SATURDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 75, @SIUE 66
Austin Peay 76, @Eastern Illinois 69
Southeast Missouri 81, @UT Martin 77 (OT)
@Eastern Kentucky 75, Morehead State 73
Tennessee State 65, @Jacksonville State 47
Belmont 75, @Tennessee Tech 70
MURRAY STATE 75, SIUE 66
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Murray State Racers rolled to their seventh-straight victory with 75-66 win Saturday over the SIUE Cougars at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois.
MSU improved to 12-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and retained a share of first place with Belmont who plays tonight at 7:30 p.m. CT at Tennessee Tech.
Improving to 20-5, the Racers have secured their 29th 20-win season in 93 seasons in program history and their ninth in the last 15 seasons.
Jonathan Stark scored 14 of his 28 points from the free throw line, while Ja Morant was only two assists from a triple-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Terrell Miller, Jr., added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Leading 33-31 at the half, the Racers got going in the second half with a 15-3 run to start the half on baskets by Brion Sanchious and Byron Hawkins. The lead went to 48-34 when Hawkins scored six-straight points with 14:30 left to play. The Racers handled SIUE's leading scorer Jalen Henry and held him to no field goals in the first half of the second half. Sanchious was guarding him most of the time and he picked up four steals in the second half as a reward.
In the first half, the Racers had a largest lead of 22-14 at the 7:43 mark, but saw SIUE go on a 9-0 run to get their first lead at the 25-24 with 3:51 on the clock. However, even though they didn't play their best for some of the half, the Racers were pleased with how it ended. SIUE ran the clock down as far as they could and missed a 3-point try with 3.1 seconds remaining. Morant grabbed the rebound and scooted to mid-court in a blink where he hit Stark for his first 3-pointer of the game in five attempts. It gave the Racers a 33-31 lead at the intermission. MSU was 2-of-10 from long range in the first half, but held SIUE to 0-of-9.
MSU ended the day hitting 46 percent from the field on 23-of-50, while they held SIUE to 38 percent on 21-of-55, including 18 percent from 3-point line on 3-of-15.
AUSTIN PEAY 76, EASTERN ILLINOIS 69
CHARLESTON, Ill. - For the first time since 2010-11, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball picked up its 10th victory in Ohio Valley Conference play, knocking off Eastern Illinois in a 76-69 slugfest at Lantz Arena.
With the win, the Govs (15-11, 10-4 OVC) maintain their spot in the third place in the league. The Panthers fall to 9-16, 5-9 in league play.
A host of Govs contributed to the 41-30 lead Austin Peay took into the break. Although senior Averyl Ugba led the way with 10 first-half points, he was buoyed by the efforts of Dayton Gumm and Steve Harris—each of whom scored eight first-half points on a combined 7-of-9 shooting—and freshman Terry Taylor, who tipped in a Gumm miss with time running out to give the Govs momentum into the break.
The Panthers fought back in the second half, pushing the Govs to the wire. After pushing the lead back to 10 points with 8:20 to go after a three-pointer from Chris Porter-Bunton, a quick 12-4 Panther run, punctuated by a Mack Smith three-pointer, his sixth of the evening, brought Eastern Illinois back to within a bucket at the 3:37 mark.
Porter-Bunton gave the Govs breathing room again down the stretch, answering Smith’s three pointer with a layup on the next possession, then a three-pointer with 2:08 to go. It was Austin Peay’s final make from the floor, as Eastern Illinois was forced to foul the rest of the way; the Govs went 6-of-8 at the charity stripe to close the game out.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 81, UT MARTIN 77 (OT)
MARTIN, Tenn. - Denzel Mahoney had 27 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation, and Southeast Missouri State beat UT Martin 81-77 in overtime on Saturday night.
Daniel Simmons scored back-to-back on a layup and a 3-pointer to make it 79-77 with 1:59 left in overtime, the Redhawks' first lead since 13-12.
The Skyhawks missed their final four field-goal attempts and Ledarrius Brewer iced it for Southeast Missouri State (12-15, 6-8 Ohio Valley Conference) with a pair of free throws with six seconds to go.
The Redhawks trailed 64-49 with nine minutes to go but cut the deficit to one with a 16-2 run. They didn't tie or take the lead until Mahoney's 3-pointer at the buzzer made it 74-all.
