SATURDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 55, @Evansville 50
@The Citadel 86,
Southeast Missouri 74
@Kennesaw State 73,
Tennessee Tech 68
@Austin Peay 95, Purdue Fort Wayne 68
North Carolina A&T 78,
@Tennessee State 76
Belmont 74, @UCLA 72
@Murray State 74, Jackson State 57
@Xavier 95,
Eastern Kentucky 77
Eastern Illinois 73, @Bradley 66
@UT Martin 108, Brescia 79
JACKSONVILLE STATE 55, EVANSVILLE 50
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team handed Evansville its first home loss Saturday, downing the Purple Aces 55-50 at the Ford Center.
In their return to the home of the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, the Gamecocks (6-4) claimed the program's first win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent. The win ended a stretch of 34-consecutive non-conference home wins for EU (5-5).
Seniors Christian Cunningham and Jason Burnell each tallied double-doubles in a game that came down to points in the paint. Cunningham had 13 points and 15 boards, while Burnell has 10 points and 12 rebounds.
With just 21 of Jacksonville State's 55 points coming on jumpers, the JSU bigs received a boost from forward Jacara Cross off the bench. The junior scored seven, blocked two shots and pitched in two assists in 14 minutes of action.
A slow offensive start saw the Gamecocks leading on two 3-point baskets, 6-5, after the first six minutes. Cunningham followed up with two dunks, including a one-handed put-back, that sparked the JSU shooters.
Cunningham and Burnell each tacked on four points each over the next six minutes to help the Gamecocks to a 23-11 lead on a 15-3 run.
Through the final five minutes of the first half, the JSU defense held Evansville to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting. A Ty Hudson 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Gamecocks a 30-22 lead going to the break. JSU outscored UE 16-2 in the first.
Evansville flipped the script in the second half and tied the game 38-38 by the under-12 media timeout.
Following Hudson's third 3-pointer, a basket to begin the second half, the Aces went on an 13-6 run to bring the Gamecock lead to one, 36-35, after five minutes. A 3-pointer from Shamar Givance knotted the score for the first time since early in the first period.
The Aces' corrected their first-half miscues on the inside and scored 16 points in the paint in the final 20 minutes. The home team outscored JSU 28-25 in the closing period, but it wasn't enough to catch the Gamecocks.
Following the tie, Jacksonville State pulled away and kept a three-point buffer through the last six minutes of play. A defensive rebound for the Aces with less than a minute to go threatened overtime, but two Cunningham free throws with a second to go put the game out of reach.
THE CITADEL 86, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74
CHARLESTON, Ill. - .Ledarrius Brewer dropped in a season-high 24 points as Southeast Missouri (5-6) fell to The Citadel (8-2), 86-74, Saturday afternoon at McAlister Field House.
Brewer shot 9-of-14 from the field, buried a season-best five 3-pointers, grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists and had two blocks in his second 20-point effort this season.
Today marked the first-ever meeting between SEMO and The Citadel
Tied, 17-17, in the first half, The Citadel went on a 13-2 run to build a double-digit lead. SEMO missed 7-of-8 field goals and turned the ball over three times during that stretch.
Kaiden Rice buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to ignite the surge that ended with Quayson Williams' layup that put the Bulldogs ahead, 30-19, with a little over six minutes remaining.
SEMO closed out the half strong with a 12-5 jaunt of its own. Brewer, after at one time missing six shots in a row, scored nine of his 12 first-half points in the final 3:28 of the opening stanza to help cut The Citadel's lead to 41-35 at the intermission.
The Bulldogs, with the help of nine SEMO fouls, outscored the Redhawks 10-2 at the free throw line in the game's opening 20 minutes.
SEMO trailed by 14 early in the second half, but pulled to within three after Nygal Russell chased down a offensive rebound and nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner. Gabe McGlothan's jumper then sliced The Citadel's lead to 51-50 at the 13:52 mark.
Isaiah Gable's 3-pointer, which would have given SEMO the lead, missed and the Bulldogs countered with seven-straight points to pull ahead 58-50.
Skyler Hogan later splashed in a 3-pointer to chop The Citadel's lead to 63-60, but that was as close as SEMO would get.
A 14-3 run led to The Citadel grabbing its biggest lead, 79-63, with 3:54 left before the Bulldogs locked down their sixth-straight win.
SEMO shot 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field and 50 percent (15-of-30) in the second half alone.
Freshman Alex Caldwell added 14 points in the return to his home state. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Caldwell made 6-of-10 field goals, two 3-pointers and dished out three assists in 24 minutes off the bench. Half of his points came in his first six minutes of play.
