THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 83, SIUE 77
Austin Peay 75, @Tennessee Tech 62
@Eastern Kentucky 77, Eastern Illinois 74
Belmont 89, @Southeast Missouri 64
@UT Martin 87, Tennessee State 74
Murray State 72, @Jacksonville State 68
MOREHEAD STATE 83, SIUE 77
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Season-high point totals by senior guard Jordan Walker and sophomore forward Jaden Stanley-Williams helped the Morehead State men's basketball team fend off visiting SIUE 83-77 Thursday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who held a 16-point lead at the half, weathered a scrappy rally by the Cougars as they improved to 8-8 overall and 2-1 in the OVC. MSU improved to 9-3 all-time against SIUE, which slid to 4-12 overall and 1-2 in the OVC.
Walker nailed a career-best 14 free throws on 15 attempts, in fact hitting his first 14 of the night, to account for half of his team-best point total of 28. Stanley-Williams notched 13, shot 6-of-8 from the field, and had a team-best three blocked shots.
Morehead State raced out to a 46-30 halftime lead only see the Cougars' offense get to the free throw line 22 times in the final half and outscore them 47-37.
AUSTIN PEAY 75, TENNESSEE TECH 62
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It wasn't always pretty, as Austin Peay State University men's basketball team endured two extended scoring droughts, but the Govs got it done to move to 3-0 in league play with a 75-62 win at Tennessee Tech—Austin Peay's first true road victory of the 2019-20 season.
The Govs looked the part early, needing less than four minutes to build out an 11-3 lead. Both teams went cold for a lengthy part of the first half, with the Governors scoring drought reaching nearly eight minutes before a Terry Taylor bucket. The good news is that the Govs quickly righted the ship; the better news is that Tennessee Tech struggled nearly as much while Austin Peay was off its offensive game, meaning the Golden Eagles never took so much as a lead while the Govs were finding their collective shooting touch.
After that, the lead stayed near double-digits for the half's remainder. The Governor offense, without Taylor after he picked up a second foul, had its share of fits and starts but with the steady presence of Jordyn Adams always had someone to look to if a play broke down. He had a dozen in the first half, including a three late to push the lead to 15 points with 2:39 to go.
Tennessee Tech embarked on a late 8-1 run and appeared destined to take a single-digit deficit into the locker room, but Carlos Paez knocked down a three with under 10 seconds to go to send Austin Peay into the break up 35-24. It was just the second bucket for a Gov not named Adams, Taylor or Eli Abaev, who scored 29 of Austin Peay's 35 first-half points.
The second half was more of the same. Taylor got his, because he's the OVC's Preseason Player of the Year and he's already racked up 1,500 career points and he's just an incredible, generational talent; he finished with 27 points and 12 boards, but on any given night he can more or less pick his number.
Around the 10-minute mark, Tennessee Tech cut the deficit to nine when another Austin Peay drought eclipsed six minutes. This 9-0 Golden Eagle run may have stretched nearly six minutes, but the last half of it Tennessee Tech was scoreless as well, allowing the Govs to escape relatively unscathed from another lengthy round with their shooting demons.
Twice, the Govs went cold for a stretch longer than six minutes; the Govs went 0-for-12 from the floor during these stretches and were otherwise unguardable the rest of the time, hitting 63.0 percent (29-for-46) the rest of the time.
Taylor was supplemented by another 20-point effort from Adams, while both Paez and Antwuan Butler reached double figures with 10 points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 77, EASTERN ILLINOIS 74
RICHMOND, Ky. - With a 1-point lead and 4.8 seconds left in the game, Ty Taylor made two free throws to secure Eastern Kentucky University's 77-74 victory over Eastern Illinois University in an Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball game on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
A lay-up by JacQuess Hobbs early in the second half gave the Colonels (5-11, 2-1 OVC) a 16-point lead, 48-32. However, the Panthers (7-8, 0-3 OVC) rallied as EKU started the second half just 4-of-21 from the field (19 percent).
EIU scored nine straight points to get within seven, 48-41. Eastern Kentucky went back in front by 11, 54-43, on a 3-pointer from the left corner by Lachlan Anderson with 12:52 to go. Eastern Illinois then out-scored the home team 21-7, turning that 11-point deficit into a 3-point lead.
A Josiah Wallace lay-up drew Eastern Illinois within one, 61-60, with 6:58 showing on the clock. Mack Smith's lay-up 31 seconds later gave the Panthers their first lead of the game, 62-61. Shareef Smith capped the run and put EIU ahead 64-61 with a lay-up at the 5:57 mark.
The game was tied three more times before Jomaru Brown's jumper with 50 seconds to go put the Colonels in front 73-71. Marvin Johnson missed a 3-point attempt for EIU with 35 seconds left. Taylor's two free throws with 19.8 ticks remaining pushed the margin to four, 75-71. Mack Smith connected on a leaning 3-pointer from the top of the key with eight seconds to go to keep EIU in the game.
