SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 102, Alice Lloyd 46
@East Carolina 82,
Eastern Kentucky 74
@Jacksonville State 120, Carver College 56
Belmont 79, @Western Kentucky 62
@Murray State 81, Cumberland 46 (Tenn.)
MOREHEAD STATE 102, ALICE LLOYD 46
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Career highs in many stat categories from multiple players propelled the Morehead State men's basketball team to a 102-46 triumph over Alice Lloyd (Ky.) Saturday at Johnson Arena.
The MSU Eagles improved to 6-7 heading into Ohio Valley Conference play this week.
Sophomore guard Malik Riddle (21), freshman guard Ta'lon Cooper (20) and junior guard Justin Thomas (18) all re-wrote their career high sheet in points. Senior guard Djimon Henson continued his hot streak with his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Riddle also completed a solid floor game with a career-best eight rebounds, while Cooper handed out a career-best six dimes.
Thomas directed the offense to 53 percent (41-of-78) shooting by also dishing out six assists while grabbing seven boards and swiping three steals.
Freshman Julius Dixon (8) tied his career high in points, while sophomore forward Jaden Stanley-Williams rounded out the career-high point outputs at six.
EAST CAROLINA 82, EASTERN KENTUCKY 74
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought road contest at East Carolina, 82-74, on Saturday evening at Williams Arena.
EKU (3-10) trailed by 11, 74-63, following a three-pointer by ECU’s JJ Miles with 4:42 remaining in the game; however, the Colonels responded with a 9-1 run over the next three minutes, as a second-chance jumper by sophomore Jomaru Brown suddenly made it a one-possession game, 75-72, with 1:48 showing on the clock.
East Carolina (6-7) outscored Eastern Kentucky, 7-2 over the final 1:15 to pull out the slim victory.
Brown led EKU with 25 points, 17 of which came in the second half. He went 12-of-14 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Tre King recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring a career-high 18 points – all in the first half – and matching his career high with 12 rebounds. He added three steals.
Senior Ty Taylor fired in 12 points, while freshman Michael Moreno – making his second start of the season – finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
Jayden Gardner paced ECU with 25 points and 14 rebounds.
EKU led the host Pirates for most of the first half. After ECU took a 2-1 lead just over a minute in, the Colonels exploded on an 11-1 run, capped by a dunk from junior Darius Hicks that made it 12-3 at the 15:06 mark of the first half.
A three-point play by King with 12:17 on the clock gave EKU its largest lead of the game, 20-10.
The Pirates clawed back to within one, 30-29, on a pair of foul shots by Gardner at the 4:32 mark of the first half; however, Eastern Kentucky closed the half on a 9-3 run, and a three-pointer by King – his first of the season – sent the Colonels into the locker room with a 39-32 advantage.
ECU grabbed its first lead since early in the game during a 14-0 run in the second half. The run ended with a free throw by Tremont Robinson-White that gave the Pirates a 54-47 lead with 12:33 remaining.
EKU pulled back to within two, 65-63, following a three-pointer by Taylor at the 7:28 point, but that was as close as EKU got.
The Colonels – who rank second in the country in turnovers forced-per-game (21.2) – won the turnover battle on the day, 22-18. However, East Carolina out-rebounded EKU, 44-39, and outshot the Colonels from the field (47% - 36%) and from deep (38% - 30%).
JACKSONVILLE STATE 120, CARVER COLLEGE 56
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team closed out the decade Saturday with a 120-56 win over Carver College at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Sophomore De'Torrion Ware scored a career-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting, knocking down seven 3-pointers, while junior Elias Harden recorded the season's first double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Gamecocks (5-8) shot a hot 74.3 percent in the first half, outscoring Carver (1-15) 67-38 in the opening period. Ware scored 18 of his record-setting total in the first 20 minutes after opening the game 6-for-6 from long range.
The JSU defense forced the Cougars to cough the ball up 10 times in the first period, leading to 20 Gamecock points off turnovers.
Junior Martin Roub, who saw limited time in the second while Maros Zeliznak got some reps, scored all 14 of his points in the first by hitting six shots with two coming from beyond the arc. He and Ware were the only two Gamecocks in double-digits at the break. That changed with the second half.
Ware, Roub, Harden, Ty Hudson and Derek St. Hilaire each ended the game with more than 10 points. Hudson pulled up with 12 and St. Hilaire finished with 10.
The Jacksonville State defense held Carver to just 18 second-half points. After shooting 50 percent in the first, the Cougars managed just one basket on 22 attempts – a 4.5 percentage in the closing stanza. Their other 16 points came on free throws.
BELMONT 79, WESTERN KENTUCKY 62
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Behind balanced scoring and strong defense, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Western Kentucky, 79-62, Saturday night.
Belmont has won seven consecutive games against the Conference USA favorites.
Senior Michael Benkert capped an 11-2 run to give Belmont an early seven point lead.
Playing off of the post presence of sophomore Nick Muszynski, the Bruins extended to a 16-8 lead eight minutes in on a 3-pointer from junior Nick Hopkins.
Belmont's halfcourt defense was stingy, forcing Western Kentucky into contested passes and perimeter shots. As the Hilltoppers scored one field goal over a seven-minute span, Muszynski and Hopkins helped push Belmont to a 36-24 halftime lead. Belmont shot 45 percent (14-for-31) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including 7-for-17 from 3-point distance.
Western Kentucky closed within 42-37 with 16:38 left on two Josh Anderson free throws.
Despite foul trouble for leading scorer sophomore Adam Kunkel, Belmont led wire-to-wire. Kunkel capped an 8-0 run to give Belmont a 50-37 lead with 14:34 left.
From there, a flurry of 3-pointers from Benkert during a two-minute span made the score 70-51 with 5:42 remaining.
It was arguably Belmont's most complete performance of the season; outrebounding Western Kentucky, 45-35, and limiting the Hilltoppers to a season-low 34 percent shooting.
Graduate student Tyler Scanlon led five Bruins in double figures with 18 points. Benkert scored a career-high 15, while Muszynski had 12 points and 12 rebounds. Hopkins added 11, and sophomore Grayson Murphy flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 11 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Carson Williams led Western Kentucky (7-5) with 12 points.
MURRAY STATE 81, CUMBERLAND 46
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers pushed their home winning streak to 12 Saturday night with an 81-46 victory over the Cumberland Phoenix, as the final game of 2019 was played at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers (7-5) finish their non-league schedule and look into 2020 when they begin play in the 72nd season of basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers start their quest for a third-straight OVC regular season crown by hosting UT Martin and Southeast Missouri (Jan. 2 & 4).
Tevin Brown led the way with 24 points for the Racers with a season-high six 3-pointers, while freshman Demond Robinson scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Anthony Smith added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Brown tied for the team lead with eight rebounds and DaQuan Smith tallied seven assists.
At the 10:03 mark of the opening half, Jason Holliday hit his first 3-point basket at MSU to give the Racers a 23-15 lead. The Racers ended the half with three-straight baskets by Brown, Robinson and KJ Williams to lead 44-27 at the intermission. MSU pushed their lead to 30 with 12:05 left in the game and the lead became as great as 37 points with 1:32 remaining.