TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Wright State 78,
Morehead State 67
@Akron 82,
Tennessee State 60
@Murray State 66, Evansville 64
@Jacksonville State 64, North Alabama 50
@UT Martin 75, Chattanooga 72
WRIGHT STATE 78, MOREHEAD STATE 67
DAYTON, Ohio - The Morehead State men's basketball Eagles saw four different players reach double figure scoring. But, the host Wright State Raiders made their living at the free throw line, resulting in the Eagles enduring a 78-67 loss Tuesday Night at the Nutter Center.
Senior Lamontray Harris led the Eagles in scoring, logging 16 points on 7-of-9 (.778) shooting. Joining in on the balanced scoring effort were senior A.J. Hicks (5-for-10, .500) and junior Jordan Walker (6-for-14, .429) with 13 points each, followed by sophomore James Baker with 10 markers on a 4-for-6 (.667) clip.
Charity stripe tosses proved to be the Achilles heel, as WSU attempted 27 free throws (nailing 22 of them), compared to MSU's 6-for-11 (.545) at the line. With tonight's defeat, the Eagles fall to 3-8 on the season.
The story of the game was a contest of runs as both squads spent a great deal of time logging unanswered masses of points against one another. The Eagles leapt out to an early 9-5 lead at the first media timeout before the Raiders burst out for a 22-5 run over the next nine minutes.
Down 27-14 at the 5:32 mark of the first half, the Eagles mounted a run of their own, beginning with a two-hand throw down by freshman wing Ja'Cori Wilson. Triples from A.J. Hicks and James Baker, along with layups from Hicks and Lamontray Harris, made the run 12-1 with 1:55 remaining in the opening period.
Raider freshman guard Skyelar Potter nailed a triple to stop the onslaught for a moment until he was answered by another trey from Baker. Hicks notched a steal and found De'Von Cooper for a lay-in with 21 ticks remaining. The Eagles ended the first half well, as they stood tall on defense before Hicks was found on an outlet pass down the right sideline and swished a half-court heave to close first half proceedings.
The Eagles' run closed at 20-4, giving them the 34-31 lead going to the halftime locker room.
Harris got the Eagles out on the right foot to begin the second half, tabbing back to back jumpers, putting MSU up seven. Wright State, however, answered back with a 7-0 run of its own as sophomore center Loudon Love rattled off seven straight points to tie the game at 38. The hosts extended their overall run to 14-4, leading 47-42 shortly after the under-16 media intermission.
In a break of the predominant game trend, the next seven minutes of play saw the two teams trade baskets back and forth, with the Raider lead fluctuating between four to eight points.
A late flurry of three-point shooting by Wright State propelled the Raiders past the Eagles, connecting on 3-of-4 (.750) from downtown in the closing minutes, compared to the Eagles' 1-for-6 (.167) from beyond the arc.
Morehead State concluded the evening outshooting Wright State from the field, 51 percent to 43 percent.
AKRON 82, TENNESSEE STATE 60
AKRON, Ohio - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team notched 60 points in the Tuesday night loss to former Ohio Valley Conference team Akron in James A. Rhodes Arena.
A rough shooting night for the Tigers resulted in redshirt junior guard Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey registering the only double-digit score of the night with 11 points, adding a team-high eight rebounds.
A season-high 19 turnovers allowed Akron to capitalize and score 24 points off of TSU's turnovers.
Down 14 at the half, the Tigers closed the deficit to 12 before the Zips three-point shooting moved TSU further away from a win, leading by as much as 22, twice in the second period, and finishing 82-60.
MURRAY STATE 66, EVANSVILLE 64
Murray, Ky. - The Murray State Racers came from seven points down with 4:43 left to defeat the Evansville Purple Aces 66-64 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
Ja Morant's scooping layup with .6 seconds on the clock gave the Racers the lead and their fifth-straight win and 15th consecutive home win.
Morant never came off the floor and was only two rebounds from a triple-double with 27 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Buchanan was MSU's only other double-figure scorer with 10 points and he tied Morant for the team lead with eight rebounds.
In the first half, a Morant alley-oop to KJ Williams and then a three from Brion Whitley gave the Racers a 21-20 lead 7:20 before half. The half ended on a good note for the Racers when Jaiveon Eaves hit a buzzer beater at the halftime horn for a 35-28 Racers lead, their largest lead of the game.
When Tevin Brown hit from long range to start the second half, the Racers led 38-30 with 18:15 left. Williams hit in the lane after the Racers had made six-straight free throws for a 47-42 lead with 12:30 left. Evansville went on a 16-3 run that set up MSU's chance to make a comeback and they did.
At the end of the day, the Racers forced UE into 15 turnovers, while limiting their own to eight. The Racers shot 39 percent from the field (23-of-59) and the Purple Aces were 43 percent (23-of-53).
