WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 79, USC Upstate 77
@Tulane 87,
UT Martin 74
EASTERN KENTUCKY 79, USC UPSTATE 77
RICHMOND, Ky. - Kelvin Robinson deflected a pass with 3.5 seconds left in the game to help the Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team hold on for a 79-77 win over visiting USC Upstate on Wednesday.
Upstate in-bounded the ball with 9.2 seconds left on the clock and down by two. Robinson got his hand on a cross-court pass near the Spartan three-point line with 3.5 seconds to go. The ball stayed in play as it rolled to the opposite baseline, going out of bounds with 0.3 seconds remaining. The visitors did not get off a shot to win.
The Colonels (5-4) led for more than 39 minutes of the game, but had to hold off a late comeback bid by the Spartans.
Back-to-back dunks by Tre King and Peyton Broughton gave EKU a 14-point second half lead, it’s largest of the game. The Colonels were up seven when the duo put on a dunk show. After King threw one down, Broughton came up with a steal on the inbound pass and brought the fans to their feet with a one-handed jam. That bucket gave Eastern a 53-39 lead with 13:41 left in the game.
USC Upstate (2-7) didn’t go away. The Spartans cut it to six twice only to see Eastern Kentucky stretch the margin back to 10 each time. After two free throws from Nick Mayo made it 72-62 with 5:24 remaining, Upstate went on a 12-4 run, capped by lay-up from Malik Moore, that made it a two-point game, 76-74, with 2:51 on the clock.
Three free throws from Robinson and Mayo pushed Eastern back in front by five, 79-74, with 2:09 to go. The Colonels didn’t score again. Everette Hammond hit a jumper and made 1-of-2 at the free throw line to get Upstate back within two, 79-77, with 38 seconds left.
Mayo had a team-best 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. He now has 1,799 career points and is 34 away from breaking Eastern Kentucky’s scoring record held by Matt Witt (1,832).
Lachlan Anderson and Dujuanta Weaver scored 12 points each.
The Spartans shot 44 percent, compared to 36 percent for EKU, but turned the ball over 26 times. Eastern turned those turnovers into a 29-15 advantage in points off turnovers.
Moore scored a game-high 32 points and had 10 rebounds for USC Upstate.
TULANE 87, UT MARTIN 74
NEW ORLEANS - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad started their two-game road swing with a cold shooting night at Tulane, falling to the host Green Wave by an 87-74 margin at Avron B. Fogelman Arena.
The Skyhawks (3-3) won the turnover battle by a 19-8 margin this evening but shot a season-low 38.5 percent (30-of-78) from the floor. That included a 4-of-29 performance from three-point range (13.8 percent) – including 0-of-12 from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes.
Fatodd Lewis led UT Martin in scoring for the first time this season, pumping in a season-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Kevin Little added 15 points and three steals while Parrish Hewitt (10 points) rounded out the double-figure scorers. Derek Hawthorne, Jr. (eight points, eight rebounds, three steals) barely missed out on a double-double while Delfincko Bogan (game-high four assists) and Preston Parks (three steals) each swiped three steals.
Tulane (3-5) was led by Shakwon Barrett’s 26 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Caleb Daniels (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Samir Sehic (12 points, 11 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles while Jordan Cornish added 14 points for the Green Wave, who shot 58.2 percent (32-of-55) for the contest.
The score was tied and the lead changed hands five times in the first half. The Skyhawks came out strong, opening the game on an 8-0 run before Tulane scored 12 unanswered points. A layup by Little made the score 23-18 in UT Martin’s favor with 8:44 to go in the first half but the Green Wave came right back with a 9-2 run before claiming a 38-31 halftime lead. Lewis was responsible for a game-high 10 points in the first half while Barrett’s nine points paced Tulane.
The Green Wave began the second half on a 12-4 run, eventually stretching their lead out to 21 points (61-40) with 12:24 left to play. From that point forward, the Skyhawks would chip away to get within 13 points on four different occasions but would not get any closer than that the rest of the way.