SATURDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 77, Tennessee Tech 58
Belmont 96, @Morehead State 86
@Austin Peay 94, Eastern Illinois 86
Jacksonville State 81, @Southeast Missouri 64
@Eastern Kentucky 75, Tennessee State 65
@Murray State 86, SIUE 55
UT MARTIN 77, TENNESSEE TECH 58
MARTIN, Tenn. - Quintin Dove notched his first career double-double today as the University of Tennessee at Martin reeled off a dominant 77-58 triumph over Tennessee Tech in Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball action.
Dove provided a game-high 24 points and a career-best 15 rebounds for the Skyhawks, who improve to 8-15 overall with a 3-9 OVC mark. The junior forward out of Cleveland, Ohio went 8-for-12 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe for his team-best sixth 20-plus point performance of the season.
For the second consecutive game, UT Martin displayed a swarming defense as the Skyhawks limited the Golden Eagles to 32.8 percent shooting (20-of-61). That marked the lowest field goal percentage for an OVC opponent since Austin Peay shot 31 percent (18-for-58) against UT Martin on Feb. 1, 2018.
The Skyhawks, who led by as many as 29 points with four minutes to go, placed four scorers in double figures. Craig Randall II tallied 17 points, a game-high five assists, three assists and two steals while Jailen Gill and Delfincko Bogan each provided 10 points apiece.
Tennessee Tech (7-18, 3-9 OVC) was led by Hunter Vick’s 15 points thanks to five 3-pointers. Cade Crosland and Jr. Clay added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Golden Eagles, who were coerced into 17 turnovers.
The Skyhawks scored the first five points of the game as Derek Hawthorne, Jr. (three-pointer from the right wing) and Minfeke Sanoe (layup off the right block) got UT Martin going early. Tennessee Tech scored the next eight points of the game but the Skyhawks would lead for the next 30 minutes of clock time. A dunk by Gill and a swooping layup by Hawthorne closed out the half and gave UT Martin its first double-digit lead of the game (34-24) at the halftime break. Bogan (eight points) and Vick (nine) led their respective squads in scoring in the first half.
Dove rose high above the crowd for an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Gill to open the second-half scoring. The Golden Eagles would close within 11 points with 11:05 to play but the Skyhawks would soon blow the game open with an 11-0 run over a 2:38 span. UT Martin soon took a 29-point advantage (71-42) after back-to-back Preston Parks three-pointers on its way to one of its most convincing victories of the season.
BELMONT 96, MOREHEAD STATE 86
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Behind a career-high 41 points and 12 rebounds from senior All-America candidate Dylan Windler, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Morehead State, 96-86, Saturday.
Windler went 12-for-20 from the field - including 8-for-14 from 3-point distance - and 9-for-11 from the free throw line in his career performance. In fact, Windler scored 16 points in the final 4:56 of the first half as Belmont led 53-37 at halftime.
His output set a Morehead State conference opponent single-game scoring record and was one point shy of tying Belmont's NCAA Division I era single-game scoring record (42, Craig Bradshaw at Ohio, Nov. 29, 2014).
Morehead State got within 78-72 with 4:43 remaining on an A.J. Hicks basket. But one free throw from senior Kevin McClain (Jennings, Fla.) and a baseline 3-pointer from Grayson Murphy - off a Windler feed - stretched the margin back to 10.
Murphy, McClain and freshman Nick Muszynski each scored 13 for Belmont.
Hicks led Morehead State (9-16, 5-7 OVC) with 22 points.
Belmont (19-4, 10-2 OVC) has eight true road wins this season.
AUSTIN PEAY 94, EASTERN ILLINOIS 86
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Sophomore Terry Taylor hit a big milestone and Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team avenged an early-season loss to Eastern Illinois with a 94-86 victory in the Dunn Center, Saturday.
The victory helped keep Austin Peay (18-7, 10-2 Ohio Valley Conference) atop the league and secured back-to-back 10-win seasons in the league for the first time since a six-year run from 2005-11. Eastern Illinois (13-12, 6-6 OVC) took the loss despite outshooting the Govs from the field and from three.
On the Austin Peay end of the court, the threes were flying early; the Govs hit four in the game’s opening 12 minutes, with Terry Taylor and Zach Glotta each hitting a pair.
But where Eastern Illinois’ Shareef Smith had closed the previous meeting between these squads by scoring the Panthers’ final 10 points, he instead started out on fire in the rematch. The Madison, Wisconsin native scored 10 of Eastern Illinois’ first 18 points, including threes on back-to-back possessions to pull the Panthers within a bucket at the 11:22 mark.
Taylor seemed determined to get the 21 points necessary for 1,000 in his career as quickly as possible, almost as if he wanted to get past the mark and not worry about it anymore. He scored Austin Peay’s first five points, sandwiched a pair of buckets around another Glotta three with under 10 to play in the half and finished the half with 13. However, a late Panther run took the teams into the break with Austin Peay holding a slim 44-43 lead.