Rice led five Bulldogs in double figures with 19 points. Frierson followed with 18 points, Lew Stallworth had 14, Zane Najdawi finished 13 and Kern Connor tallied 10.
The Citadel scored 27 points off turnovers and outscored SEMO, 20-4, at the free throw line.
KENNESAW STATE 73, TENNESSEE TECH 68
KENNESAW, Ga. - A 15-point rally just wasn't enough for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles fell on the road to Kennesaw State in a heartbreaker, 73-68.
A cold start to the day, Tech was just 1-of-10, put the Golden Eagles (3-8) facing an early deficit as the hometown Owls (2-9) hit shot after shot to explode for a 15-point advantage roughly half way through the first period. KSU buried 5-of-6 triples early in the contest, forcing the purple and gold to adjust on defense.
And adjust it did. Tech switched to a suffocating zone look, forcing multiple turnovers and tough shots for the remainder of the half, allowing the offense to work its way back. The Golden Eagles hit five 3-pointers of their own while sinking 9-of-13 attempts from the charity stripe to cut the Owl lead to just 41-36 headed into the break, even with the home team shooting 57.1 percent from the floor.
The Tech defense continued to work hard in the second half, holding Kennesaw State to a more modest 37.0 percent from the floor. With 14:48 to go in the contest, the Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game thanks to a fast-break, alley-oop slam by Courtney Alexander II from Jr. Clay.
The Owls responded with a 9-0 run to put the lead back up to eight. Once again, Tech chipped and clawed back, earning its own 7-0 run to knot things at 61 apiece with 4:44 to play after a Malik Martintriple.
Kennesaw State answered with a fast-break layup and defensive board, but Clay snagged one of his five steals on the night and went in for his own attempt for a layup. The freshman point guard missed with some contact, and, while yelling at his team to get back on defense, Tech head coach Steve Payne was inexplicably called for a technical.
The Owls made both free throws and would hit another pair after a foul on the same possession provided two more tries. The lead would swell to as many as eight with 1:25 on the clock, but there was no quit for the Golden Eagles.
Tech cut it by two after a pair of free throws from Alexander. Tech began to foul with under 20 seconds to play, trading a free throw and a miss for a layup by Clay to make it a five-point game. Another 1-for-2 showing at the line gave Tech the ball with under five second to go, but redshirt freshman Hunter Vick hit a contested, off-balance three to make it a one-possession game with 0.8 seconds on the clock.
KSU would hit its final two attempts at the line for the final score of 73-68.
After seeing the free throw line 13 times in the first half, Tech only made five trips in the second half as the foul count ballooned to a 12-5 advantage for the home squad with under three minutes of action. KSU made just enough of its 20 tries at the stripe, sinking 11 to snap a nine-game skid.
Vick led the Golden Eagles on the night with his third 20-point outing of the season, finishing with an even 20 on 8-for-14 shooting and four triples. He became the first Tech rookie to post three 20-point efforts since Jud Dillard did it in the 2009-10 season.
His fellow freshman, Clay, filled the box score with 16 points, five rebounds, six assists and five steals in 32 minutes of action off the bench. Alexander tacked on 11 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
AUSTIN PEAY 95, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 68
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In a dominant performance, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team controlled every aspect of the second half and turned a close contest into a lopsided affair in a 95-68 win against Purdue Fort Wayne, Saturday, in the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (6-4) survived early foul trouble to key components of a still-shorthanded lineup to take down Purdue Fort Wayne (6-7) for the first time in program history—the same Mastodon squad which beat Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois by 44 points back on Nov. 28.
Call it a post-exam malaise, call it whatever you like—shot-making was a chore for both teams in the early going, with the teams hitting just five of their first 18 shots and Austin Peay's Shotmaker-in-Chief, Zach Glotta, hitting the bench early in foul trouble.
But where others might struggle to fill a void from the outside, the Govs simply turned to Terry Taylor. The sophomore responded with 18 first-half points, shouldering the load while the rest of the team might've been struggling—at one point, Taylor was 5-of-8 from the floor while the rest of the Govs sat at 3-of-10.
As the Govs began to heat up, the Mastodons went cold, failing to make a shot from the floor for over six minutes in the first half. And even when the visitors made a run, Glotta made sure to send the Govs into the break on a high note, beating the buzzer with a three to take a 46-39 lead into halftime.
The Govs jumped out to a 20-8 run to open the second half and never looked back. Sophomore Dayton Gumm energized the crowd on back-to-back possessions, getting a fast-break layup to drop and then stepping back for a three-pointer to put the Govs ahead by 13—the lead never reached single digits again for the game's remainder.
