SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 70, Eastern Kentucky 66
@Eastern Illinois 68, SIUE 56
UT Martin 72, @Southeast Missouri 66
@Belmont 84, Tennessee State 59
Murray State 73, @Austin Peay 64
Jacksonville State 66, @Tennessee Tech 57
MOREHEAD STATE 70, EASTERN KENTUCKY 66
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State men's basketball concluded its 2017-18 campaign with a 70-66 victory over Ohio Valley Conference and instate nemesis Eastern Kentucky at Johnson Arena Saturday afternoon.
After trailing for the first 19:56 of the game, sophomore guard Jordan Walker scored a layup to give the Eagles a 28-27 advantage heading into the half.
Morehead State began the second half with flawless offensive execution. The Eagles made 8-of-8 shots from the field during a 10-0 that expanded the teams' lead to eleven points 51-40 with 11:16 remaining in the game.
The Colonels didn't go lightly though and were able to cut the lead to one point, 65-64, following a pair of makes from the free throw line with 1:51 to go.
The Eagles pulled away though for good on the following Eastern Kentucky possession when Junior Lamontray Harris rejected a Colonels attempt which Djimon Henson followed up by racing down the floor and knocking down a fade-away jumper in the lane to put the Eagles ahead by three with 1:01 left on the game clock.
Morehead State made 15-of-29 (.517) from the field in the final half and shot 27-of-63 (.429) overall.
Walker spearheaded the Eagles offensive attack, dropping in 23 points with 17 of those coming in the second half. The guard finished the game shooting 9-of-13 overall from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point territory. The 23-point output tied the guard's season-high in a single game.
Harris, a six-foot-seven junior, closed the season by recording his sixth double-double. The Louisville Ky., product scored 15 points and snatched 12 boards.
Junior A.J. Hicks was close behind Walker in scoring, finishing with 19 points while also collecting eight rebounds, including six in the offensive category.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 68, SIUE 56
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s basketball sent the four members of its senior class out with a victory at home as the Panthers closed out the regular season with a 68-56 win over SIUE on Saturday afternoon in Lantz Arena.
With the win EIU locked up the seven seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. EIU is now 11-18 overall, 7-11 in the OVC. SIUE fell to 9-20 overall, 5-13 in the OVC.
After the two teams traded the lead six times just over midway through the second half, Jajuan Starks hit a jumper at the 7:03 mark that sparked a 14-0 run by the Panthers to give them a commanding lead. Senior Ray Crossland followed Starks bucket with a 3-pointer as he scored six of his season high 18 points during the decisive run.
SIUE had jumped out to quick 10-2 lead to open the game with Christian Ellis scoring on a three point play and Jalen Henry draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Panthers would answer with a quick run of their own as senior Montell Goodwin’s lay-up with 10:57 to play in the first gave the Panthers a 13-12 lead. Goodwin finished with 12 points as three of EIU’s four seniors scored in double figures.
The two teams stayed within striking distance of each other for the remainder of the first half with EIU leading 32-28 at the half. The Panthers scored their final bucket of the half on a steal by Crossland, finished with a coast-to-coast lay-up.
EIU pushed its lead out to six points early in the second half on three free throws by Goodwin. SIUE would eventually tie the game for the fourth time on a lay-up by David McFarland with 9:55 to play in the game and the score tied 43-43. That was the final tie prior to Starks bucket that began the Panthers late run.
Similar to EIU’s win at SIUE back in early February the Panthers made free throws when they needed them going 11-of-15 from the stripe in the second half. Crossland, Goodwin and Mack Smith all made free throws in the final 35 seconds to help seal the win. Smith scored 12 points while Muusa Dama rounded out the EIU seniors in double figures with 12 points. It was the final home game for Crossland, Goodwin, Dama and DeVantae’ Price.
Henry scored ten of his game high 20 points in the first half. Keenan Simmons posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ellis added ten points.