Brewer had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Simmons added 15 points and Justin Carpenter 10 for Southeast Missouri State. Jonathan Dalton had 10 assists to go with four points.
Fatodd Lewis led five in double figures with 15 points for the Skyhawks (9-18, 4-10).
EASTERN KENTUCKY 75, MOREHEAD STATE 73
RICHMOND, Ky. - Freshman JacQuess Hobbs drove the length of the court to hit the go-ahead basket and the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team held on for a 75-73 victory over rival Morehead State University Saturday at McBrayer Arena.
Hobbs went 94-feet after taking the ball at the baseline on an inbounds pass to hit a heavily contested layup that put the Colonels up 74-72 with 3.8 seconds remaining. Eastern fouled with 1.7 left on the ensuing Eagles possession and sent A.J. Hicks to the line, where he had made all five attempts to that point. Hicks hit his first free throw, but hit rim on the second and the Colonels grabbed the board.
A Morehead foul sent DeAndre Dishman to the line, who nailed the first of his two attempts. The second free throw rimmed out and the Eagles put up a heave from half court that missed wide right.
Nick Mayo followed up his career-high 36-point performance on Thursday with 18 on Saturday, nailing back-to-back threes to open the game. Dishman scored 13 points and came down with a game-high nine rebounds, while Zach Charles and Hobbs both contributed 15 points.
The Colonels (9-18, 3-11 OVC) out-rebounded Morehead 32-28. The Eagles came into the game with a +3.5 rebound margin. The lead changed hands eight times and was tied six times, two of those ties coming within the final 30 seconds.
Eastern drained three straight trifectas in a row to propel an 11-0 run to take a 55-52 lead with 7:29 left in the second half. Morehead used the free throw line to battle back to a 63-60 lead with 3:30 remaining. The Colonels responded immediately with seven unanswered to retake a 67-63 lead with just over a minute to go. The Eagles never reassumed the lead.
Morehead State (6-19, 2-12 OVC) was led by Jordan Walker’s 16 points and three rebounds. Hicks contributed 15 points, including 6-of-7 shooting from the free throw line.
EKU scored the first 11 points of the game courtesy of Mayo’s consecutive three’s, a layup by Zach Charles, and another three pointer by Dishman.
TENNESSEE STATE 65, JACKSONVILLE STATE 47
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to six games with a convincing 65-47 road win in Ohio Valley Conference action versus Jacksonville State at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Saturday Night.
TSU (14-11, 9-5 OVC) earns the season sweep over Jacksonville State (18-9, 9-5 OVC) after having beaten the defending OVC Tournament champion Gamecocks earlier this season at the Gentry Center.
Seniors Delano Spencer and Ken’Darrius Hamilton led TSU with 15 points apiece with Kamar McKnight chipping in with 11 points off the bench. The Tigers led for 33:31 of the 40 minutes and shot 50 percent (22-of-44) on the night.
Defensively, TSU held the Gamecocks to 34.0 percent (16-of-47) and forced JSU into 19 turnovers.
For the Tigers, it is the third-consecutive season with a winning streak of at least six games.
BELMONT 75, TENNESSEE TECH 70
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from senior Amanze Egekeze, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee Tech, 75-70, Saturday night.
Egekeze's go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:00 remaining gave Belmont a 70-68 lead. The Bruins hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure the victory.
Belmont rode some of its strongest defense of the season in leading 33-23 at halftime.
A layin from senior Tyler Hadden pushed the lead to 41-27 with 17:00 remaining. But in a second half that featured 34 fouls, Tennessee Tech worked back into the game behind the play of Curtis Phillips and Kajon Mack. A Mack conventional 3-point play gave the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game, 60-59, with 6:06 left.
But two late steals from junior Dylan Windler set the stage for Egekeze's heroic shot. Mason Ramsey's potential game-tying 3-pointer with five seconds left rimmed off.
Windler added his 12th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Burton Sampson had a season-high eight points in extended duty.
Phillips led Tennessee Tech (16-11, 8-6 OVC) with 17 points.
With the victory, Belmont has won 20 or more games 12 of the last 13 seasons. Belmont (20-7, 12-2 OVC) has also won 14 of its last 16 conference road games.