THURSDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee State 61, @Morehead State 58
Belmont 98, @Eastern Kentucky 63
Tennessee Tech 68, @SIUE 67
Jacksonville State 75, @Eastern Illinois 56
Murray State 87, @Southeast Missouri 75
Austin Peay 59, @UT Martin 57
TENNESSEE STATE 61, MOREHEAD STATE 58
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Delano Spencer scored a game-high 16 points, including a free throw with 4.2 seconds left, to lead the Tennessee State men’s basketball team to a 61-58 road win at Morehead State on Thursday night in Ohio Valley Conference action.
For TSU (11-11, 6-5 OVC), which has won three games in a row, it is the program’s first road win at Morehead State (6-16, 2-9) since Feb. 27, 2014.
TSU trailed by one with just over a minute left until Armani Chaney’s three-pointer with 1:09 to go gave the Tigers a lead they did not relinquish the rest of the way.
BELMONT 98, EASTERN KENTUCKY 63
RICHMOND, Ky. - Behind 30 points and nine rebounds from senior Amanze Egekeze, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Eastern Kentucky, 98-63, Thursday night.
For a program known for offensive precision and 3-point shooting prowess, Belmont delivered one of the most impressive first halves in recent memory. The Bruins went 20-for-28 from the field in the opening 20 minutes – including 10-for-15 from 3-point distance – while committing only one turnover in leading 55-29 at halftime. Egekeze led Belmont with 17 first half points.
Senior Austin Luke added his fourth career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
Nick Mayo led Eastern Kentucky (8-16, 2-9 OVC) with 15 points.
Belmont has won 13 of its last 14 games.
TENNESSEE TECH 68, SIUE 67
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Kajon Mack tossed in 18 points, Shaq Calhoun had 16 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and Tennessee Tech held on for a 68-67 victory over SIU Edwardsville despite missing its last eight shots from the floor on Thursday night.
Mack's layup gave the Golden Eagles (16-8, 8-3) a 59-47 lead with 7:26 left to play. Tennessee Tech then scored its final nine points at the free-throw line, including two by Mack with 13 seconds remaining. Mack hit the free throws and then fouled Christian Ellis, who sank two foul shots to pull the Cougars (7-15, 3-8 Ohio Valley Conference) within 68-67 with nine seconds left. Jalen Henry fouled Cade Crosland on the ensuing possession. Crosland missed both free throws, but David McFarland missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer for SIUE with two seconds to go.
Mason Ramsey added 11 points and seven rebounds to help the Golden Eagles control the boards 44-37. Tennessee Tech has won three straight.
Christian Ellis paced the Cougars with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting. McFarland finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the campaign and Henry added 11 points and eight boards.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 56
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team used a second-half surge to earn a runaway 75-56 win over Eastern Illinois on Thursday at Lantz Arena.
Junior Christian Cunningham tallied his second double-double in as many games with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while fellow junior Jason Burnell scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in the second half to secure the 19-point win.
Cunningham's double-double was his seventh of the season and 14th of his career - both team-bests among active Gamecocks.
Jacksonville State outscored EIU 44-27 in the second half and scored the half's first 11 consecutive points. JSU led by three at the half, but six consecutive points from Cunningham to begin the period helped push the Gamecocks' lead to eight.
The JSU defense limited the Panthers to 19-for-51 overall, a 37.3 shooting percentage, while the Gamecocks shot 50.8% for the game. Jacksonville State, led by Cunningham's 10 boards, outrebounded Eastern Illinois 37-30, while the defense forced 14 Panther turnovers.
Despite scoring the game's first four points, the Gamecocks hit a scoring drought and saw the Panthers go on a 12-0, three-minute run. JSU trailed by as much as 10 at the 11:40 mark, down 18-8 nearly halfway through the first period, but the tides began turning just one minute later.
Following EIU's 12-point run, the JSU defense tightened up and allowed just four field goals for the remainder of the half. From the 10:51 mark until the end of the half, Jacksonville State outscored the Panthers 21-11.