UT MARTIN 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 66
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Matthew Butler generated a game-high 25 points in his final game at the University of Tennessee at Martin as the Skyhawk men’s basketball team posted a 72-66 Ohio Valley Conference win in the season finale at Southeast Missouri today.
A redshirt senior guard from Memphis, Tenn., Butler was 8-for-16 from the floor – including a 5-of-11 effort from three-point land. He also added a perfect 4-for-4 performance from the free throw line while logging all 40 minutes.
Playing a little over 30 miles from his hometown, Delfincko Bogan tallied 17 points with a team-high three assists against zero turnovers in 37 minutes for UT Martin. Parrish Hewitt scored 15 points and a career-best nine rebounds off the bench for the Skyhawks, who shot 93.8 percent (15-for-16) from the free throw line.
Southeast Missouri (14-17, 8-10 OVC) was led by Ledarrius Brewer’s 16 points while Denzel Mahoney and Daniel Simmons each provided 11 points apiece. The Redhawks were held to just 37.9 percent (22-of-58) shooting from the floor.
Southeast Missouri accounted for the first five points of the game before Mike Fofana muscled up for a bucket inside at the 18:14 mark. The Redhawks soon pushed their advantage out to nine points (13-4) a little over two minutes later.
The Skyhawks fought right back with an 8-0 run, as a pair of two-point buckets by Butler were sandwiched around jumpers by Hewitt and Bogan.
Accuracy from downtown gave UT Martin its first lead of the day. Bogan and Butler canned triples on back-to-back possessions to make the score 26-21 in favor of the Skyhawks with seven minutes to play in the opening half.
Butler helped UT Martin keep its lead with five straight points over a 34-second span. Darius Thompson sank a fadeaway jumper at the 1:31 mark of the first half to open up an eight-point lead for the Skyhawks, who settled for a 37-31 halftime advantage.
The backcourt trio of Butler (12 points), Bogan (nine points) and Hewitt (eight points) paced a UT Martin attack that shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) from the floor in the first 20 minutes. Ray Kowalski dialed up a team-best nine points on a trio of three-pointers for the Redhawks in the opening half.
Bogan opened the scoring in the second half with a penetrating layup less than a minute into the stanza. Following a Southeast Missouri three-pointer, Butler swished back-to-back trifectas – one from each wing – to extend UT Martin’s lead out to double-digits. An up-and-under reverse layup by Hewitt at the 16:21 mark provided the Skyhawks with their biggest lead of the game at 47-34.
A putback by Jailen Gill kept the UT Martin advantage at double figures (50-40) midway through the second half. Southeast Missouri then used a 10-0 run over a stretch of 4:42 to even the score at 50-all with five minutes left to play.
The Skyhawks did not concede their lead, as two Butler free throws at the 4:07 mark made the score 52-50. Bogan followed with a step-in jumper to nudge UT Martin’s lead to four points.
Southeast Missouri closed within a single possession three more times over the next 1:39 but UT Martin would not wilt. Thompson drained a clutch three-pointer from the left wing with 3:06 remaining while Butler knocked down a fadeaway three-pointer with one second left on the shot clock to make the score 62-56 with 1:23 left to play.
Four consecutive free throws out of Thompson and Hewitt with under a minute to go once again provided the Skyhawks with a double-digit advantage (66-56). The Redhawks continued to battle, getting within four points with seven seconds to go but UT Martin won the game at the charity stripe, nailing its final 14 free throw attempts of the contest.
BELMONT 84, TENNESSEE STATE 59
NASHVILLE - Behind an NCAA Division I era single-game record 20 3-point field goals, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee State, 84-59, Saturday.
Belmont's quartet of seniors - Austin Luke, Amanze Egekeze, Tyler Hadden, and Burton Sampson - combined on 12 of the 20 3-pointers, with Sampson's trey with 1:47 left eclipsing the previous Bruin record of 19, set twice.
