SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 84, Tennessee Tech 59
Jacksonville State 64, @SIUE 56
@Belmont 77, Morehead State 59
Murray State 96, @Southeast Missouri 91 (OT)
Eastern Kentucky 92, @Tennessee State 88
Austin Peay 92, @UT Martin 81
EASTERN ILLINOIS 84, TENNESSEE TECH 59
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Kashawn Charles provided a spark off the bench scoring a career-high 23 points to lead Eastern Illinois to an 84-59 win over Tennessee Tech as the Panthers improved to 5-0 at home this season.
EIU has now won two straight to move back to .500 on the season at 9-9 including a 2-4 record in the OVC. TTU fell to 4-15 overall, 1-5 in the OVC.
Charles scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half hitting 3-of-4 from 3-point range as EIU built a 43-29 lead at the half. EIU shot 54 percent from 3-point range in the first half which included a 3-pointer by Mack Smith. Smith has now hit a 3-pointer in 67 consecutive games as he moved into third place on the NCAA Division I list for consecutive games with a 3-pointer. Smith was 3-of-6 in the game also moving into seventh on the EIU career list.
Leading 14-12 at the 10:05 mark EIU went on a 14-2 run over the next four minutes which gave the Panthers control of the contest with a 29-14 lead. Charles and Smith both drained 3-pointers during the Panthers run. A jumper by Charles with 2:20 to play in the first half gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the first half at 40-23.
Jr Clay attempted to keep Tennessee Tech within striking distance scoring 17 first-half points as he finished with 22 in the game, one of two Golden Eagles in double figures. Darius Allen added 12.
TTU cut the Panthers lead to ten points with 17:56 remaining in the game on a Reece Wilkinson lay-up. EIU responded with a 7-0 run that included baskets by Josiah Wallace, JaQualis Matlock and Charles.
Smith finished with 13 points and Wallace added 11. EIU finished the game shooting 53 percent from the floor and 46 percent from 3-point range.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 64, SIUE 56
EDWARDSVILE, Ill. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team picked up a 64-56 road win Saturday at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Vadalabene Center, snapping a three-game skid.
Junior Kayne Henry fueled the offense with 22 points and 14 rebounds, recording his second double-double of the season in as many games. He is the first Gamecock to earn multiple double-doubles this season, and both numbers represent career-highs for the forward.
Henry played all 20 minutes of the second half, scoring 12 with eight rebounds in the final period, to help the Gamecocks (8-11, 3-3 OVC) route the Cougars (4-15, 1-5 OVC) following a tightly-played first half.
JSU trailed by as many as six points through the first 10 minutes of play. With outstanding defense from Jax State and sophomore forward Maros Zeliznak, the Gamecocks shot 46.2 percent (12-26) in the period to take a three-point lead to the locker room.
The 27-24 Jacksonville State advantage came about on runs of 8-0 and 5-0 while holding SIUE scoreless through the last 2:50 of the first half. Henry accounted for 10 points and Zeliznak had six.
The shots began falling in the second half for the Gamecocks as they extended their lead to as much as 16 halfway through the stanza. Henry was 4-for-6 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line during the half, while the team nailed four 3-pointers as opposed to one in the first.
SIUE was able to whittle its deficit from double-digits during the final 21 seconds, sending the Gamecocks to the line and hitting a couple of treys following the foul shots, but the closest the Cougars came to the lead was six points. Two Ty Hudson free throws ensured an eight-point lead for JSU in the final six seconds.
BELMONT 77, MOREHEAD STATE 59
NASHVILLE - Behind double-doubles from sophomores Nick Muszynski and Grayson Murphy, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Morehead State, 77-59, Saturday from the Curb Event Center.
Muszynski had a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Murphy added 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as Belmont limited Morehead State to three field goals the final 10:21 of the game.
The Bruins raced out to leads of 10-1 and 17-7 before Morehead State worked back into the game behind the play of James Baker.
In a game that featured seven ties and four lead changes, Belmont got timely bench production from sophomore Tate Pierson, whose 3-pointer off Murphy's offensive rebound made the score 46-39 with 13:43 left.
But after Morehead State tied the game at 49 on a Djimon Henson basket, Belmont methodically built a working margin behind strong defense and Muszynski.
Consecutive 3-pointers from sophomore Adam Kunkel and junior Nick Hopkins made the score 61-51 with 5:29 remaining. Graduate student Tyler Scanlon had a hand in 10 of Belmont's final 16 points to secure the victory.
Belmont shot 44 percent (29-for-66) from the field - including 10-for-31 from 3-point distance. The Bruins outrebounded Morehead State, 45-34.
Kunkel had 16 points, while Scanlon added 12.
Baker led Morehead State (9-10, 3-3 OVC) with 16 points.
MURRAY STATE 96, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91 (OT)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Murray State Racers pushed past the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks in overtime Saturday afternoon with a 96-91 victory at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The win extended the Racers’ Ohio Valley Conference regular season winning streak to 15 games and gave Coach Matt McMahon his 100th win in five seasons with the Racers.