During the Gamecocks' near 11-minute, 21-11 run, Burnell totaled a team-best six points and Malcolm Drumwright tallied five. The offense was 8-for-13 during the stretch, while the defense came away with two steals and forced five EIU turnovers, helping Jacksonville State to a 31-29 advantage at the half.
MURRAY STATE 87, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 75
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Murray State Racers pushed their winning streak to four with an 87-75 victory against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks Thursday night at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The Racers (17-5) have won back-to-back road games, moved to 9-2, and stayed in solo second place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Racers had a pair of players with 20 points for third time this season when Jonathan Stark tallied 29 points on five 3-pointers and Ja Morant set his MSU career-high with 23 points and nine rebounds. Terrell Miller, Jr., scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half.
Trailing 24-11 with 10:08 left in the first half, the Racers managed to battle back with a late run to make it a 34-32 deficit at the intermission.
MSU's second half was a thing of beauty as they took their first lead of the game (60-58) on a 3-point basket by Miller after a steal by Brion Sanchious with 8:40 remaining. The Racers made it a 10-0 run in a span of 1:50 on a three-point play by Morant for a 64-58 lead at 7:16. MSU pushed it to an 11-point lead on a three by Stark with 2:42 left. MSU's largest of 13 points came with 40-seconds left on a pair of Byron Hawkins free throws.
MSU's outscored the Redhawks 55-41 in the second half for their best scoring half of the season against an NCAA D-I team.
After trailing by three at halftime in the rebound stat, the Racers came back in the second half to tie SEMO 38-38. MSU hit 11 3-point baskets and gave up only five to the normally hot-shooting Redhawks. SEMO hit three of their first four 3-point attempts, but the Racers held them to 2-of-18 the rest of the way.
AUSTIN PEAY 59, UT MARTIN 57
MARTIN, Tenn. - A meeting of particularly high defensive intensity is just the sort of game Matt Figger’s Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team likes to play, and play it the Govs did in a 59-57 battle against UT Martin at the Elam Center, Thursday.
With the victory, Austin Peay moves to 13-10 (8-3 OVC) on the season, while UT Martin falls to 8-16 (3-8).
The Govs opened on a bit of a cold spell—aside from senior Averyl Ugba, who hit his first three shots from the floor, no Austin Peay player made a field goal until a Terry Taylor jumper, over six minutes into the game.
Taylor’s jumper sparked a 12-4 Austin Peay run, and while the offensive production in the first half may not have been at the frenetic 90-point pace Governor fans became accustomed to over the previous two games, the defense which has become the calling-card of the Matt Figger era was certainly on display. Although the half ended with a 7-0 Skyhawk run, the Govs forced 10 turnovers and allowed just 29.6 percent (8-of-27) shooting to take a 32-22 lead into halftime. Offensively, Ugba was the catalyst, scoring 17 first-half points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Neither squad was able to find the range often in the second half; combined, Austin Peay and UT Martin shot a combined 29.8 percent (7-of-26 for the Govs, 10-of-31 for the Skyhawks). Although UT Martin’s offensive output was scarcely better than Austin Peay’s, the Skyhawks chipped away to get within striking distance late in the contest.
But the one man who could be counted on was wearing Austin Peay black and the number 24 on this night. Late in the contest, twice Ugba was called upon and twice he came up clutch. First, a layup on a nice find by senior Tre’ Ivory put the Govs back up three with 28 seconds left after a pair of Darius Thompson free-throws had cut the Austin Peay lead to a single point. Then, after Fatodd Lewis’ jumper with seven seconds left again cut the deficit to one, Ugba went long on the ensuing inbounds play and was fouled by Mike Fofana. He calmly sank both free-throws to maintain the Austin Peay lead, with freshman Dayton Gumm’s 1-of-2 trip to the line with 2.4 to go ultimately sealing the deal for the Govs.