WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 76, Boston University 73 (Playa Del Carmen, Mexico)
Drake 63,
Murray State 53 (Estero, Fla.)
CS Fullerton 64,
Southeast Missouri 57 (Santa Clara, Calif.)
UT MARTIN 76, BOSTON UNIVERSITY 73
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - For the second time this season, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad overcame a double-digit deficit to emerge victorious, as the Skyhawks turned away Boston University, 76-73, in their Cancun Challenge finale.
UT Martin (3-4) found itself in a 12-point hole in the middle stages of the first half before Craig Randall II took over. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, the senior southpaw scored 20 of his game-high 25 points in the opening half – including 14 points in the final 2:48 before the halftime intermission. Six ties and eight lead changes followed in the second half before the Skyhawks held on for the impressive victory over a Terriers squad that defeated South Carolina eight days ago.
Quintin Dove tossed in 16 of his 20 points in the second half as the senior forward also snared a team-best seven rebounds. Following the second game of the day, Dove was named to the Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team. The 6-8, 210-pound Cleveland, Ohio native averaged 19.0 points and 5.5 rebounds over the two games played in Mexico (15.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in four overall games in the event).
Derek Hawthorne, Jr. extended his double-figure scoring streak to seven games, securing 11 points today to go along with six rebounds for a UT Martin squad that claimed a 40-28 advantage in points in the paint.
Boston (3-5) placed four of its starters in double-digits in the scoring column. Max Mahoney and Jonas Harper each tallied 14 points while Alex Vilarino (13) and Walter Whyte (10) also posted solid performances.
The Terriers collected the first five points of the game before a Parker Stewart layup at the 18:19 mark got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard. Boston later scored eight of 10 points during one stretch and moments later nabbed a 29-17 lead with 7:46 left to play in the first half. UT Martin charged back behind the hot left hand of Randall, who scored all of the Skyhawk points during a 14-4 run to close out the half. The Youngstown, Ohio native converted a tough layup in the middle of four trifectas – including a stepback jumper from the left wing with eight seconds left that gave UT Martin its first lead of the day (41-40) at the break.
Randall’s 20 points in 14 minutes led all scorers at halftime while Harper tallied 11 points to guide the Terriers.
Boston quickly raced out to a six-point advantage just over four minutes in to the start of the second half. The Skyhawks reclaimed the lead after a 9-0 run that included five points from Randall, two from Dove and two from Jalen Riley. The Terriers would not go away, building a 63-58 lead midway through the stanza before a driving Hawthorne layup at the 3:25 mark bumped UT Martin ahead by a 70-68 margin. The two sides swapped leads on the next four possessions as Stewart toed the line for two clutch free throws to make the score 74-73 in favor of the Skyhawks with 55 seconds remaining. Following a defensive stop, Dove calmly sank a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left and UT Martin thwarted a last-second three-point try from Boston.
DRAKE 63, MURRAY STATE 53
ESTERO, Fla. - The Murray State Racers played a great defensive second half, but lacked the offensive success they needed in a 63-53 loss to the Drake Bulldogs in their final of three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.
The Racers (4-3) won 1-of-3 games at the Gulf Coast event with a win against Weber State (69-68) that was sandwiched by losses to La Salle (75-64) and Drake. Returning home Thanksgiving Day, the Racers will get back on the court Tuesday (Dec. 3) at Missouri State.
Tied 36-36 at the halftime intermission, the Racers suffered their worst offensive half of the season in hitting 5-of-28 from the field for 18 percent including 1-of-12 from 3-point range for 8.3 percent. Even with that, the Racers played well enough on defense (holding the Bulldogs to 33 percent in the half) that they were only down by six points with 3:03 remaining. Devin GilmoreHowever, the Racers never got any closer.
Shooting 48 percent in the first half, the Racers grabbed their first lead on a 3-pointer from DaQuan Smith to make it 19-18 with 8:05 left in the half. The Racers hit 48 percent in the first half on 12-of-15 attempts.
Tevin Brown led the Racers as the only player in double-figures with 18 points on 5-of-15 from the field including 3-of-8 from the 3-point line. Anthony Smith grabbed nine rebounds to go with nine points, while KJ Williams also scored nine points with eight rebounds.
CS FULLERTON 64, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Darrious Agnew scored 15 points off the bench as Southeast Missouri (2-3) fell to Cal State Fullerton (3-3), 64-57, Wednesday night at the Cable Car Classic.
Agnew played 21 minutes and made 5-of-9 field goals and a near-perfect 4-of-5 at the free throw line. He was one of three Redhawks with double figures in the scoring column.
Both team struggled offensively and neither team led by more than seven.
SEMO tied the game at 40-40 on a layup by Sage Tolbert with 15:16 left to play in the second half.
The Redhawks, however, couldn't take the lead despite pulling within three points or less on six occasions the rest of the way.
Alex Caldwell buried a 3-pointer to narrow CSF's lead to 55-53 with a little over five minutes left, but that was as close as SEMO could get.
The Titans scored baskets on three possessions to widen their lead to 59-53 following Caldwell's trey.
Brandon Kamga's two free throws pushed UCF's lead to seven with 19 seconds to play and the Titans held on.
SEMO trailed, 38-31, at halftime before battling back to tie the game five minutes into the second stanza.
CSU did not make a field goal for the final 3:40 of the contest and SEMO missed nine of its last 10 shots in the game.
Caldwell followed with 11 points, while Tolbert notched a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Redhawks shot just 29 percent (9-of-31) from the field in the game's final 20 minutes.
Wayne Arnold pitched in 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead CSF. Austen Awosika added 13 points. CSF shot 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the first half.