SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#1 Louisville 99,
Eastern Kentucky 67
@UNC Asheville 91,
UT Martin 72
Eastern Illinois 75, @Milwaukee 68
#1 LOUISVILLE 99, EASTERN KENTUCKY 67
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball team fell at No. 1 Louisville, 99-67, on Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.
Senior Ty Taylor paced EKU (3-7), finishing with 13 points on 3-of-7 shooting from deep. Sophomore Tre King contributed 12 points, five rebounds and a steal. Sophomore Jomaru Brown tallied nine points and a team-best six assists. Junior Jacquess Hobbs – a Louisville native – recorded nine points, two assists and a team-high three steals.
The Colonels won the turnover battle on the day, 16-14; however, the hot-shooting Cardinals (10-1) went 34-of-54 (63 percent) from the field, 9-of-19 (47 percent) from deep and 22-of-23 (96 percent) from the stripe to pull away for the victory.
Louisville's Jordan Nwora led all players in the game with 26 points and seven rebounds. Steven Enoch chipped in 23 points for the Cardinals.
EKU's 67 points are the second-most scored by an opponent at the KFC Yum! Center so far this season.
The Colonels hung with the Cardinals early. A layup by Hobbs with 13:22 remaining in the first half made it 17-14, in favor of the hosts. Louisville, however, then exploded on a 15-2 run, as a pair of free throws by Ryan McMahon made it a 16-point game, 32-16, just over four minutes later.
UL led by double digits the rest of the way.
UNC ASHEVILLE 91, UT MARTIN 72
ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team received high-scoring games from guards Parker Stewart and Craig Randall II this afternoon but the Skyhawks could not tame UNC Asheville in a 91-72 nonconference setback at Kimmel Arena.
Stewart collected team-highs in points (21), rebounds (eight) and assists (five) for UT Martin (3-6). Randall pumped in 20 points in addition to tying a career-high with seven rebounds for the Skyhawks, who also saw Derek Hawthorne, Jr. notch 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers. UT Martin shot 50.9 percent (29-of-57) from the floor and led by as many as eight points in the opening half before the Bulldogs caught fire.
UNC Asheville (5-4) was fueled by Devon Baker's 37 points while Tajion Jones scored 21 points. Coty Jude (13 points) and LJ Thorpe (12 points, 10 rebounds) also paced the Bulldogs, who grabbed 18 offensive rebounds on their way to a 44-32 advantage on the glass.
The Skyhawks scored each of their first eight points in the paint, as a Quintin Dove layup at the 16:33 mark gave UT Martin its first lead of the day at 9-8. Eman Sertovic and Randall canned three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor before a thunderous fast break dunk by Randall pushed the Skyhawks ahead by a 21-13 margin. UNC Asheville soon used a 28-9 run to open up a double-digit lead at the halftime break (48-37).
Randall was responsible for a team-high 14 points in the first 20 minutes while Baker's 17 points led the Bulldogs, who shot an even 50 percent (9-of-18) from beyond the three-point arc.
Stewart began the second half with six consecutive points as UT Martin was able to get back within single digits. The trio of Stewart, Randall and Hawthorne combined to tally the Skyhawks' first 23 points of the second stanza but UNC Asheville took its first 20-point lead of the contest with just under nine minutes remaining. A fast break layup by Hawthorne at the 4:57 mark closed UT Martin's gap to 14 points (80-66) but that was ultimately as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 75, MILWAUKEE 68
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Mack Smith hit a dagger of a 3-pointer and free throws by Smith and Marvin Johnson allowed Eastern Illinois to post a 75-68 win at Milwaukee on Saturday night.
EIU improved to 6-4 on the season while Milwaukee fell to 5-6.
After posting a 20-point lead in the first half, Eastern Illinois watched Milwaukee climb back into the game on a couple of occasions. Milwaukee would use a 15-2 run in the second half as they closed that margin to 60-57.
George Dixon would end that first Milwaukee challenge with a jump shot with 6:38 left in the game. Dixon posted his fourth double-double of the season finishing with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Milwaukee closed to 64-61 with 2:40 left in the game when Mack Smith hit a 3-pointer to give EIU some breathing room. Smith would then add a pair of free throws for some insurance.
Darius Roy hit a pair of 3's in the final 30-seconds to keep Milwaukee in the game. Marvin Johnson would be grabbed for an intentional foul after Roy's second 3-pointer with 18 seconds made it 69-68. Johnson and Mack Smith closed the game at the line to give EIU the win.
Smith finished with 24 points going 6-of-12 from 3-poinr range.
Eastern Illinois raced out to an early lead forcing a pair of turnover that led by dunks by Mack Smith and JaQualis Matlock to push EIU to an early 8-3 lead.
EIU would follow that early spurt with a 17-1 run to lead by 20 points at 31-11 on a dunk by Jordan Skipper-Brown. Mack Smith and Shareef Smith would both drain 3-pointers in the extended run.
Milwaukee chipped away at the lead forcing turnovers and making trips to the free throw line. Milwaukee forced nine turnovers while going 10-of-13 from the foul line in the opening half. The free throws helped Milwaukee overcome a 28 percent shooting clip in the first half. Milwaukee ended the night shooting 30 percent from the field and 17-of-23 from the free throw line.
Amir Allen would bring Milwaukee back within single digits with 2:18 to play with a jumper in the lane. Mack Smith would answer for EIU with his third 3-pointer of the half as he had 11 first-half points as EIU led 46-34.
Roy led Milwaukee with 24 points. Josh Thomas had 13 points.