SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Western Kentucky 97,
Austin Peay 75
@Chattanooga 59,
Tennessee State 57
@Murray State 69, Southern 49
@Tennessee Tech 83, Martin Methodist 70
East Tennessee State 92,
@UT Martin 75
WESTERN KENTUCKY 97, AUSTIN PEAY 75
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - With back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinal appearances and the preseason OVC Player of the Year on the roster, expectations have been sky-high for Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team entering the regular season.
Something to keep in mind, as Saturday’s 97-75 loss at Western Kentucky might have indicated, is that this is a team comprised largely of freshmen. Five players entered this season with Division I experience, and only three of those got it in an Austin Peay uniform. The talent is jaw-dropping; but there are still a lot of young players learning how to play Division I basketball on the fly.
Like Saturday. At various times, a spectator could look up and see four first-time Division I players on the court with, say, Terry Taylor. There’s gonna be a learning curve; Game Two is not a referendum on anything, any more than a 43-point demolition of a Division II team was in the season opener.
Which is good, because Game Two was something of a struggle. The first 12 minutes or so saw the Govs mark the Hilltoppers shot-for-shot. Antwuan Butler was fearless in his attack of the rim, hurling his diminutive frame into the paint to either draw defenders, draw a foul or get a bucket. When he sank two free-throws at the 7:20 mark, the Govs trailed by just five.
Butler also was fearless away from the rack, not backing down when he and 6-11 All-American Charles Bassey got tangled up and jawing, which resulted in a double-technical, ensued. However, the Hilltoppers closed the half on an 18-7 run to take a 41-25 lead into halftime.
Austin Peay’s chances for a second-half comeback were severely hampered in the opening minutes out of halftime; the Hilltoppers were in the bonus by the 17:16 mark, with both Butler and backup point guard Carlos Paez with three apiece.
Despite hitting 50 percent from the floor in the second half, Austin Peay’s defense—whether due to execution or because foul issues forced them to play off the Hilltoppers—allowed Western Kentucky to hit 69.2 percent from the floor in the second half.
Taylor had 22 points, including 18 in the second half, and seven rebounds in his return to Bowling Green. Butler finished with 13 points and five assists.
CHATTANOOGA 59, TENNESSEE STATE 57
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A 13-point lead in the first half was overtaken by efficient second-period Chattanooga shooting as the Tennessee State men’s basketball team dropped its first road contest to the Mocs Saturday evening in the McKenzie Arena, 59-57.
The Tigers outplayed the home team during the first half, shooting 46 percent from the field, pulling down 22 rebounds and dishing out four assists, TSU’s lead at the half was thanks to TSU sharing the ball, and playing hard defense.
Chattanooga returned from the half, down 29-25. David Jean-Baptiste, the Mocs’ leading scorer proved why he earned the title, putting up eight points in the second period alone, including a three with 31 seconds on the clock that would prove detrimental to the Tigers’ chance of its first road win.
In the final play of the night, Marshall was fouled while pulling up for a three-point shot with one second left in the game. No shot and a three-point deficit caused the TSU bench to call a timeout to craft a game plan. Marshall made the first free-throw, bounced the second off the backboard in hopes of TSU rebounding and laying it in to tie, however the Mocs grabbed the rebound to end the night.
MURRAY STATE 69, SOUTHERN 49
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers opened the 95th season of collegiate basketball Saturday with a 69-49 victory over the visiting Southern Jaguars at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers (1-0) hit the road for a Tuesday game against the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville.
KJ Williams totaled his third career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Tevin Brown led the way in the scoring column with 17 points. MSU's third double-digit scorer was Anthony Smith with 10 points. DaQuan Smith and Jaiveon Eaves each had four assists for the Racers.
After starting the game on a 10-0 run, the Racers pushed their lead to 22-10 with 3:29 left in the first half on a three-point play from Eaves. Moments later, Tevin Brown's second 3-pointer of the first half made it a 17-point MSU lead. The Racers made it to the halftime intermission in front 30-17, marking the first time holding an NCAA D-I opponent to sub-20 points (for a first half) since holding SIUE to 17 points on Feb. 12, 2015.
MSU outscored the Jags 39-32 in the second half. Southern drew as close as 14 points with 15:07 remaining and the Racers' largest lead of 24 points posted with 1:38 left.
