FRIDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 60, Florida Atlantic 50 (Mobile, Ala.)
Abilene Christian 80,
Austin Peay 72 (Estero, Fla.)
Belmont 77, George Mason 67 (Washington, D.C.)
Eastern Kentucky 60, Charleston Southern 50 (Raleigh, N.C.)
Richmond 82,
Morehead State 64 (Lexington, Ky.)
@Marquette 75,
Eastern Illinois 50
JACKSONVILLE STATE 60, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 50
MOBILE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team claimed its first win of the season Friday with a 60-50 defeat of Florida Atlantic at South Alabama's Goldie and Herman Ungar Memorial Tournament.
Senior Darian Adams led the Gamecocks (1-1) with 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting in the win over the C-USA's Owls (0-2). It was the first nonconference win over FAU for Jax State, renewing the series for the first time since 2003 when the two programs last met as members of the Atlantic Sun.
With their lead whittled down to three with 12 minutes to play, the Gamecocks turned up the intensity and pushed their lead to a game-high 14 points over the next eight minutes and limited FAU to just seven points. Adams scored 11 of his team-best mark in the second, while fellow transfer Anamze Ngumezi tallied seven points in less than seven minutes of play.
With the Florida Atlantic defense running a full-court press in the final two minutes, Juwan Perdue split the trap for a breakaway dunk that sealed the win for Jacksonville State.
Senior transfer Brandon Huffman saw significantly more minutes Friday than he did Wednesday at Alabama. The big man scored seven, grabbed nine boards, blocked two hots and turned the ball over just once. On his lead, JSU out-rebounded the Owls 43-32 and scored eight second-chance points.
In the first half, Martin Roub provided a spark off the bench and scored six points on a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers. The senior's sharp shooting led to a 10-point run that saw FAU score just two points in more than five minutes.
Open looks helped the Owls regain a momentary lead with less than 11 minutes to play in the period. A 3-point bucket and successful foul shot from guard Michael Forrest aided a nine-point run and 16-12 advantage.
The Gamecock defense shut out Florida Atlantic for the final 6:35 of the half. JSU hit a pair of buckets and made three free throws down the stretch to go ahead 24-20 at the half. Adams was the Jax State scoring leader at the break with seven points on 3-for-9 shooting.
Jacksonville State improved to 6-7 in the all-time series against Florida Atlantic with the win. Harper, who coached against FAU regularly as the head coach at Western Kentucky, padded his record against the Sunshine State program 5-3.
ABILENE CHRISTIAN 80, AUSTIN PEAY 72
ESTERO, Fla. - Over the final 26 minutes of play in Friday's contest against Abilene Christian, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team outscored the Wildcats 61-48.
Unfortunately, the first 14 minutes did not go quite as smoothly.
A tough start on both ends of the floor saw Austin Peay dig a hole too deep to get out of in an 80-72 defeat to close the Governors stay at the #BeachBubble Gulf Coast Showcase. The Govs concluded their stay in the Sunshine State with a 2-1 start to the 2020-21 season.
It simply could not have gone more disastrously to start for Austin Peay. Abilene Christian hit 13 of its first 20 shots; after a 3-for-5 start to the game, the Govs missed their next eight shots while also committing five turnovers. The Wildcats led by double-digits at the 12-minute mark in the first half; with just over six minutes to go in the half, the Austin Peay deficit was 21 points.
It was by no means beautiful. But it also meant the Govs had nowhere to go but up. After going into halftime trailing by 17, the Govs emerged from the locker room with a renewed intensity and slowly began chipping away at the Abilene Christian lead. Get a bucket, get a stop. After a Mike Peake jumper with 9:23 to play—a jumper that made the Govs 13-of-16 from the floor to start the second half—the deficit had been cut to 11.
It would largely stay there the rest of the way. A Terry Taylor three with 16 seconds left cut the Wildcat lead back to single-digits for the first time since early in the first half, but that would be as close to a comeback as the Govs were able to get.
Taylor led all scorers with 22 points; he was joined in double figures by Peake (12 points), Jordyn Adams (14) and Carlos Paez (10).
BELMONT 77, GEORGE MASON 67
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Behind 17 points each from juniors Nick Muszynski and Caleb Hollander, Belmont (2-0) defeated George Mason, 77-67, Friday in the DC Paradise Jam presented by the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Bruins weathered an inauspicious start which saw George Mason make its first 10 field goal attempts of the game in building a 34-20 lead.
From there, Belmont responded with more purposeful play on both ends of the floor, as Hollander's all-court scoring sparked the cause.
Belmont held the Patriots scoreless for six minutes, with freshman Even Brauns capping a 16-0 run to give the Bruins the lead.
A driving basket from junior Grayson Murphy lifted Belmont to a 41-40 halftime lead.