If Taylor was shouldering a load in the first half, he was joined on the block and in the scoring column for much of the final 20 minutes by grad transfer Jabari McGhee. The Albany, Georgia native scored 12 of his career-high 20 points in the final frame, including five during the half-opening run and five over the final 4:40 of play.
NORTH CAROLINA A&T 78, TENNESSEE STATE 76
NASHVILLE - In its first stop home in a month, the Tennessee State men's basketball team fell to North Carolina A&T 78-76 Saturday afternoon in Gentry Center. It’s record at home is now even, 2-2.
Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey led the Tigers for the seventh game of the season with 23 points, adding seven rebounds and a steal while shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 2-of-3 from three-point distance. The guard has averaged above a .500 from the field in the last four games.
Nashville-native Tripp Davis came off the bench with 11 of TSU’s 13 bench points.
Tied with 00:42 seconds left in the half, Stokley Chaffee, Jr. hit his third free throw of the night, to put TSU up 76-75. The Aggies’ Kameron Langley went up for a layup to take the lead. A one point game with only seven seconds left on the clock, TSU fouls bringing Copeland, who was 1-of-2 on the night, to the charity stripe. The junior guard misses the first, but makes the second. TSU inbounds the ball and a missed half-court shot runs out the clock for a final of 78-76.
BELMONT 74, UCLA 72
LOS ANGELES - Kevin McClain sank a layin with 2.3 seconds left to lift Belmont University men's basketball to a 74-72 victory at 11-time National Champion UCLA Saturday.
The Bruins (8-1) executed with surgical precision in the final three minutes of the game, running head coach Byrd play designs to perfection.
After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half and 43-40 at halftime, Belmont took a 67-66 lead with 2:45 left on a Grayson Murphy 3-pointer. It was Belmont's first lead since 5-2.
Baskets from Nick Muszynski and McClain followed down the stretch, but UCLA took a 72-71 lead with 32 seconds left on a Jaylen Hands 3-pointer. Belmont proceeded to work the offensive possession and free McClain along the baseline, and he scored the eventual game-winning basket.
After a UCLA turnover, Caleb Hollander made one free throw with under one second remaining to provide the final margin.
McClain led Belmont with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists. Kris Wilkes led UCLA with 20 points, 19 in the first half.
Senior All-America candidate Dylan Windler had 12 points, 15 rebounds and three assists before fouling out.
The victory is the latest in a string of notable high-major wins for the Belmont program, including North Carolina, Marquette, Alabama, Cincinnati, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Butler.
MURRAY STATE 74, JACKSON STATE 57
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Shaq Buchanan hit three 3-pointers and scored 19 points and Tevin Brown sank four 3s on his way to 16 points to propel Murray State to a 74-57 victory over Jackson State on Saturday night.
Ja Morant finished with a career-high 14 assists to go with 10 points for the Racers (7-1).
Chris Howell's layup pulled Jackson State within 23-22 with 6:28 left in the first half, but Brion Sanchious and Buchanan had 3-point plays to spark an 11-2 run and the Racers led 34-24 at intermission. Buchanan hit back-to-back 3s to give the Racers a 46-30 lead with 16:06 left to play and the Tigers could get no closer than 11 from there.
Howell topped the Tigers (2-9) with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
Murray State has forced 55 turnovers in its last three games, including 15 by the Tigers.
XAVIER 95, EASTERN KENTUCKY 77
CINCINNATI - Senior Nick Mayo became the all-time leading scorer in Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball history on Saturday night in the Colonels’ 95-77 loss at Xavier.
Mayo finished the game with 25 points, six rebounds, two assists and a career-high five steals. His three-pointer at the 10:58 mark of the first half gave him 1,835 career points, moving him past Matt Witt (2002-06) to No. 1 on EKU’s all-time scoring list.
The native of Oakland, Maine finished the night 9-of-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from deep.
Freshman Jomaru Brown came off the bench to tally 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. He also dished out a career-high five assists.
Junior Dujuanta Weaver drained a career-high five three-pointers and finished with 15 points.
Quentin Goodin led six Musketeers in double figures with 16 points and 10 assists.
EKU (6-5) forced Xavier into 27 turnovers and scored 31 points off those miscues. The Colonels, however, shot only 33 percent from the free throw line (5-of-15).
Eastern grabbed its largest lead of the night, 23-16, when Mayo buried a three-pointer at the 10:22 mark of the first half. Soon after, Mayo went to the bench with his second foul, and Xavier took advantage.