After Taylor's free throws with less than five seconds to play, Johnson drove the length of the court and missed on a lay-up at the buzzer.
Brown came off the bench to score a game-best 24 points for Eastern Kentucky. Taylor had 17 and Anderson finished with 13.
Wallace led Eastern Illinois with 16 points. George Dixon contributed a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Colonels torched the nets to the tune of 61 percent through the first 13 and a half minutes of the game. EKU scored the first six points and went in front 17-4 on a lay-up from Brown. A run of seven unanswered gave Eastern Kentucky its largest lead at 18 points, 24-6, with 12:37 on the clock.
When Brown put in a lay-up at the 6:21 mark, the Colonels were 14-of-23 from the field for 60.8 percent and had a 15-point advantage, 35-20. EKU scored the final four points of the half and led 46-32 at the break.
BELMONT 89, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 64
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Behind an ultra-efficient second half, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Southeast Missouri, 89-64, Thursday night.
Leading 40-36 at halftime, Belmont went 22-for-28 from the field in the second half in handing out 27 assists for the game.
Graduate student Tyler Scanlon capped a 9-0 run to give Belmont a 49-36 lead with 17:19 remaining.
As nine Bruins scored in the second half, Belmont held Southeast Missouri to 2-for-18 3-point shooting.
Scanlon led four Bruins (11-5, 2-1 OVC) in double figures with 21 points.
Oscar Kao led Southeast Missouri (4-12, 0-3 OVC) with 15 points.
UT MARTIN 87, TENNESSEE STATE 74
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team forced 21 turnovers this evening, soaring to an 87-74 triumph over Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee State at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks (5-9, 1-2 OVC) extended their home winning streak over the Tigers to five games thanks in large part to their defensive intensity. The 21 turnovers and .441 field goal percentage were both season-lows for a UT Martin Division I opponent this season as the Skyhawks held a 28-10 edge on points off turnovers.
Parker Stewart secured a game-high 31 points while Quintin Dove added 22 points for the Skyhawks, who led for 30:30 of clock time tonight. Playing in his first game since Nov. 13, Steve Wooten, Jr. gave UT Martin a huge lift with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Eman Sertovic also reached double figures in the scoring column for his second consecutive game, tossing in 11 points while fellow freshman Eric Rusted swatted away a game-high four blocks for the Skyhawks.
Tennessee State (10-6, 2-1 OVC) was led by 25 points from Carlos Marshall, Jr. The Tigers also saw Shakem Johnson (13 points), Jy’Lan Washington (11 points) and Michael Littlejohn (11 points) record double-digit scoring games.
Marshall scored Tennessee State’s first eight points of the game as the Tigers led by as many as five points (13-8) at the 12:50 mark of the first half. The Skyhawks then exploded for 20 unanswered points over a 3:42 span, using the three-ball to their advantage. UT Martin splashed six 3-pointers during the 20-0 surge, half of which came from Stewart. A layup by Wooten with four minutes to go expanded the Skyhawk lead out to 35-19 before UT Martin settled for a 41-30 advantage at the break.
Stewart already reached his season scoring average in the opening half as he compiled a game-high 19 points. The Skyhawks were also keyed by Wooten’s 11 points while Marshall posted 14 points for Tennessee State.
After another Stewart trifecta made the score 45-32 in favor of UT Martin, the Tigers went on a 9-2 run to close their deficit to six points with 16:27 remaining. That’s when Dove heated up, as the Preseason All-OVC forward unleashed 10 consecutive Skyhawk points as UT Martin stretched its lead back out to double figures. Tennessee State cut the Skyhawk lead to nine points with 7:43 left in the contest but that would be the last time the Tigers would creep within single digits as a highlight reel dunk by Derek Hawthorne, Jr. with 1:35 to go sealed the victory.
MURRAY STATE 72, JACKSONVILLE STATE 68
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Murray State Racers won for the first time this season on the road Thursday with a 72-68 victory over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.
The win pushed the Racers (10-5) to 3-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference as they won for a fifth-straight time on the road in league play.
Tevin Brown notched his fourth game in the last five with 20 or more points with and effort of 24 while playing all 40 minutes in the game. KJ Williams gave the Racers two double-figure scorers with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Anthony Smith led the way eight rebounds and Jaiveon Eaves dished out four assists.
The defining momentum swing started with 13:37 remaining in the contest with the Racers staring at a five-point deficit (48-43). The Racers found a way to handle JSU’s full court press and hit 6-of-8 shots in a 14-2 run that saw them go in front 57-50 with 7:37 left. When JSU made another push to get to within two points with 2:14 left, the Racers went back in from by seven on a 3-pointer by Brown and a 70-63 lead.
In the first half, freshman Demond Robinson scored five quick points to give the Racers a 13-11 lead at the under-12 media timeout. The Racers defended the hot shooting Gamecocks very well from the 3-point in the opening 20 minutes and held JSU to 2-of-11 and enjoyed a 35-30 lead at the halftime intermission.