SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#3 Tennessee 96,
Tennessee Tech 53
@Vanderbilt 95,
Tennessee State 76
@Missouri 75,
Morehead State 61
@Purdue 73,
Belmont 62
@Jacksonville State 109, Reinhardt 77
@Eastern Kentucky 145, Brescia 72
@Murray State 110, Bethel 82
#3 TENNESSEE 96, TENNESSEE TECH 53
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team closed out its non-conference slate for the 2018-19 season at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville Saturday afternoon, falling to the No. 3 nationally-ranked Tennessee Volunteers by a final score of 96-53.
The Vols proved nearly infallible on offense in the first half, shooting an eye-popping 74.2 percent from the field on their way to a 51-33 lead at the break. Tech, which struggled to get the ball rolling early in the contest, closed out the half on fire, making each of its final five shots.
Over the opening 20 minutes, the Golden Eagles shot 46.7 percent from the floor, including the 5-for-5 stretch to close the half, which featured a pair of 3-pointers by redshirt freshman Hunter Vick and two lay-ins by fellow rookie Jr. Clay.
Tech kept pace with the Vols early in the second half, heading into the second media break with just a five-point differential for the second stanza. The Golden Eagles four early success, hitting six of their first nine shots of the half.
The offense cooled for Tech down the stretch, however, allowing the Vols to extend the lead late.
For the contest, Clay paced the purple and gold with 16 points. He also posed team-highs of five assists and three steals. Vick tallied nine points and four assists while hitting a team-best three triples.
Courtney Alexander II just missed his second straight double-double, posting seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Garrett Golday hit a season-high two 3-pointers on his way to eight points.
Grant Williams led the Vols with a game-high 25 points while Admiral Schofield chipped in 16. Also in double figures for Tennessee were Jordan Bone with 16 points and John Fulkerson with 15.
VANDERBILT 95, TENNESSEE STATE 76
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team closed out its non-conference schedule with a 95-76 loss to Vanderbilt in Memorial Gym Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers shot out of the gates with co-leading scorer Armani Chaney and Nashville-native Tripp Davis hitting 3-of-4 from three point distance kicking off TSU’s near 12-minute lead. Big Blue’s largest lead of 10 came in the first half when Michael Littlejohn pulled up for a three as TSU went on a 14-3 run.
Tied at 22, VU’s offense began to heat up using open lanes and trips to the charity stripe to create a five-point lead at the half, 40-35. In the second period, Vanderbilt’s spread offense increased its lead to as much as 22; a late jolt for the Tigers and a three-point field goal from Chaney closed it at 95-76.
The Tigers enter conference play 3-9 after dropping to 0-10 in the all-time series against the Commodores.
MISSOURI 75, MOREHEAD STATE 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Morehead State men's basketball ramped up the pressure and got hot from the floor in the second half, but it was too much Missouri in the first half as the Eagles ultimately fell 75-61 Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
MSU (4-9) was held without a three-pointer in the first half as managed to hit 7-for-26, while the Tigers (9-3) nailed seven triples on their home floor to build a hefty lead. However the Eagles did not go away quietly, cutting Mizzou's lead to less than double digits in the final 20-minute period. MSU also outscored the Tigers 39-30 in the second stanza.
Senior point guard A. J. Hicks registered a team-best 18 points - his ninth double-digit effort of the year. Senior forward Lamontray Harris put together his Ohio Valley Conference-leading sixth double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Junior guard Jordan Walker reached double figures for the team-best 10th time in 2018-19 with 12 points.
MSU trailed 45-22 at the halftime break, but an aggressive game plan and efficient shot selection led to a tighter contest in the final half. The Eagles used a 10-0 run over a three-minute span to cut the Tiger lead to 56-46 at the 9:39 mark. Later, Hicks drilled a step-back triple to cut the deficit to single-digits (59-51) at the 8:00 point.
With the deficit still at 10 (63-53), the hosts quickly used a 6-0 run over a 45-second span to push it back out to 69-53 with less than five minutes remaining. MSU cut it back to 11 one more time before the final margin.
The Eagles finished shooting at 40 percent but nailed 54 percent (13-of-24) in the final half. Mark Smith led all players with 22 points, while Jordan Geist had 20 for the Tigers.
PURDUE 73, BELMONT 62
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Belmont University men's basketball dropped a 73-62 decision at Purdue Saturday.
Sometimes percentages play out accoring to the scouting report; other times they make coaches and fans scratch their heads.
Purdue, a talented, balanced, and disciplined Big Ten contender, entered Saturday's action allowing the opposition to shoot 38 percent from 3-point distance - a fact that seemed to play into the favor of Belmont, annually among the nation's top 3-point shooting teams.
But on this afternoon in Mackey Arena, Belmont (9-2) would inexplicably miss 22 of its first 26 attempts from behind the arc, many of which were open in the semblance of the Bruin offense.
Belmont rode its defense and rebounding to stay within striking distance before Purdue closed the first half on a scoring run to lead 40-24 at halftime.
Nevertheless, despite enduring an uncharteristically poor shooting game, the Bruins rode the strong all-court play of guards Grayson Murphy and Kevin McClain to flip the script.
Freshman Nick Muszynski capped a spirited 14-0 run over a two-minute span to get Belmont within 57-48 with 7:38 left.
