WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 101, Carver College 61 (Centre, Ala.)
@#6 Tennessee 95,
Eastern Kentucky 67
Winthrop 82,
@Tennessee Tech 70
Purdue Fort Wayne 104,
@Eastern Illinois 60
@Western Illinois 83,
SIUE 58
JACKSONVILLE STATE 101, CARVER COLLEGE 61
CENTRE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team claimed its third consecutive win with a 101-61 victory over Carver College on Wednesday. The win came before a near-capacity crowd at Cherokee Arena on Gadsden State's Centre campus.
Six different Gamecocks scored in double figures, led by a 19-point performance from Jason Burnell. For the third time this season, the senior paced JSU (3-3) in both points and rebounds, snagging seven boards in 25 minutes of play.
Freshman De'Torrion Ware scored a career-high 16 points on 4-for-6 from the field with two 3-pointers and 6-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line. Detrick Mostella and Jamall Gregory each tallied 12 points, Derek St. Hilaire pocketed 11 points and Christian Cunningham finished with 10. It was the first time five or more Gamecocks have scored double-digit points since five accomplished the feat Feb. 22, 2018 against Belmont.
Despite a 40-point victory in the end, Carver (0-11) kept within striking distance for most of the first half. It wasn't until the 7:37 mark that the Gamecocks put more than 10 points between them and the Cougars, going up 26-15 on a St. Hilaire jumper. Before the end of the half, JSU widened the gap to 18 points, 45-27, with the help of an eight-point rally by Hilaire that saw the sophomore score a basket at the buzzer.
Following the break, a focused JSU squad outscored Carver 56-34 in the final period. Of Ware's 16 points scored, 15 came in the second half. It was the freshman's final basket, a dunk with 35 seconds to go, that put the Gamecocks' point total over the century mark.
Jacksonville State's 101-point showing on Wednesday marks the first time a JSU team has reached 100 points in a single game since last season's opener Nov. 10, 2017 against Tennessee Wesleyan.
On the defensive side of the court, the Gamecocks blocked 10 Carver shots. Junior Jacara Cross had the majority of the rejections, swatting six. It's the second time in his career he blocked five-or-more shots. Meanwhile, Gregory led JSU in steals with four while the rest of the defense totaled 12.
#6 TENNESSEE 95, EASTERN KENTUCKY 67
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Nick Mayo had 23 points and nine rebounds, but the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team fell at No. 6 Tennessee, 95-67, on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Mayo was 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the game. He added three assists and two steals to his impressive stat line.
Freshman Jomaru Brown came off the bench to finish with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and a career-high six steals. His six steals are the second most by any OVC player in a game this season.
As a team, EKU (3-4) recorded a season-best 13 steals against the No. 6 Vols.
The Colonels, however, were out-rebounded on the night, 50-32.
Eastern stifled Tennessee (5-1) to 25 percent shooting from deep (7-of-28), but the Vols were 68 percent from inside the arch (28-of-41).
Grant Williams paced four Vols in double figures with 21 points and 11 boards.
EKU took an early lead when junior Dujuanta Weaver drained a three-pointer to make it 5-3 less than three minutes into the game.
Mayo tied it up, 11-11, with a trifecta at the 12:56 mark of the first half; however, Tennessee then went on a 21-3 run and grabbed a 32-14 advantage when Lamonte Turner buried a jumper with 6:53 to play in the first half.
UT went in to the break up by 21, 49-28. The Vols led by double digits the rest of the way.
WINTHROP 82, TENNESSEE TECH 70
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A second-half, 3-point barrage proved too much to overcome for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Wednesday evening, as the visitors from Winthrop defeated the Golden Eagles 82-70 in the Eblen Center.
Tech (1-6) held one of the nation's highest scoring offenses to just 33 points in the first half of the game, limiting the Eagles (4-3) to just 34.3 percent shooting from the field with half of their made shots coming from beyond the arc. The second half went by a different tune, as Winthrop knocked down 9-of-17 tries from deep.
On the flip side, the Golden Eagles went from a 50 percent clip from deep in the first half (5-for-10) to making just a single try over the final 20 minutes (1-for-10). Also a key factor in the game was the turnover battle. Tech made just four the entire first half, a season-low for any stanza. That total more than doubled in the second half, as the Golden Eagles turned it over 10 times.
Tech out-rebounded the Eagles, 42-39, and made just one less field goal in the contest. Winthrop finished with nine more makes from beyond the arc on 15 more attempts.
A huge bright spot for the Golden Eagles was the play of freshman point guard Jr. Clay. The rookie paced Tech with 20 points and a whopping nine rebounds. He added three assists while finishing 7-for-14 from the field. It marked the Chattanooga native's first 20-point outing of his career.
Senior Micaiah Henry posted 13 points, four boards and a pair of blocks while being trapped and double-teamed a large portion of the evening. Both Corey Tillery and Johnnie Vassar tallied nine points, with Vassar hauling in a career-high six rebounds. Hunter Vick chipped in eight points and five boards.
PURDUE FORT WAYNE 104, EASTERN ILLINOIS 60
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Purdue Fort Wayne appeared to not be able to miss from 3-point range during a second half spurt as the Mastodons drained 21 3-pointers during a 104-60 win over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night at Lantz Arena.
EIU fell to 3-4 on the season. Purdue Fort Wayne improved to 5-4 on the year.
Leading 41-30 at the half with a 9-of-18 shooting effort from 3-point range, the Mastodons opened the second half making five straight 3-pointers to push the lead to 58-34 with Matt Wier’s 3-pointer with 15:31 to play in the game.
Purdue Fort Wayne would make six of seven from long distance to open the half and 12-of-19 for the half. They would finish 21-of-37 from 3-point range with six players hitting three or more 3-pointers. Matt Holba was 5-of-6 from 3-point range finishing with 15 points.
Seven Purdue Fort Wayne would finish in double figures led by John Konchar and Jarred Godfrey each with 16 points. Konchar added 11 rebounds as the Mastodons finished with a 50-27 advantage on the glass.
EIU held the lead early in the game with Josiah Wallace giving the Panthers their final lead of the game with his lay-up with 7:37 to play in the first. EIU led 26-25 at that point. Purdue Fort Wayne then went on a 13-2 run to go up by double digits.
Rade Kukobat was the Panthers leading scorer with 12 points. Ben Harvey had 11 points off the bench, his second straight double figure scoring game. Lucas Jones pulled down a team high six rebounds.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 83, SIUE 58
MACOMB, Ill. - SIUE shot a season-low 30.3 percent from the field Wednesday, falling to Western Illinois 83-58 at Western Hall.
The Leathernecks opened the game on a 7-0 run and led 11-3 with 14:48 to play in the first. The Cougars never led in the game.
Western Illinois connected on 58 percent (29-50) of its shots and drained a season-high 12 three-pointers in improving to 3-4.
WIU led by 13 at half after a three-pointer by Zion Young just before the buzzer made it 37-24. The Leathernecks stretched the lead to as many as 35 points in the second half.
David McFarland led the Cougars with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, including two three-pointers. Christian Ellis scored 10 points and led SIUE with six rebounds. Ellis' 10 points gave him 500 for his SIUE career.
Kobe Webster led Western Illinois with 22 points. He hit four three-pointers. Isaac Johnson scored 20. C.J. Duff and Brandon Gilbeck each scored 10 points. Gilbeck, who came into the game third in the NCAA in blocked shots per game, added nine rebounds and six blocked shots.