SATURDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 77, @Morehead State 71
Belmont 96, @Austin Peay 92
@UT Martin 85, SIUE 69
@Southeast Missouri 64, Eastern Illinois 59
Tennessee Tech 91, @Eastern Kentucky 85 (Georgetown, Ky.)
@Murray State 100, Tennessee State 62
JACKSONVILLE STATE 77, MOREHEAD STATE 71
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team got back on track in its final day in the Bluegrass State with a 77-71 win over Morehead State at Ellis T. Johnson Arena on Saturday.
Redshirt senior Detrick Mostella scored a Jacksonville State-best 19 points on a single-game-high eight baskets, while senior Jason Burnell earned his ninth double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Head coach Ray Harper keeps Jacksonville State in a tie for first place atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings by winning his third-straight, and fourth-out-of-five, over Morehead State.
Jacksonville State dominated in the paint early on, outscoring the Eagles 24-14 on the inside in the first half. Bigs Jacara Cross, Burnell and Christian Cunningham each scored six points in the period, combining for 18 of the Gamecocks' 38 points at the break.
Only three JSU points came from beyond the arc in the first with Ty Hudson connecting on one of the Gamecocks' seven attempts from long range. On the other hand, Morehead State relied on the 3-pointer for 15 of its 35 points in the half. MSU's Djimon Harris was 2-for-4 from long for all six of his points.
Morehead State stormed back in the first seven minutes of the second half to climb into a five-point lead. The Eagles' offense was sparked by two 3-pointers each from Lamontray Hicks and James Baker. With 12:22 remaining in the contest, MSU had taken a 55-50 lead; its first multi-point lead since 7:16 to play in the first half.
Five proved to be the largest deficit of the period, however, as Mostella helped the Gamecocks regain the advantage with 13 points in 10 minutes. The transfer knocked down the first of his three 3-pointers with 11:32 to play. He hit four more baskets, including two more treys, to surpass his first-half total by six.
Along with Mostella and Brunell, Cunningham finished in double-digits with 12 points and came up one rebound short of a double-double.
BELMONT 96, AUSTIN PEAY 92
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Behind 33 points and 12 rebounds from senior All-America candidate Dylan Windler, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Austin Peay, 96-92, Saturday.
Belmont trailed 50-40 at halftime and by as many as 14 points in the second half before Windler willed the Bruins (15-4, 6-2 OVC) over the top.
During one six-minute stretch of the second half, Windler scored 20 consecutive points for Belmont. A steal and conventional 3-point play from freshman Grayson Murphy gave Belmont an 81-79 lead with 4:34 remaining - its first lead since 19-18. Another Murphy basket in the lane increased the lead to four points.
But two Chris Porter-Bunton 3-pointers around a dunk from senior Kevin McClain tied the score at 85 with 3:03 left.
After an exchange of baskets, McClain finished a tough driving layin with 1:25 remaining to give Belmont an 89-87 lead. Then after a McClain steal, the senior found sophomore Nick Hopkins for a trailer 3-pointer with 59 seconds left to give the Bruins a five point lead.
Clutch free throws from Hopkins and freshman Nick Muszynski in the final 17 seconds helped secure the victory.
Belmont shot a season-high 63 percent from the field and handed out 25 assists on 37 made field goals. Belmont scored 47 points in the final 13:58 of the game.
Windler went 12-for-15 from the field to lead five Bruins in double figures. Murphy had 17 points and a career-high 15 assists - a Belmont NCAA Division I era single-game record. McClain had 16, while Hopkins added 13 points and a career-high seven rebounds. Muzynski had 12.
Porter-Bunton led Austin Peay (14-7, 6-2 OVC) with 24 points.
Austin Peay had won 12 of its previous 14 games and suffered its first home loss of the season.
UT MARTIN 85, SIUE 69
MARTIN, Tenn. - Things clicked offensively for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team today, as the Skyhawks used one of their most efficient performances of the season to defeat SIUE, 85-69, in Ohio Valley Conference action.
UT Martin shot 51.6 percent (32-of-62) from the floor, including a 9-for-22 performance (40.9 percent) from three-point range this afternoon. The Skyhawks also sank 80 percent of their free throw attempts while winning the rebounding battle (34-27) and committing just eight turnovers.
Quintin Dove collected game-highs of 25 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) and eight rebounds in 28 minutes for UT Martin. Derek Hawthorne, Jr. also recorded 20 points on a 7-for-11 performance from the field, including a trio of three-pointers. Delfincko Bogan added 12 points while Fatodd Lewis tallied 10 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists for UT Martin, who improves to 6-13 overall and 1-7 in OVC play.
SIUE (6-14, 2-6 OVC) was led by David McFarland’s 19 points while Cameron Williams accumulated 12 points off four 3-pointers. Brandon Jackson and Treavon Martin each pitched in 11 points apiece for the Cougars, who led 40-35 at halftime but never led after a 24-7 Skyhawk run to begin the second stanza.
Dove accelerated the Skyhawks early, scoring UT Martin’s first seven points of the game in a 3:14 span. A pair of Dove free throws at the 15:03 mark stretched the Skyhawk lead out to 14-8 but SIUE came back with a 12-0 run. Hawthorne then went on a scoring spree, piling up nine points in a four-minute stretch but the Cougars led by as many as nine points before settling for a five-point halftime advantage. Hawthorne accumulated a game-high 14 points at the break while McFarland’s 11 points paced SIUE.