The highlight of the game came in the closing seconds of the first half, as Luke buried a 75-footer before the horn, sending the packed Curb Event Center crowd into a frenzy and giving Belmont a 43-28 halftime lead.
Belmont (23-8, 15-3 OVC) shot 57 percent for the game, going 20-for-38 from 3-point distance.
Junior Dylan Windler (Indianapolis, Ind.) continued his impressive campaign, leading five Bruins in double figures with 21 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.
Delano Spencer led Tennessee State (15-14, 10-8 OVC) with 23 points.
MURRAY STATE 73, AUSTIN PEAY 64
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Murray State Racers overcame a 15-point halftime deficit and a two and half hour delay to defeat the Austin Peay Governors 73-64 Saturday to clinch the outright Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship in the season finale played at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Pushing their winning streak to 11, the Racers (24-5) finished 16-2 in league play for their 25th OVC title, tops in the history of the league. The Racers will be the top seed in next week’s OVC Tournament which goes to the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana for the first time.
The win didn’t come easy though. The Racers limped into halftime trailing the Governors 37-23, but like flipping a switch, the Racers surged into the lead in the second half with a run of 38-14 to take a 61-51 lead with 7:00 remaining. When the game was halted by the storm and the hole in the roof of the Dunn Center that it produced, the Racers had hit 12-of-12 from 2-point range in the half and three 3-pointers, while holding APSU to 6-of-12 shooting and dominating the boards 16-3.
Lightning or some other debris struck the roof of the Dunn Center at 9:02 p.m. There was a tornado warning at that time in Montgomery County and a loud boom was heard in the arena. Some debris and dust fell to the floor and then water started coming in and landing at the baseline area across from the Racers’ bench. The game was stopped with 5:49 remaining and the Racers leading the Govs 62-53. After a delay nearly two and a half hours, the game was resumed at just past 11:30 p.m.
The big play after resumption of the game came when Stark hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to give the Racers a 72-62 lead with 59 seconds left. A good number of Racer fans stayed for the end and they were rewarded by the players going into the stands to celebrate the championship with them.
Stark had his fourth 30-point scoring game with 31, while Ja Morant added 14 points and nine rebounds. Terrell Miller, who battled foul trouble with a pair of them before the first media timeout, scored eight points and had a game-high 12 rebounds. Anthony Smith scored 10 points as did Shaw Buchanan.
MSU’s second half included outscoring APSU 50-27 in which they hit 76 percent from the field on 16-of-21 shots.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 66, TENNESSEE TECH 57
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team topped Tennessee Tech 66-57 on Saturday to claim its second consecutive 20-win season and secure the No. 4 seed in the upcoming Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
The Gamecocks (20-11, 11-7 OVC) are set to play Thursday, March 1 at 6:30 p.m. in Evansville, Ind., and will face the winner of Game 1 between No. 5-seeded Tennessee Tech and No. 8-seeded SIUE.
Marlon Hunter led a foursome of Gamecocks to score in double figures at The Hoop on Saturday. The junior totaled 14 points, followed by 12 points from Jason Burnell and 11 points from Norbertas Giga.
Christian Cunningham was the fourth JSU player to register double digits en route to his team-leading eighth double-double of the season. The junior bucketed 10 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
Six Gamecocks contributed to a 26-point first half, led by seven points from Giga. The big man pulled down a half-best six rebounds - five on the defensive end - was 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and swatted one would-be Tennessee Tech basket.
JSU took care of the basketball in the first period, turning the ball over just five times, and forced six TTU turnovers. The Gamecocks managed six points off turnovers while holding the Golden Eagles to two points on TOs.
Jacksonville State led 26-19 at the half and did not relinquish the lead the entire second half. The Golden Eagles managed to pull within three points of the JSU lead with the help of a 7-0 run halfway through the period, but the JSU defense responded by holding TTU to no field goals for the next five minutes of play. During the stretch, the Gamecocks outscored Tennessee Tech 8-4 to regain the cushion.