo drove baseline, dunked and drew the foul to energize the EKU bench.
The Colonels were off to the races at that point. A three-pointer by Mayo capped the 17-6 run and made it 83-64 with 6:53 left in the game.
Eastern took its largest lead, 100-79, when freshman Houston King connected on a three-pointer with just under a minute to play.
Mayo led EKU with 29 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. He finished 4-of-7 from deep. His game-changing baseline dunk in the second half moved him past Antonio Parris to No. 3 all-time on EKU’s scoring list (1,732).
Brown finished with a career-high 21 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Sophomore Peyton Broughton played a key role in the Colonels’ second-half run. He hit a pair of three-pointers early in the half and finished with 13 points. He also added a team-best and career-high five steals.
EKU won the turnover battle decisively, 18-6. The Colonels collected a season-best 13 steals in the game and turned those into 18 points.
Eastern had its best shooting performance of the season so far. The Colonels shot 50 percent from the floor (37-of-74) and 43 percent from long distance (13-of-30). Their 13 threes in the game matched a season-best.
SOUTH ALABAMA 79, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58
MOBILE, Ala. - Southeast Missouri (3-3) fell to tournament host South Alabama (3-2) by a score of 79-58 Monday night in the Ungar Classic.
Rodrick Sikes led USA with 30 points and buried six of the Jaguars 13 three-pointers.
The Redhawks led by as many as four points on Sage Tolbert's layup (12-8) with 12:49 remaining in the first half.
After Trhae Mitchell converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 18-18, the Jaguars regained a three-point cushion on Sikes' trifecta never turned back.
SEMO managed to cut USA's lead to 29-28 on a 3-pointer by Gabe McGlothan before the Jaguars answered with a 10-2 run to take a 39-30 lead at the half.
USA then used a 15-2 run in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Ahead, 56-43, after a jumper by Sikes, the Jaguars drained a pair of 3-pointers, made three layups and had a dunk during their surge that stretched their lead to 68-45 with 10:35 left to play.
Kevin Morris made a free throw to give USA its largest lead at 79-55 with 2:02 on the clock before the Jaguars claimed their third win of the season.
Sikes made 10-of-22 field goals en route to his game-high and led three players in double figures for the Jaguars. Jordan Andrews followed with 15 points and Mitchell added 11.
USA shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field in the game's final 20 minutes.
Tolbert and Ledarrius Brewer led SEMO with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Mark Laros topped the Redhawks with nine rebounds.
SEMO shot just 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from 3-point range and missed 13 of its 16 three-pointers in the second half. The Redhawks were under 30 percent (9-of-31) from the field in the final half as well.