JACKSONVILLE STATE 64, NORTH ALABAMA 50
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Head coach Ray Harper led the men's basketball team to a historic win inside Pete Mathews Coliseum with a 64-50 victory over long-time rival North Alabama on Tuesday.
The win was important for three reasons: it was the Gamecocks first game inside The Pete since the devastating March 19 tornados, the program's 450th all-time win at The Pete and Harper's 50th JSU coaching win.
In its 45th season hosting Gamecock basketball, Jacksonville State now owns a 450-159 record on its home court - a .739 winning percentage. Saturday's game was the first true home game for JSU during the 2018-19 season, scheduling its first 10 games on the road and at neutral sites.
Harper became Jacksonville State's fastest Division I head coach to claim 50 wins at the helm of the program. He ranks second all-time at JSU for fastest coach to 50 wins behind hall-of-famer Bill Jones. Harper accomplished the feat in 82 games, while Jones did it in 80.
The Gamecocks' swept the season series over the Lions with the 14-point win. Senior Jason Burnell tallied a team-high 19 points, followed by 15 from Marlon Hunter and 11 from Ty Hudson. With a game-high nine rebounds, Burnell came up just one board from scoring his third double-double in four games.
Following four lead changes within the first five minutes of the game, Jacksonville State took an 8-6 lead at the 15:21 mark and never saw the Lions climb back ahead.
JSU carried out a balanced attack in the first half with six scoring a combined 31 points. Burnell was the half's leading scorer with seven, but only four points separated him from Christian Cunningham who scored a half-low three points.
Jacara Cross added four points in the first with three coming on the junior forward's first 3-point attempt and make.
The Gamecocks outrebounded the Lions by three, 19-17, in the first, but it was on the offensive boards that JSU held the advantage. Of Jacksonville State's 19 boards, nine were offensive, leading to 14 second-chance points for the home team. Burnell led the period's rebounding effort, as well, pulling down three offensive and two defensive.
North Alabama's Aleska Matic hit a 3-pointer to begin the second half, whittling Jacksonville State's lead down to four, but a 14-0 JSU run helped to put the game out of reach early. The Gamecock defense held the Lions scoreless for nearly five minutes to go ahead 45-27. Harper's squad maintained the lead for the remaining 15 minutes, allowing no less than a 10-point buffer between them and UNA.
The Lions' offensive leader was the ASUN's leading freshman scorer, Jamari Stafford, who tallied eight points and played 36 minutes. The Hoover, Ala., native also led on the boards with nine rebounds.
UT MARTIN 75, CHATTANOOGA 72
MARTIN, Tenn. - Heroics from junior guard Preston Parks provided a fitting end to a wild 75-72 victory for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team over Chattanooga this evening at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks led for 35:40 of clock time tonight and were ahead by as many as 11 points eight minutes into the second half. However, the visiting Mocs evened the score at 72-all with 1.3 seconds left thanks to a game-tying trifecta from Jerry Johnson, Jr.
After receiving the ensuing inbounds pass from Derek Hawthorne, Jr., Parks took one dribble before heaving a 75-foot bank shot that found the bottom of the net and sent the 1,054 fans in attendance into a frenzy. It marked the first game-winning buzzer beater for UT Martin since Jacolby Mobley knocked down a three-pointer at Duquesne on Nov. 23, 2016.
Quintin Dove led the way with 16 points and seven rebounds for the Skyhawks (5-4), who shot 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the free throw line in the second half. Hawthorne tallied 15 points and six rebounds while Delfincko Bogan collected 11 points, five assists and four steals for a UT Martin squad that won its fifth straight home decision to start the 2018-19 campaign.
Chattanooga (5-8) received a game-high 19 points off the bench by freshman Donovann Toatley. Johnson pitched in 12 points while Jonathan Scott and AJ Caldwell each added 10 points apiece for a Mocs squad who were forced into 13 turnovers.
Dove had a pair of dunks and six overall points during an 8-0 UT Martin run to begin the game. Chattanooga took its first lead of the game midway through the first half but four straight points by Hawthorne helped the Skyhawks take a six-point lead before UT Martin settled for a 30-29 advantage at the break. Dove’s 10 first-half points led all scorers while Toatley’s nine points paced the Mocs.
Chattanooga evened the score at 38-all coming out of the first media timeout of the second half. UT Martin then went on an 11-0 surge, capped off with back-to-back Bogan three-pointers. The Mocs trimmed their deficit down to a single possession with 1:43 to go but Dove and Parks combined to go a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the final 23 seconds to keep the Skyhawks ahead. Chattanooga then made the aforementioned game-tying trey before Parks’ memorable game-winner.