THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 90, Southeast Missouri 74
@Eastern Kentucky 99, UT Martin 86
@Murray State 73, Eastern Illinois 70
Tennessee State 72, @Jacksonville State 62
Belmont 92, @Tennessee Tech 84
@Austin Peay 82, SIUE 58
MOREHEAD STATE 90, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Seniors Jordan Walker and Djimon Henson both scored team-highs of 21 points to lead four in double figures as the Morehead State men's basketball team scored a 90-74 victory over Southeast Missouri Thursday at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who tied a season high with 11 three-pointers and 23 assists, improved to 9-2 at home and to 10-12 overall and 4-5 in the OVC. SEMO was left still searching for its first conference win at 0-9.
Morehead State shot 51 percent (31-of-61) for the night and hit 11 of 24 triples. MSU also drained 17 of its 20 free throws and only turned the ball over seven times – the sixth time this season the OVC leader in fewest turnovers per game had less than 10 floor miscues.
The Eagles also got 15 points (on 7-of-8 field goals) from freshman Tyzhaun Claude and 13 from sophomore Malik Riddle.
In scoring his 21, Walker also moved to No. 18 on MSU's career scoring chart. His 1,386 points passed former Eagle big man Kyle Umberger (1998-01).
EASTERN KENTUCKY 99, UT MARTIN 86
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team improved to 7-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference, its best start in league play since 1987-88, with a 99-86 win over the University of Tennessee at Martin on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
EKU (10-12) also won seven of its first nine OVC contests in 1987-88. The Colonels haven’t started 8-2 in league games since running off to a 9-2 start in 1978-79.
Ty Taylor led Eastern Kentucky with a season-high 27 points. He went 9-of-17 from the field, including 5-of-9 from behind the arc. Jomaru Brown and Tre King contributed 22 points each. King added five rebounds, five steals and four assists. Brown also had four steals.
As a team, the Colonels had 15 steals and scored 25 points off the Skyhawks’ 21 turnovers.
The game-changing run came after Quintin Dove connected on a 3-pointer for UTM to get the visitors within two, 36-34, with 5:42 left in the first half. Almost a minute later, Tariq Balogun made two free throws to start a 21-3 run to end the half. A dunk by King stretched the margin to double figures, 47-36. Taylor’s 3-pointer with four seconds left in the opening period made it a 20-point game, 57-37, at intermission.
UT Martin turned the ball over 16 times in the first half and the Colonels turned those into 21 points off turnovers. Eastern also used six offensive boards to get 10 second-chance points.
The Skyhawks whittled the deficit to 12, 79-67, when Ja’Darius Harris made a lay-up with 9:33 left in the game. The Colonels answered with a 10-2 run to move back in front by 20, 89-69 with just 6:19 remaining.
Dove led all players with 35 points. He made 11-of-16 attempts from the field and went 12-for-12 at the stripe. Parker Stewart had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Eastern Kentucky hit on 52 percent of its shots from the field and nailed 19-of-20 at the free throw line (95 percent). UT Martin shot 48 percent for the game.
MURRAY STATE 73, EASTERN ILLINOIS 70
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers pushed their season win streak to 10 and their home winning streak to 17 with a 73-70 victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky. The Racers have won 18th consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season games.
The Racers (16-5) moved to 9-0 in OVC play and stayed in a share of first place as they host SIUE Saturday on the same day that Racer great Ja Morant will have his No. 12 retired at halftime.
Tevin Brown scored 24 points, while KJ Williams scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Demond Robinson was MSU’s third double-figure scorer with 10 points.
A 13-2 run highlighted the first half for the Racers when Brown sparked a 13-2 run and a 24-20 lead with 5:36 left. Jason Holliday ended the half with a corner 3-pointer for a 32-27 lead.
MSU started the second on a 14-3 run to take their largest of the game, 44-30 with 14:45 remaining.
With under nine minutes left, the game produced a 4-point in EIU’s favor and with 4:15 left, EIU whiffed a dunk, but ended up with a three-point play anyway to make it a 61-60 Racer lead at 4:19. MSU’s Williams made an amazing hustle play with 1:43 left. With EIU going in for the go ahead basket, Williams made a steal coming in late to deny the hoop, then he saved it from going out of bounds and scored on the other end of the floor with 1:33 left. What looked like a 1-point deficit had turned into a three-point lead.
Twice in the final 18 seconds, EIU had the ball with a chance to tie it, but the Racers survived to get the win.
TENNESSEE STATE 72, JACKSONVILLE STATE 62
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Shakem Johnson had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Tennessee State beat Jacksonville State 72-62 on Thursday night.
Johnson hit 9 of 11 shots. Wesley Harris added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers. Michael Littlejohn had 13 points for Tennessee State (13-9, 5-4 Ohio Valley Conference). Emmanuel Egbuta added 10 points.
Jacara Cross had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Gamecocks (9-13, 4-5). Derrick Cook added 13 points.
De'Torrion Ware, who led the Gamecocks in scoring entering the contest with 12 points per game, finished with three points on 1-of-6 shooting. He played just five minutes and didn't attempt a shot in the first half after picking up two quick fouls.
BELMONT 92, TENNESSEE TECH 84
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Behind 19 points from sophomore Nick Muszynski, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee Tech, 92-84, Thursday night.
The Bruins used strong defense and rebounding to build a working margin midway through the first half. A short jumper from freshman Mitch Listau started a 34-12 stretch over the final 10:30 of the first half as Belmont led 46-25 at halftime.
A 3-pointer from sophomore Caleb Hollander increased the lead to 60-36 with 14:40 remaining.
And while Belmont (15-7, 6-3 OVC) continued to play through Muszynski, Tennessee Tech got production from Jr. Clay and Hunter Vick to get within single figures in the final minute.
All told, Belmont shot 48 percent (30-for-63) from the field, including 11-for-32 from 3-point distance.
Muszynski led six players in double figures, adding four assists. Graduate student Tyler Scanlon had 15 points, while Kunkel added 13. Hollander scored 12 and senior Michael Benkert had 11. Junior Nick Hopkins added 10 points and three steals.
Vick led Tennessee Tech (5-17, 2-7 OVC) with 21 points.
AUSTIN PEAY 82, SIUE 58
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jordyn Adams had 17 points to lead five Austin Peay players in double figures as the Governors won their ninth consecutive game, routing Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 82-58 on Thursday night.
Eli Abaev added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Governors. Alec Woodard chipped in 11 points as did Terry Taylor, who came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in scoring at 23.0 points per game. Taylor had nine rebounds and nine assists. Evan Hinson added 10 points.
Cam Williams had 14 points for the Cougars (5-17, 2-7 Ohio Valley Conference). Shamar Wright added 11 points. Zeke Moore had 10 points.