That's when the percentages again went against the grain. Purdue guard Nojel Eastern - a career 38 percent free throw shooter who entered Saturday's play 3-for-12 from the stripe on the season - made six consecutive free throws down the stretch to sour Belmont's courageous comeback effort. Belmont got within 61-54 on a McClain 3-pointer, but the Bruins could get no closer.
McClain led Belmont with 21 points, 18 in the second half. Muszynski had 14 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.
Carsen Edwards led Purdue (8-5) with 24 points.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 109, REINHARDT 77
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team found itself back in the win's column Saturday with a 109-77 home victory over Reinhardt University to close out non-conference play.
A career-high 20-point performance from freshman De'Torrion Ware helped JSU land its second win in as many tries at Pete Mathews Coliseum this season. The Hopkinsville, Ky., native was 7-for-13 from the floor, including a 6-of-11 clip from beyond the arc to total the most 3-point buckets made by a Gamecock in a single game this year.
De'Torrion Ware made a lot of shots for us tonight," head coach Ray Harper said. "He is going to be a very good player. He's getting better every day, and he gave us a good lift here tonight in a game that needed him."
Prior to Saturday's game, the Gamecocks were a combined 4-for-32 from beyond the arc for their last two games. Including Ware's six buckets from downtown, Jacksonville State totaled 39 points on 13-for-30 shooting from 3-point range against the Eagles.
Along with improving to 8-2 over its last 10 games, Jacksonville State bucketed 100 points for the second time this season, coupled with a 101-61 win over Carver College on Nov. 28. It is the first time since the 1995-96 season – Jacksonville State's first year at the Division I level – that the Gamecocks have recorded multiple 100-point games in a single season.
JSU clung to a seven-point advantage at the half, leading 48-41 in a period dominated by 3-point shooting. During the stanza, Jacksonville State was 8-for-18 and RU was 9-for-14 from long range.
Ware was 5-for-8 during the period, with every shot coming from behind the line, for a half-best 15 points. But double-digit scoring efforts from Reinhardt's Latroy Strong, Cody Carden and Michael Mays kept the Eagles competitive through the first 20 minutes. The three combined for 34 of the visitors' 41 points and accounted for all nine 3-pointers in the half.
When asked what he told the team at the break in the locker room, Harper grinned and said, "I asked our guys if they could please play better the second half."
And the Gamecocks did just that, finding their second gear to outscore the Eagles 61-36 in the closing period. Ware added five points to his first-half total to arrive at 20, while redshirt sophomore lit it up with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting to tie his career-best of 15 points.
Including Ware and St. Hilaire, six Gamecocks wound up scoring in double-figures. Jason Burnell scored a third-most 14 and Ty Hudson had 13, while Christian Cunningham and Marlon Hunter each ended the night with 12 points.
Four Eagles scored in double-digits, led by Strong's 18. Reinhardt's leading scorer, Samuel Bunkley, and Michael Mays each had 15, while Cody Carden had 11 points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 145, BRESCIA 72
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team had eight players reach double figures as the Colonels broke the school’s single-game scoring record in a 145-72 win over Brescia University on Saturday night at McBrayer Arena.
Junior Lachlan Anderson paced eight Colonels in double figures, matching a career-high with 22 points and pulling down a team-best 13 rebounds. He added three steals and two assists.
Four Colonels scored career highs. Freshman Houston King came off the bench and scored all 18 of his points in the second half, going 6-of-8 from three-point range. Junior Kelvin Robinson scored 16 points and dished out four assists. Freshman Tre King posted 14 points and six rebounds, while redshirt freshman Pedro Bradshaw chipped in 14 points of his own.
On a night he was honored for breaking the EKU career scoring record, senior Nick Mayo finished with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Redshirt junior Dujuanta Weaver knocked down five triples and tallied 17 points.
EKU (7-6) shot a season-high 56.1 percent (55-of-98) from the floor.
The Colonels turned the Bearcats over 39 times and scored 60 points off those turnovers. EKU’s 28 steals in the game is the most since at least 2003.
Eastern outscored Brescia in the paint, 75-20.
Brescia (6-7) pulled to within seven of EKU when Andre Peralta-Werns knocked down a three-pointer to make it 32-25 with 8:51 remaining in the first half. The Colonels, however, responded with a 6-0 run after a Tre King basket.
Back-to-back dunks by Mayo and Bradshaw sent EKU into halftime leading 58-44.
The Colonels opened the second half on an 11-0 run, finished off by consecutive dunks by Mayo and Tre King. That run gave EKU a 25-point advantage, 69-44, with 17:06 left in the game. The Bearcats never got close than 20 the rest of the way.
MURRAY STATE 110, BETHEL 82
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Ja Morant scored 23 points and dished out 13 assists as Murray State beat Bethel University of the NAIA 110-82 on Saturday night.
Morant was 8 of 14 from the field for the Racers (9-2). Tevin Brown added 18 points and five assists, KJ Williams had 16 points and five rebounds and Darnell Cowart and Jaiveon Eaves had 12 points apiece.
Morant and Brown combined for back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game and the Racers led all the way, taking it to 35-14 on a Shaq Buchanan dunk midway and building to 64-34 at the break.
Charles Cobb came off the Bethel bench late in the second half to score 14 points in three minutes, cutting Murray State's lead to 94-70 with 5:39 to play. The Racers took off again after that, pushing it to 105-75 with the help of three Eaves 3-pointers.
Cobb and Isaac Edmondson scored 17 points apiece to lead the Wildcats.