Similar to the start of the game, Dove generated UT Martin’s first seven points and 11 of the Skyhawks’ first 13 points of the second half. Bogan canned a trifecta at the 17:38 mark to provide UT Martin with a 44-42 lead before the Skyhawks pieced together a 13-3 run to go ahead by double figures. A mid-range jumper by Dove with 7:02 left to play gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the day at 75-57 and SIUE wouldn’t get any closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 64, EASTERN ILLINOIS 59
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - .Ledarrius Brewer scored a game-high 24 points and threw down a go-ahead dunk to lead Southeast Missouri (7-14, 2-6) to a come-from-behind 64-59 win over Eastern Illinois (12-9, 5-3) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
Brewer, who tied the game at 59-59 when he drained a 3-pointer with just under two minutes left, drove the baseline for his huge dunk that gave SEMO the spark it needed to get by the Panthers.
While Brewer's play was impressive, SEMO's defense clamped down to get seven-straight stops at the end of the game. The Redhawks tenacious defense also forced three turnovers in the final minute.
EIU strung together a 19-5 run in the first 8:02 of the game. Wallace scored seven points and Shareef Smith made a jumper to end the jaunt with 11:58 remaining in the opening stanza.
Down 12, SEMO used an 11-2 run to dice the Panthers lead to 29-26. Gabe McGlothan brought the crowd to its feet when he threw down a monster dunk off a Sage Tolbert miss at the 3:06 mark.
McGlothan came up with another big basket, this time when he buried a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to narrow EIU's lead to 33-31 at the half.
Brewer knocked down a 3-pointer to grab SEMO its first lead of the game at 40-39 with 12:58 left to play. After that, neither team led by more than four points until the final 21 seconds.
Brewer shot 7-of-17 from the field, made three 3-pointers and hit 7-of-9 free throws. He added four rebounds and five assists, as well.
Gable followed with 13 points and McGlothan narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.
SEMO turned the ball over just four times in the second half. In addition, the Redhawks outscored the Panthers, 18-2, at the free throw line.
Wallace led EIU with 21 points. He was limited to only seven points in the second half. Mack Smith and JaQualis Matlock followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Panthers did not make a 3-pointer (0-of-7) in the game's final 20 minutes.
TENNESSEE TECH 91, EASTERN KENTUCKY 85
GEORGETOWN, Ky. - In a fast-paced, high-scoring, roller coaster of a ball game, it was the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team that came out on top Saturday night, racing to the finish line for a 91-85 victory over Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Kentucky.
The Golden Eagles (7-14, 3-5) snapped the Colonels' (10-11, 3-5) three-game winning streak and their own four-game skid with the victory, one that took every ounce of effort to pull off in a very steamy Davis-Reid Alumni Gym.
The contest, played on the campus of Georgetown College due to a scheduling conflict at EKU's home gym, featured 40 turnovers, 47 fouls and 55 free throw attempts between the two teams. But it never featured a double-digit leader, as the Colonels held the game's largest advantage of eight points with six minutes to play.
Relentless energy from senior Courtney Alexander II fueled the Golden Eagle comeback, as did strong offensive showings from Malik Martin and Corey Tillery. And of course, point guard Jr. Clay flirting with a triple-double didn't either.
Clay just missed out on the rare feat, achieved just twice in program history, "settling" for a team-high 22 points, eight assists and nine rebounds. And with a strong showing across the board, it was his ninth and final rebound of the contest that meant the most.
With Tech clinging to a three-point lead with 16 seconds to play, the six-foot Clay outworked not one, but two Eastern Kentucky forwards to corral a missed free throw and draw a foul. He made his second free throw of the two, all but icing the contest for the Golden Eagles.
The true freshman finished 8-for-11 from the field and 3-for-4 from downtown in 36 minutes of action.
Alexander showed off his extreme athleticism, despite dealing with cramping early in the contest. He turned in arguably the most passionate and complete performance of his career, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and whopping seven steals, as well three assists. He hit multiple huge free throws down the stretch as well and never let the Golden Eagle youngsters get too low when Eastern Kentucky seemed to be pulling away.
As crucial as any Golden Eagle to the victory on the night was Martin, a graduate transfer from USF. The veteran rebounded from a tough couple of contests on offense by dropping 17 points and eight boards, including 10 in the second half.
A quiet assassin from deep, Tillery found his shot over-and-over again, particularly when his team needed it most. The junior connected on 5-of-9 from downtown on his way to 18 points while playing 33 minutes off the bench. He was 3-for-4 in the second half, hitting a dagger with 2:27 to play to give Tech a five-point lead.
The Golden Eagle offense was humming on all cylinder for much of the night, equating to a 54.2 percent showing from the field and 50 percent performance from downtown. Tech hit 11-of-22 tries from deep, helping overcome a slow start at the charity stripe.
Coach Payne, who spent four years as the associate head coach at Georgetown College from 1996-2000, enjoyed the night maybe a bit more than anyone else. Payne was introduced to his wife, Kelli, at center court of the same Davis-Reid Alumni Gym. One of his fellow coaches during his tenure at Georgetown, Keith Greisser, sang the national anthem prior to tip.
MURRAY STATE 100, TENNESSEE STATE 62
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Ja Morant had 24 points and nine assists, Darnell Cowart added 18 points and nine rebounds, and Murray State never trailed in its 100-62 win over Tennessee State on Saturday night.
Morant, who rolled his ankle in Thursday's loss to Belmont, made just 6 of 15 from the field but hit 11-of-14 free throws and had four steals in 28 minutes. Shaq Buchanan finished with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting for Murray State (16-3, 7-1 Ohio Valley Conference).
Buchanan scored seven points in a 9-2 opening run and the Racers had runs of 12-0, 11-0 and 10-0, the last of which pushed their lead to 40 points before going into the break at 60-22.
Tennessee State (5-15, 2-4) missed its first eight shots and made just 7 of 29 (24 percent) in the first half. Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey led the Tigers with 14 points and Stokley Chaffee scored 13 with nine rebounds.