SATURDAY'S SCORES
@West Virginia 74,
Jacksonville State 72
Cal State Northridge 85,
SIUE 79 (Las Vegas, Nev.)
@Duquesne 85,
Eastern Kentucky 84 (OT)
@Memphis 99,
Tennessee State 41
Austin Peay 75, Liberty 66 (St. Petersburg, Fla.)
@#7 Auburn 93,
Murray State 88
@Fresno State 93,
UT Martin 53
WEST VIRGINIA 74, JACKSONVILLE STATE 72
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team nearly received an early Christmas present on Saturday, but a career-game from Marlon Hunter wasn't enough to top West Virginia on the road. JSU fell 74-72 at WVU Coliseum, coming up three points shy of a win over the Power-5 Mountaineers.
Down two with eight seconds left, Ty Hudson found Jason Burnell just left of the key for a 3-point attempt. Burnell, who was 1-for-3 from long range, fired up the shot but had it miss short on the front iron.
Hunter recorded a career-best 26 points, topping his previous high of 23, while Cunningham was 6-for-8 with a free throw for 13 points. Burnell led on the boards with nine rebounds.
West Virginia forward Wesley Harris led the Mountaineers with 20 points, knocking down four of four 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, the Gamecock defense limited WVU's leading scorer Esa Ahmad to just two points.
The Gamecocks jumped on West Virginia early with a 13-5 lead thanks to an 8-0 run that included four points from Jacara Cross. The JSU defense kept the Mountaineers scoreless for more than four minutes during the stretch, forcing four turnovers for five points.
WVU found its shot shortly after, outscoring the Gamecocks 23-11 through the next eight minutes to take a half-best six-point lead. After missing two treys during the opening minutes, the Mountaineers hit four of nine 3-point attempts to take a 30-24 advantage.
The Gamecocks regained the lead briefly, 31-30 with two minutes to go before the half, but saw it disappear with six consecutive WVU points. Hunter made it a three-point game at the horn with a tip-in, 36-33.
The second half began with West Virginia firing up three 3-pointers, and all three fell. James Bolden, who did not score in the first, bucketed five points within the first five minutes of the second, while Wesley Harris matched the total with a 3-pointer and jumper.
Despite the Mountaineers' success from long range, Jacksonville State stayed competitive inside the paint. The Gamecocks outscored WVU 20-6 under the basket to hold a 39-38 advantage in the period.
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE 85, SIUE 79
LAS VEGAS - SIUE made a furious push in the second half, but fell short, dropping an 85-79 decision to CSUN Saturday to open the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic at Orleans Arena.
SIUE dropped 2-8 with its third consecutive loss. CSUN improved to 4-8.
CSUN led by as many as 19 in the second half, and the Cougars used four players in double figures to stage a comeback.
It was 68-50 CSUN after a three-pointer from Terrell Gomez with 6:58 to play went on a 15-3 run to tighten the game. David McFarland converted a traditional three-point play with 3:57 left in the game.
SIUE outrebounded CSUN 42-38, including holding an eight-rebound edge in the second half. The forced 19 turnovers by CSUN, while committing 16 of their own and they landed 17-26 free throws compared to 13-22 for CSUN.
Despite an advantage of 19-9 in offensive rebounds, the Cougars turned those into just four second-chance points.
McFarland led SIUE with 18 points. Tyresse Williford scored 15 and Cameron Williams scored 10.
Daniel Kinchen scored a season-high 16 points all in the second half. He was 6-12 from the field and 4-7 from three-point range.
Gomez paced CSUN with 22 points. Lamine Diane scored 21 points and added 11 points for the Matadors.
DUQUESNE 85, EASTERN KENTUCKY 84 (OT)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Duquesne, 85-84, on Saturday at the Palumbo Center.
Following a three-point play by senior Nick Mayo, EKU (6-6) led by four, 79-75, with just over two minutes to play in regulation. Duquesne (9-3) sank four free throws over the final 1:12 to tie it up. A three-point attempt at the buzzer by Mayo just missed, sending the game into overtime.
The Colonels went ahead, 83-81, following a layup by freshman Jomaru Brown with 2:53 to play in OT. Tavian Dunn-Martin converted a layup on the Dukes’ ensuing possession to tie it up. The two teams then went scoreless for more than two minutes. A jumper in the lane by Eric Williams Jr. with 14 seconds to play broke the drought and gave Duquesne an 85-83 lead.
On EKU’s final possession, freshman Tre King missed a shot to tie it, got his own rebound and was fouled on the putback. He made his first free throw; however, the second one rimmed out, and Duquesne held on for a wild win.
The game featured nine ties and nine lead changes.
Mayo finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks in the loss. Redshirt junior Dujuanta Weaver posted a career-high 18 points on 4-of-10 shooting from deep.
Junior Kelvin Robins just missed a double-double, scoring 14 points and dishing out nine assists. He also had five rebounds and two steals. Brown came off the bench to tally 15 points.
King – making his first career start – led EKU with nine rebounds.
Williams Jr. paced five Dukes in double figures with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Duquesne jumped out to an early 10-point lead, as a jumper by Tavian Dunn-Martin made it 27-17 in favor of the hosts with 8:16 to play in the first half.
A triple by Weaver, however, sparked EKU on a 10-0 run. Less than two minutes later, a layup by Weaver tied it up, 27-27.
The Colonels kept coming, outscoring the Dukes 21-9 over the next six minutes. A layup by Brown at the 1:03 mark of the first half gave EKU its largest lead of the game, 48-36.
Duquesne responded with six points in the final minute of the half to trim the Colonel lead to six at the break, 48-42.
