THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 85, Belmont 75
@SIUE 84, Southeast Missouri 65
Eastern Kentucky 81, @Jacksonville State 77
@Tennessee Tech 71, Morehead State 59
@Eastern Illinois 95, UT Martin 83
@Austin Peay 99, Tennessee State 74
MURRAY STATE 85, BELMONT 75
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers ran past the Belmont Bruins Thursday to remain in a share of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference after an 85-75 victory at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers (14-5) moved to 7-0 in the OVC and host the Tennessee State Tigers Saturday at 7 p.m. MSU has won their last 16 regular season league games and have won their last eight this season. Additionally, the Racers have won 15 in a row at home.
Tevin Brown scored a game-high 24 points and dished out eight assists, while Anthony Smith racked up a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. The Racers' KJ Williamsgroup of five double-figure scorers also included KJ Williams with 15 points, Jaiveon Eaves with 13 and DaQuan Smith with 11.
Trailing 35-31 at halftime, the Racers were facing their largest deficit of the game of nine points (46-37) with 17:05 remaining when they turned the game in their favor. DaQuan Smith hit back-to-back threes to tie it 53-53 with 10:43 left. Smith hit another 3-pointer at the 6:51 to give the Racers a 62-59 lead.
The game was tied again with 4:26 left, when Eaves unleashed back-to-back 3-pointers in about a minute to push the Racers in front by five at the 3:43 mark. The Racers hit 6-of-9 from long range in the final 4:26 to get a 10-point win in a game that was much closer than that.
MSU had their best 3-point game of the season as they matched Belmont 12-12 and held a 42-30 edge on the boards.
SIUE 84, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 65
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE put it all together Thursday and blasted Southeast Missouri 84-65 in an Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball game at the First Community Arena in the Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars, snapping a five-game skid, clicked on all cylinders in improving to 5-15 overall and 2-5 in the OVC. The Redhawks sank to 4-16 and 0-7. They have lost seven in a row and are 0-10 on the road this season.
Mike Adewunmi and Tyresse Willfiord made sure the Cougars kept humming. Adewunmi scored a career-high 23 points, while Williford contributed 22 points and equaled his season best with nine assists. Adewunmi was particularly effective with his shooting, converting 7 of 9 shots, including 4 of 5 from 3-point land.
So did Williford. He stoked the offense with his shooting and passing. The Cougars hit 35 of 58 shots and registered 19 assists on those baskets. They connected on 5 of 16 attempts from 3-point range, sank 9 of 15 free throws and outrebounded SEMO 43-30. The Redhawks made 22 of 55 shots, but were just 8 of 25 from beyond the arch. They hit on 13 of 19 foul shots. Alex Caldwell led them with 15 points.
Cam Williams chipped in with 10 rebounds and seven points, while Brandon Jackson collected eight points and seven rebounds. No fewer than nine Cougars produced points.
SIUE set the tempo in the first half by building an insurmountable 38-18 advantage. Adewunmi and Williford each scored 11 points to pace the Cougars, who used a 15-4 binge to close the half. SEMO didn't make a field goal the final 7 minutes, 36 seconds of the half. The Redhawks were just 5 of 23 from the field.
Adewunmi hit three consecutive 3-pointers to spur SIUE in the first half. Williford connected on 5 of 9 shots and had four assists in the first period.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 81, JACKSONVILLE STATE 77
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jomaru Brown poured in 24 points and Tre King added 18 as the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team held on for its second straight road win, 81-77, against Jacksonville State on Thursday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Brown went to the bench early in the first half with foul trouble but exploded out of the gate in the second half, scoring 16 of his 24 points in the final 20 minutes. Like in last Saturday’s win at Tennessee State, Brown sank four free throws in the final minute to seal the road victory.
King finished with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Colonels.
Junior Russhard Cruickshank drained five three-pointers to match his career high with 15 points.
EKU shot 50 percent from the floor (31-of-62) and a season-high 52.4 percent from three-point range (11-of-21) on the night.
EKU (8-12, 5-2 OVC) came out hot, grabbing an early nine-point lead when Brown drained a jumper to make it 18-9 with 14:23 remaining in the first half.
The Colonels took their largest lead of the first half when junior JacQuess Hobbs stole the ball in transition and laid it in to make it 38-26 at the 4:25 mark.
JSU (8-12, 3-4 OVC), however, cut the lead to four, 42-38, at the break.
Eastern regained the momentum at the start of the second half. A triple by Cruickshank pushed the Colonels’ lead back out to 11, 53-42, just over three minutes into the half.
Jacksonville State slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled to within two, 73-71, following a jumper by Elias Harden with 3:32 remaining. A bucket by Jacara Cross again made it a two-point game, 77-75, with 54 seconds left.
However, Brown pulled through in the clutch, going 4-of-4 in the final minute to hold off the JSU charge and seal the win.
Cross paced Jacksonville State with 20 points.
The Gamecocks out-rebounded the Colonels, 36-25; however, Eastern won the turnover battle on the night, 18-9.