The Musketeers outscored the Colonels, 31-10, over the final 10 minutes of the first half, and a jumper by Naji Marshall at the buzzer sent Xavier into the locker room at halftime up by 14, 47-33.
With Mayo back on the court to start the second half, EKU opened on a 7-0 run. A triple by Mayo cut the lead to seven, 47-40, less than two minutes into the half.
That was as close as EKU would get, though. A three-point play by Goodin at the 10:08 mark capped a 26-9 run and gave the Musketeers a 24-point advantage, 73-49. They stretched that lead all the way to 27. But EKU kept battling, trimming it down to 14 – 91-77 – on a dunk by Brown with just over a minute to play.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 73, BRADLEY 66
PEORIA, Ill. - Mack Smith knocked down six 3-pointers including three during an 11-2 second half run as Eastern Illinois knocked off Bradley, 73-66, on Saturday night at Carver Arena.
EIU won its third straight improving to 6-5 on the season. Bradley fell to 7-4.
Smith began to catch fire midway through the second half as he hit back-to-back 3-pointers at the 10:58 mark to spark the Panthers run. Smith added his third 3-pointer during the run and JaQualis Matlock hit a jumper in the lane giving EIU a 58-48 lead.
Bradley would cut into the lead with EIU having an answer for each Braves run. Darrell Brown cut the EIU lead to 64-62 with 1:02 remaining. EIU responded with a dunk by Rade Kukobat as he completed the three point play to put EIU up 67-62.
Shareef Smith and Josiah Wallace would convert at the free throw line in the final 36 seconds to seal the win for EIU. Shareef Smith finished with 12 points. Wallace had 14 points after scoring ten in the first half.
Eastern Illinois held a 27-24 lead late in the first half as the Panthers had balanced scoring to open the first half. EIU was 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the first with five different players knocking down a triple.
EIU then went scoreless for 5:50 as the Braves took advantage for a 12-0 run. Koch Bar had a pair of baskets in the low post to spark the run. EIU would snap the cold shooting with 3-pointers by Josiah Wallace and Ben Harvey in the final minute.
Bradley led 36-33 at the half after pulling out to a 36-27 lead with 1:15 to play in the half on a 3-pointer by Brown. The Braves were 4-of-8 from 3-point range in the first half.
Mack Smith finished with 20 points going 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Harvey had 12 points. EIU finished the game 13-of-24 from 3-point range.
Bar had 13 points to lead Bradley. Brown had 12.
UT MARTIN 108, BRESCIA 79
MARTIN, Tenn. - All 10 University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball players who saw playing time tonight scored as the Skyhawks coasted to a 108-79 victory over Brescia at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
UT Martin evened its record to 4-4 by connecting on a season-best 58.8 percent (40-of-68) of its shot attempts. The Skyhawks also equaled a season-high with 21 free throws while shooting 80.8 percent from the charity stripe.
Derek Hawthorne, Jr. collected UT Martin’s first double-double of the season with career-highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds. The junior guard out of Indianapolis, Ind. sank 10 of his 14 field goal tries while also chipping in three assists and two steals in 31 minutes.
Fatodd Lewis (season-highs of 23 points and nine rebounds) and Preston Parks (eight points, career-best 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals) barely missed out on double-doubles this evening. Making his first start of the season, Charles Henderson, Jr. tallied 12 points while Quintin Dove added 10 points to round out the Skyhawks’ double-digit scorers.
A NAIA program from Owensboro, Ky., Brescia (6-7) was led by Kayode Daboiku’s 12 points while Noah Cunningham accumulated 11 points. UT Martin nearly doubled up the visiting Bearcats on the glass (49-25) and also held a 62-24 edge on points in the paint.
The Bearcats came out hot, making seven of their first nine 3-pointers to take a 31-25 advantage nine minutes into the outing. UT Martin clamped down defensively and put together a 24-6 run over a near eight-minute stretch to go ahead by a 49-37 margin. The Skyhawks stretched their lead out to 58-40 at the break after an old-fashioned three-point play by Hawthorne concluded the first half scoring. Hawthorne posted 15 points while Henderson (12 points) and Lewis (11) each generated big first-half scoring performances.
A Hawthorne trifecta opened the scoring in the second half but Brescia scored 12 of the next 15 points to get within a dozen at 64-52. However, that would be as close as the Bearcats would get the rest of the way as an emphatic Jailen Gill dunk – UT Martin’s sixth of the night – gave the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the night and provided the final 108-79 scoring margin.