Post scores from Muszynski and a wing 3-pointer from sophomore EJ Bellinger made the score 51-44 with 14:11 left.
Belmont's defense secured the paint as the game went on and the Bruins methodically seized control.
A Muszynski slam off a driving feed from freshman JaCobi Wood and a coast to coast basket from junior Luke Smith increased the lead to 11, 59-48, with 9:14 left.
Following another Smith 3-pointer, George Mason got as close as 68-63 with two minutes remaining on a Tyler Kolek basket.
But Hollander answered with a straight-on 3-pointer on Belmont's next possession to help secure the victory.
All told, Belmont shot 53 percent (28-for-53) from the field - including 8-for-19 from 3-point distance.
The Bruins forced 15 turnovers.
With 17 points, Muszynski became the 20th member of Belmont's NCAA Division I era 1,000-point club. He has 1,007 career points.
Smith, who added 16 points, four assists and four steals, also went over 1,000 career points when including his first two seasons at Sewanee.
Murphy added his second consecutive double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Jordan Miller led George Mason (1-1) with 19 points.
Belmont has won 14 consecutive games.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 60, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 50
RALEIGH, N.C. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team forced 25 turnovers en route to a 60-50 win over Charleston Southern on Friday in the Colonels’ final game of the Mako Medical Wolfpack Invitational.
With the win, EKU moves to 2-0 on the young season.
Junior Tre King led the Colonels in scoring for the second straight game, posting 15 points and eight rebounds.
Junior Cheikh Faye came off the bench to contribute 13 points, while sophomore Michael Moreno had 10 points and five boards.
Freshman Wendell Green Jr. delivered another big game off the bench, finishing with nine points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Eastern led the entire game. The Colonels closed the first half on 16-2 run, as a pair of free throws by senior Russhard Cruickshank sent the Colonels into the locker room at the break up by 17, 38-21.
Charleston Southern (0-2), however, opened the second stanza on a 7-0 run, as a jumper by Ja’Quavian Florence made it a 10-point game, 38-28. The Buccaneers pulled to within six, 46-40, on a Florence dunk with 10:53 remaining in the game.
But that was as close as CSU got. Moreno scored eight points over the next seven minutes to help keep the Buccaneers at bay. His final jumper pushed EKU’s lead back to 14, 58-44, with 3:25 on the clock.
The Colonels stifled CSU to 35.8 percent shooting from the field (19-of-53) and 18.8 shooting from behind the arc (3-of-16).
Florence led all scorers in the game with 19 points.
RICHMOND 82, MOREHEAD STATE 64
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Richmond men's basketball shot 56 percent, and that proved to be just too much to overcome for the Morehead State men's basketball team Friday night at Rupp Arena as the Eagles dropped an 82-64 decision in the final game of the Bluegrass Showcase.
The Eagles slipped to 0-2, while Richmond won its season opener after winning 24 games in 2019-20. It was the first matchup between the programs since the 2011 NCAA Tournament third-round in Denver.
Morehead State hung tough with the Spiders in the first half, trailing just 47-40 at the break, despite 68 percent shooting accuracy from the team from Virginia. But the Spiders forced MSU into just 33 percent in the final half and that was a big difference as they outscored the Eagles by 11.
DeVon Cooper led the Eagles with 14 points, two shy of his career high.
MARQUETTE 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 50
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Marquette opened up with an early 17-7 lead and the Golden Eagles were able to keep the margin in double figures for most of the evening as they beat Eastern Illinois, 75-50.
Marquette improved to 2-0 while EIU fell to 0-2. The Panthers game scheduled for Sunday evening at Butler has been postponed as Butler paused its basketball activities. EIU will return to action on Thursday night hosting Chicago State.
EIU would cut the lead to 31-20 with 4:37 to play in the first as Kashawn Charles converted a four-point play. Charles would lead EIU with seven points in the first half, finishing with ten.
Mack Smith's second 3-pointer of the game brought the Panthers to within nine in the first half trailing 32-23. Smith extended his NCAA leading consecutive games with a made 3-pointer streak to 83. Smith scored 12 points for EIU.
Marquette led 38-26 at the half after solid shooting from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles knocked down 6-of-12 from long range in the first half and finished the game making nine 3-pointers.
Freshman Dawson Garcia was a big part of Marquette's offense scoring 12 of his 16 points in the first half. Garcia knocked down three 3-pointers.
In the second half EIU would cut the lead to 53-41 on a jumper by Josiah Wallace. Wallace led EIU with 15 points. The Panthers finished the night shooting 26 percent from the field.
Koby McEwen added 14 points for Marquette as four Golden Eagles finished in double figures. Marquette would go 22-of-34 at the free throw line and won the battle on the boards holding a 50 to 31 rebound advantage.