Post-halftime, the Panthers seemed to take an active interest in keeping Taylor under wraps; that just left more for his teammates, with Steve Harris scoring 11 of his 17 points and Chris Porter-Bunton 10 of his 12 after halftime. That duo, along with Jabari McGhee, scored Austin Peay’s first 23 points in the second half as the Govs stretched their lead to 12 points (67-55) with less than 13 minutes to play.
Taylor didn’t hit a shot from the floor until 4:58 remained in the second half, by which point the Govs had nearly relinquished the 12-point lead; however, he scored 12 of Austin Peay’s final 17 points, including the 1,000th of his Austin Peay career on a free-throw with 2:26 to play.
Prior to Taylor’s 1,000th career point, the Panthers had cut the Austin Peay lead to just two on a Rade Kukobat jumper; however, the Govs closed on a 9-3 run to put the Panthers away, with Glotta, Harris and Taylor sinking clutch free-throws down the stretch.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 81, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 64
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Marlon Hunter's first-career double-double helped the Jacksonville State men's basketball team to an 81-64 win over Southeast Missouri at the Show Me Center on Saturday.
The senior guard had career-highs in both points scored (27) and rebounds (12) during the Gamecocks (17-8, 9-3 OVC) 17-point road win over the Redhawks (8-17, 3-9 OVC).
Hunter helped the Gamecocks to a 42-28 lead at the break with 19 first-half points. The Panama City, Fla., native set a new career-best within the first 20 minutes, hitting three 3-pointers. He came just two boards shy of earning his double-double in the first period.
In total, Hunter finished the game with five 3-pointers; three more than his previous career-high.
Trailing 5-4 three minutes into the game, Jacksonville State found its second gear and went on a 26-11 run over the following eight minutes to go up 30-15. Harper played a small five for part of the period, getting an extra four points from sophomore Derek St. Hilaire and five from freshman De'Torrion Ware off the bench.
Southeast Missouri began the second half with a 6-0 run, cutting the JSU advantage to eight, then found a 5-0 streak a few minutes later to shave the lead to eight again, but both times the Gamecocks answered and stretched their advantage back to double-figures.
Jacksonville State's lead reached a game-high 20 with 38 seconds left to play. A 3-pointer from SEMO's Gabe McGlothan saved the Redhwaks from taking a 20-point loss in the scorebook.
McGlothan paced Southeast Missouri with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Ledarrius Brewer pitched in 11 points from the guard position, and Alex Caldwell added 10 of the Redhawks' 23 bench points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 75, TENNESSEE STATE 65
RICHMOND, Ky. - Freshman Jomaru Brown scored a career-high 30 points as the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team defeated Tennessee State, 75-65, on Saturday night at McBrayer Arena.
The Tigers got off to a quick start, using a 12-2 run to take a 24-15 lead after a basket and free throw by DaJion Henderson with 8:12 left in the first half.
Trailing 28-19, EKU used an 11-0 run capped off by a Cameron Carmical three-pointer to take a 30-28 lead with 2:06 remaining in the first half. EKU went into the half leading 32-31.
The Colonels scored six of the first nine points to open up the second half to take a 38-34 lead and never trailed again.
Brown scored seven straight Colonel points in the second half to give Eastern a 49-42 advantage with 10:44 remaining in the game.
Dave Morris knocked down a three with 9:09 remaining to cut the Colonel lead to 51-45, but TSU never got any closer.
EKU hit 14-of-15 free throws in the final 2:27 to seal the victory down the stretch.
Brown added five rebounds and four assists. Freshman Tre King went for 12 points and four rebounds. Kelvin Robinson chipped in 10 points and nine boards. Senior Nick Mayo scored only nine points, but contributed 12 rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
Michael Littlejohn had 16 points, four assists and two rebounds on the night for the Tigers. Kamar McKnight chipped in 12 points and two rebounds.
Eastern shot 30-for-34 (88 percent) on the night from the free throw line, outscoring the Tigers by 22 points from the stripe.
The Colonels out-rebounded the Tigers 43-35.
MURRAY STATE 86, SIUE 55
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Ja Morant scored 20 points and led five players in double-figure scoring as Murray State rolled to an 86-55 win over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday night.
Morant was 7 of 15 from the field and had five rebounds and six assists for the Racers (19-4, 10-2 Ohio Valley Conference). KJ Williams added 16 points and four rebounds, Tevin Brown and Devin Gilmore had 12 points apiece and Darnell Cowart had 10 points and led the team with 11 rebounds.
The Racers trailed 38-32 at the break but exploded on a 17-0 run to start the second half. The surge featured 3-pointers by Williams and Brown and two dunks by Williams to give Murray State a 49-38 lead with 14:46 to play. The Cougars (8-16, 4-8) were held to just 17 points in the period and the Racers cruised to the win.
David McFarland scored 14 points for the Cougars. Brandon Jackson added 13 points and eight rebounds.