The win kept Murray State (13-5) in a share of OVC first place at 6-0 and their pushed their current season win streak to seven.
This hard-fought conference clash between two rival teams produced a win for the Racers, but only after they rescued the game in the final seconds to reach overtime.
Trailing by four points with 55 seconds left, Tevin Brown made four-straight free throws hitting a pair with 39.5 seconds on the clock and another pair with .7 left. Sandwiched in between was a brilliant defensive possession in which The Racers forced SEMO into a shot clock violation.
In MSU’s second overtime this season, Jaiveon Eaves started the extra frame with his only 3-pointer of the game for an 81-78 lead. After a SEMO miss, KJ Williams was fouled and went to the line where he made two for an 83-78 advantage with 3:40 left. When Anthony Smith made a three-point play, the Racers had started the overtime with a perfect 2-of-2 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line, plus a 4-0 lead on the boards. With 2:06 left, Anthony Smith hit Williams with a nifty pass in the lane for a three-point play and an 89-82 Racer lead. SEMO never got the ball back and a chance to tie the rest of the way.
Brown led MSU with 29 points which included 14-of-19 from the free throw line, while Anthony Smith added his sixth double-double this season on 22 points and 10 rebounds. KJ Williams scored 19 points on seven rebounds and Eaves added 13 points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 92, TENNESSEE STATE 88
NASHVILLE - Sophomore Jomaru Brown poured in a game-high 37 points to lead the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team to a critical road win at Tennessee State, 92-88, on Saturday evening at the Gentry Center.
Brown was 18-of-19 from the free throw line in the victory. He added six rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Freshman Michael Moreno chipped in a career-high 15 points to go along with a team-best seven boards. He also dished out three assists.
It was EKU’s (7-12, 4-2 OVC) first road win and Tennessee State’s (12-7, 4-2 OVC) first home loss of the season.
The Colonels jumped out to an early lead and took their largest advantage of the first half when Brown sank a pair of free throws to make it 42-31 with 5:45 on the clock.
TSU, however, rallied in the waning minutes of the first half, and a layup by Shakem Johnson just before the buzzer cut the EKU lead to four at halftime, 49-45.
The Tigers took their first lead since the 15:35 mark of the first half when Carlos Marshall hit a pair of foul shots to make it 62-61 in favor of TSU with 12:07 remaining.
EKU, however, responded with an 11-0 run over the next three minutes and 30 seconds. A jumper by Brown ignited the rally and a three-pointer by Brown ended it, handing the Colonels a 10-point lead, 72-62, with 9:44 on the clock.
Tennessee State was not finished. The hosts rallied again, taking another one-point lead when Michael Littlejohn drained a triple to make it 83-82 at the 3:19 mark.
Sophomore Tre King responded with a jumper on the other end to put Eastern back up 84-83, and the Colonels never trailed again.
Brown finished TSU off. He scored eight points over the final two minutes, and went 6-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch.
The two teams shot similarly from the field (47.6% / 47.1%) and from deep (36.7% / 36.8%), but free throws made the difference. EKU, as a team, shot 87.5% from the stripe (21-of-24). TSU went 65.2% from the line (15-of-23).
Marshall led Tennessee State with 22 points.
AUSTIN PEAY 92, UT MARTIN 81
MARTIN, Tenn. - At the end of a season-long four-game road trip, the Govs remain unblemished in Ohio Valley Conference play after a first-half explosion allowed Austin Peay to breeze to a 92-81 win against UT Martin at the Elam Center, Saturday.
A theme of this particular conference weekend has been early road leads for Austin Peay, as the Govs opened the game with a 9-2 scoring run punctuated by an Eli Abaev dunk.
Abaev rolled up 13 first-half points, but it was freshman Jordyn Adams' performance that struck fear in the hearts of the Skyhawk faithful. Adams hit six threes in the first 20 minutes alone as Austin Peay's lead stretched to 24 points. With UT Martin's Parker Stewart beset by foul trouble, the Skyhawks had no answer for Adams, Abaev or any other Governor and Austin Peay took a 50-31 lead into the break.
Austin Peay head coach Matt Figger has a phrase he's... not terribly fond of, per se, but has used on occasion: playing to the score. It's what happens when a team builds a big lead and slacks off a little bit, regardless of the quality of opponent. And maybe there was a degree of that in the second half; it could also be that UT Martin went white-hot from beyond the arc, hitting nine of its 12 three-pointers in the second half. Regardless, there were moments–brief moments–where UT Martin seemed in real danger of making this a ballgame over the final 20 minutes.
Those moments passed. Every time UT Martin cut the deficit to 10 points, the Govs responded, most emphatically with a Terry Taylor dunk at the 8:04 mark. The Skyhawks pulled to within nine points once , but not until 1:24 remained.
Notice a lack of Terry Taylor mentions tonight. That's because the league's top player did not have to bear nearly as much of the offensive burden, instead acting as one of six Governors in double figures, with Adams' second career 30-point night the catalyst.