TENNESSEE TECH 71, MOREHEAD STATE 59
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A total team effort propelled the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to its first Ohio Valley Conference win in the comfort of the Hooper Eblen Center this season, as the Golden Eagles took down long-time foe Morehead State Thursday evening, 71-59.
Almost directly out of the gate, it was Tech's contest to lose. After Morehead State (9-11, 3-4) took a 4-2 lead very early in the contest, a move to the bench seemed to light a fire for the Golden Eagles (5-15, 2-5). Junior walk-on Maverick Smith entered the contest just two minutes in and promptly hit a 3-pointer for his first bucket of the season.
Tech didn't trail the rest of the night.
The triple by the veteran guard kick-started a 19-4 run by the purple and gold that resulted in a 13-point lead, the team's largest of the night until the very end of the contest. The Golden Eagles spent the remainder of the contest bending, but not breaking, keeping at least five points of separation from the Eagles until the end.
A 7-0 run by Morehead early in the second half looked ominous to some, as the visitors closed the gap to just those five points with 13:34 to go. Freshman Dane Quest delivered one of the biggest shots of the contest, burying a trey from the corner in front of the Tech bench to put the Golden Eagles back up by eight and steal back some much-needed momentum.
Clay led the Golden Eagles with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added five assists to the mix, marking his 13th straight game in double figures this season. Davidson posted 12 points with five rebounds and six dimes while Williams turned in a season-high 12 points.
Smith, who was named the Special Olympics Player of the Game for his inspiring play that clearly shifted the contest in favor of the Golden Eagles early, scored a season-high five points while playing nearly 12 tough minutes off the bench. He also racked up a steal and rebound. Senior Cade Crosland chipped in eight points while Darius Allen collected seven points, seven rebounds and three steals. Reece Wilkinson tied Allen for the team lead in boards with seven as well.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 95, UT MARTIN 83
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Josiah Wallace scored 20 first half point as Eastern Illinois raced out to a 20-point halftime lead and held off a late UT Martin challenge to pick up a 95-83 win on Thursday night at Lantz Arena.
EIU won its third straight moving to 10-9 on the season, 3-4 in the OVC. UT Martin fell to 5-13 overall, 1-6 in the OVC.
Wallace was 8-of-10 from the floor including 4-of-4 from 3-point range in the opening half as EIU shot 59 percent from the floor to build a 57-37 halftime lead. Leading 22-15 with 12:39 to play in the first half, Wallace and Kashawn Charles both drained 3-pointers to spark a 10-0 EIU run that gave the Panthers a commanding lead.
George Dixon had a lay-up with 8:37 to play in the first to put EIU up 20 points at 37-17. EIU would push its lead out to as many as 26 points as Mack Smith sank a 3-pointer with 3:38 to play in the half. Smith knocked down three 3-pointers in the game as he extended his consecutive games streak with a made 3-pointer to 68 games. Smith finished with 17 points.
UT Martin closed the half on a 5-0 run to give the Skyhawks some momentum into the second half. Parker Stewart hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half as he finished the game with 27 points.
In the second half UTM would whittle the Panthers lead down to single digits with 8:34 left in the game as Stewart hit a pair of free throws to trim EIU’s lead to 77-68.
Shareef Smith and Dixon responded with lay-ups to push EIU’s lead back out to double figures where it would remain for the rest of the contest. Dixon just missed a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. Shareef Smith had ten points. Wallace led EIU with 22 points as EIU shot 54 percent for the game.
Quintin Dove joined Stewart for top scoring honors in the game with 27 points for UTM going 10-of-14 from the field.
AUSTIN PEAY 99, TENNESSEE STATE 74
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Behind exemplary efforts from Jordyn Adams and Terry Taylor, Austin Peay rolled to a 99-74 win to remain unbeaten in the league and at home.
An Adams dunk got the game rolling for the Govs, and with Tennessee State limited to eight dressed players, the Tigers margin for error was razor-thin; for a team that plays as physically as Tennessee State, fouls can often become a problem. So the Govs went on the attack early, slashing the lane and kicking out to multiple wide-open shooters. Adams and Terry Taylor each had multiple three-pointers before six minutes passed in the contest and the Govs were in control early.
Most teams have begun keying on either Adams or Taylor; Tennessee State took a different track, surrendering Austin Peay's first 21 points to the duo before an Antwuan Butler jumper near the midway point of the first-half. In fact, the dynamic duo scored 45 of Austin Peay's 52 first-half points. Adams continued his big-boy performance from Saturday, racking up 24 first-half points by himself.
The second half brought a different look from Tennessee State–the Tigers deployed all manner of trapping, pressing, helping and double-teaming to put more pressure on Adams and Taylor. It did not work as well as the Tigers probably would've like it to; while Adams' point-per-minute pace dropped off, Taylor became the catalyst everything ran through in the second half.
There's no singular moment that encapsulates the dominance on display by the Govs. They rarely if ever needed a bucket, but Adams and Taylor got some anyway. When things got chippy, the Govs had each other's backs, stuck up for one another and refused to give an inch. It was a championship performance, one they'll look to replicate Saturday when Belmont visits.