Eastern stretched its lead back to 10, 60-50, following foul shots by Weaver with 15:50 to play in regulation. However, the Dukes chipped away at that lead before finally tying it up, 67-67, on a bucket by Michael Hughes with 8:26 showing.
The two teams then traded leads until finally setting the score in overtime.
MEMPHIS 99, TENNESSEE STATE 41
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Tennessee State men’s basketball dropped to 3-8 on the season with a 41-99 loss to Memphis Saturday afternoon in the FedEx Forum.
A hard-shooting night, TSU averaged just 16 percent from the field, 6-of-35 from three-point distance. Big Blue’s trips to the free-throw line helped the score, as Kamar McKnight finished with five points at the stripe, followed by Emmanuel Egbuta with three. However, both shot 50 percent from the line.
Southwest Tennessee Community College (Memphis) transfer, Michael Littlejohn led Tennessee State with 11 points, adding one assist and three steals.
Tennessee State entered the half, down 30 (47-17), and although Memphis’ shooting accuracy decreased in the second period, the Memphis Tigers pulled away increasing its lead to as much as 61 before closing out the night 41-99.
AUSTIN PEAY 75, LIBERTY 66
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Govs rallied from a halftime deficit to take a 75-66 victory against Liberty in the championship contest of the 2018 St. Pete Shootout. A jolly Christmas it will be, indeed.
The first half offered frenetic pacing and outstanding offensive showings. Both squads shot better than 55 percent for the half, with Austin Peay jumping out to a 9-2 lead thanks to a pair of big buckets by sophomore Terry Taylor; the Bowling Green native scored 14 points in the first half, with senior Steve Harris picking up 10 points of his own accord.
But Liberty put on a late-half showcase from the floor, hitting 14 of their final 19 shots from the floor to close the first. Over the final five minutes of the frame, the Flames outscored the Govs 18-10 with Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz and Lovell Cabbill netting five points apiece down the stretch and Keenan Gumbs beating the buzzer on a three to put the Govs down five points at halftime.
The Govs rallied. Quickly. Scarcely three minutes into the second half, jumpers by Harris and sophomore Dayton Gumm had the Govs within a point. At the 13:37 mark, Taylor tied it with a layup; two possessions later, his fourth three-pointer of the day put the Govs ahead for good.
That sequence from Taylor kicked off a game-altering 12-4 run that took the Govs from down a bucket to ahead by eight points. Austin Peay then proceeded to put the clamps down defensively, holding Liberty to just five made field goals—on 5-of-13 shooting—from the start of that run to the game's end.
Taylor finished with 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting, blocking a pair of shots and generally forcing Liberty to account for him at all times; he was the clear Tournament MVP. Harris finished with 18 points on an efficient 8-of-12 night to earn All-Tournament honors of his own.
#7 AUBURN 93, MURRAY STATE 88
AUBURN, Ala. - Trailing by 14 with 3:51 remaining, the Murray State Racers made a valiant run and cut the lead to three with 24 seconds remaining before falling to the No. 7 Auburn Tigers 93-88 Saturday at Auburn Arena in Alabama.
The Racers (8-2) saw their five-game winning streak snapped as they battled a top-10 team for the first time since playing Marquette in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Seeking their first win over a top-10 team since 1971, the Racers trailed 38-35 at halftime and proceeded to start second half with a 21-14 run. The Racers had the lead until the 14:15 mark when they took the lead for good 57-56.
Ja Morant led the Racers with 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting with a night of 10-of-11 from the free throw line to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Shaq Buchanan hit 4-of-7 from the 3-point line and finished with 21 points, while Tevin Brown had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The Racers had their fourth bench scoring game of 20-plus points with 23. Darnell Cowart scored a MSU career-high 13 points.
Auburn (10-2) started the contest 8-0 before the Racers answered for a 10-5 lead on a Brown 3-pointer less than four minutes in. The Racers made it a 24-11 run after the 8-0 Tigers start and MSU had a 24-19 lead at te 8:55 mark on a three from Brion Whitley.
The Racers ended the game by winning the rebound stat 35-32 as each team had 14 offensive rebounds.
MSU shot 50 percent from the field (29-of-58), while Auburn shot 53 percent (34-of-64).
FRESNO STATE 93, UT MARTIN 53
FRESNO, Calif. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team received strong frontcourt play this evening but the Skyhawks dropped a 93-53 decision at Fresno State this evening.
UT Martin (5-5) stayed within striking distance for a majority of the first half before the host Bulldogs took advantage of a season-low in points (53) and field goal percentage (.333, 21-of-63) from the Skyhawks.
Fatodd Lewis led UT Martin with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting while Quintin Dove tallied 11 points and six rebounds. Minfeke Sanoe posted the best game of his career with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds in just 11 minutes off the bench while Preston Parks compiled a team-high seven assists.
Fresno State (9-2) produced five scorers in double-figures, led by Braxton Huggins’ 20 points. New Williams (19), Nate Grimes (14), Aguir Agau (13) and Noah Blackwell (12) also accounted for big scoring nights for the Bulldogs, who shot 54.5 percent (36-of-66) and made 14 three-pointers.
A layup by Lewis opened the scoring while a Delfincko Bogan trifecta gave the Skyhawks a 6-3 lead just 77 seconds into the contest. Lewis would soon go on a scoring spree – as his layup at the 13:15 mark gave him his ninth point of the game and resulted in a 16-16 tie. However, Fresno State went on a 10-0 run late in the first half and took a 46-32 lead into the locker room. Lewis’ nine points and Huggins’ 14 points led each side in scoring.
Lewis canned a three-pointer to start the scoring in the second half, trimming UT Martin’s deficit to 11 points. That would ultimately be as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs immediately responded with 13 unanswered points. Fresno State would later add a 20-0 run over a span of 7:12 to put the game out of reach.