The final stat tally showed the Racers putting up some fantastic defensive numbers including holding SU to 14 percent from the 3-point line on 3-of-22. The Jags' first three of the game didn't come until 4:53 into the second half. MSU held SU to 31 percent from the field on 19-of-61 and won the rebound battle 45-28.
TENNESSEE TECH 83, MARTIN METHODIST 70
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team picked up its first victory in the John Pelphrey era Saturday evening, scoring an 83-70 victory over Martin Methodist in the team's home-opener in the Hooper Eblen Center.
The Golden Eagles came out firing on all cylinders and building a 17-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest. Tech was 8-for-10 from the floor in during the opening run, finally conceding its first points at home this season with 14:37 to play in the first half.
The RedHawks, proved to have plenty of fight in them, closing the gap to 12 points by halftime. Tech kicked off the second stanza in much of the same way as the first, notching an 11-2 run to extend its lead to a game-high 23 points.
Tech was efficient from the field, shooting 49.2 percent while hitting 52.9 percent of its tries from downtown, not to mention 83.3 percent of its attempts at the charity stripe. The purple and gold tallied 21 assists while winning the rebound battle, 42-32.
A pair of newcomers paced the efforts of the Golden Eagles in their first regular season action in front of their home fans as both Keishawn Davidson and Amadou Sylla each gathered their first career double-doubles. Sylla converted eight of his 11 shots from the floor on the way to a game-high 20 points. He also hauled in a game-best 14 rebounds.
Davidson was an artist with the ball, dishing out a whopping 10 assists while scoring 11 points and grabbing five boards as well on his way to first double-double by a freshman in his home debut since Earl Wise had 27 points and 10 rebounds against Bethel College on Nov. 29, 1986.
Three more Golden Eagles finished in double figures on the night, with sophomore Hunter Vick lighting up the scoreboard for 16 on highly efficient shooting. Draining 4-of-5 tries from 3-point range, he also snagged four boards. Senior Darius Allen chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds while sophomore Jr. Clay performed to the tune of 13 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Pelphrey, who was named the 13th head coach in Golden Eagle history in April, also earned career win No. 150 on the night, the same day the Tech football team earned its 150th victory in Tucker Stadium on the day they celebrated the 150th anniversary of college football.
EAST TENNESSEE STATE 92, UT MARTIN 75
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team jumped out to a halftime lead over in-state rival ETSU this evening but the Skyhawks could not stop a hot-shooting Buccaneer squad in a 92-75 setback at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
UT Martin (1-1) was powered by Quintin Dove's game-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds, as the senior forward compiled his fourth double-double in 33 career Skyhawk outings.
Craig Randall II added 15 points while Derek Hawthorne, Jr. (15 points, six rebounds) also performed well in his first start of the season for UT Martin. Miles Thomas distributed a game-high five assists for the Skyhawks, who grabbed a 42-39 halftime advantage but could not hold on to the lead in the final 20 minutes.
Ranked No. 3 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, ETSU improved to 2-0 after connecting on 70 percent (21-for-30) of its second-half shot attempts. Patrick Good scored 24 points and made seven of his nine 3-point tries off the bench while Bo Hodges (15 points), Jeromy Rodriguez (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Daivien Williamson (11 points) also guided the Buccaneers.
Dove provided nine of UT Martin's first 11 points of the game, including an old-fashioned three-point play at the 12:57 mark that evened the score at 11-all. After ETSU took a 32-24 advantage with 5:45 remaining in the first half, the Skyhawks used an extended run to change the momentum. Randall buried a pair of three-pointers – including one for a four-point play – while Hawthorne (layup), Parker Stewart (three-pointer) and Dove (two free throws) each contributed to a 14-2 run to flip the score in favor of UT Martin at 38-34. Two more Dove free throws pushed the Skyhawk lead out to five before UT Martin settled for a 42-39 halftime advantage.
Dove's 17 points led all scorers by a wide margin in the first half as the Skyhawks forced the Buccaneers into 11 turnovers. Good compiled 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance in just 10 minutes off the bench for ETSU.
The Buccaneers began the second half on a 10-0 run before Thomas knocked down a jumper at the 16:30 mark. Dove followed with a layup soon thereafter to keep UT Martin's deficit at five but ETSU scored 10 of the next 12 points of the game. Hawthorne swished trifectas on back-to-back trips down the floor at one point but the Skyhawks would not get within single digits over the final 13:32.