SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 69, Arkansas State 61
Jacksonville State 77, @South Alabama 73
@Murray State 173, Greenville 95
MOREHEAD STATE 69, ARKANSAS STATE 61
MOREHEAD, Ky. - A pair of double-doubles by freshman forward Johni Broome and junior guard DeVon Cooper - both player's first career double-doubles - propelled Morehead State men's basketball to a 69-61 triumph over Arkansas State at Johnson Arena in the Eagles' 2020-21 home opener Sunday.
The game, only finalized on Friday after both teams had cancelations, marked the Eagles' 24th consecutive home-opening victory, putting MSU at 1-2 this season.
Broome, a 6-10 big man from Plant City, Fla., imposed his will on the Red Wolves in the second half, scoring 19 of his game-high 25 markers after halftime. He also tied Cooper for the team-high in rebounds with 12 (seven offensive) as the Eagles won the glass battle in a big way, 43-23. Cooper, a Louisville, Ky., native who sat out all of last season with injuries, netted 14 points - all in the second half - and grabbed a career-best 12 boards. He also had four assists.
Broome's performance was the highest point total for an Eagle freshman since Jordan Walker scored 26 at UT Martin in 2016-17.
An extremely tight battle saw 10 lead changes and eight ties. The Eagles' largest first-half lead came at 6:26 when junior guard Skyelar Potter's triple gave his team a 17-11 advantage.
Of the Eagles' 69 points, 36 came in the paint, and MSU had 15 offensive rebounds while allowing ASU to grab only three rebounds after their missed shots.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 77, SOUTH ALABAMA 73
MOBILE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team survived a late-game comeback to claim its first-ever road victory over a Sun Belt team Sunday, scoring a 77-73 win over South Alabama.
Junior Demaree King led the Gamecocks (2-1) to their second win in a row with a career-high 24 points on 8-for-11 shooting. All eight buckets came from beyond the arc, putting him just one trey shy of the school's single-game record for 3-pointers.
After trailing by as many as 16 points, the Jaguars (2-1) rallied back to cut the JSU lead to two in the waning minutes. Michael Flowers hit a 3-pointer with 1:34 to play to shorten the Gamecock score to 75-73. Following a Jax State timeout, Flowers missed a jumper and USA began fouling. Darian Adams missed a free-throw attempt that would have put JSU up three with 12 seconds left, and South Alabama called a timeout after grabbing the defensive rebound.
With two seconds on the clock and a shot in the paint in sight for the Jaguars, Flowers was called for traveling. JSU's Khalil Johnson was fouled on the inbound and went to the line for two. The forward hit both shots to put the game out of reach despite a last-second, three-quarters court shot that careened off the top of the backboard.
Before reaching a game-best 16-point lead in the second half, the Jax State advantage hit double digits just before halftime. With five seconds remaining on the clock, Jacksonville State inbounded under its own basket and fed King just across the half-court line. The junior threw up an open shot just to the right of the Jags' logo as the clock expired to make it a 39-29 game at the break.
King had 12 points at the half, complimented by eight points from Adams. More than half of Jacksonville State's first-half points (24) came from 8-for-22 from 3-point range.
Adams ended the night with 17 points as he and King became the first Gamecock duo this season to score in double in the same game. Meanwhile, point guard Jalen Finch dished out a career-best nine assists - the most for a JSU player since Malcolm Drumwright had a season-high nine against Belmont on Feb. 22, 2018.
Jacksonville State is 2-1 to begin a season for the first time since 2017-18 when the Gamecocks won games over Tennessee Wesleyan and Richmond before falling at Buffalo. Buffalo was coached by Nate Oats that season. Jax State's lone loss this season is to Oats' No. 25 Alabama.
MURRAY STATE 173, GREENVILLE 95
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers scored a record-breaking season opening win 173-95 over the visiting Greenville Panthers at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The 173 points were tied for the fourth-most by a Division I team in NCAA history.
The records that fell in the first game of the 96th season of Racer Basketball are many; including the MSU single-game scoring mark of 173, as it easily surpassed the 138 the Racers scored against Campbellsville at old Racer Arena in 1994. The combined score of 268 points is also a new MSU program record, besting the 233 the Racers and Southeast Missouri scored in 2014. MSU's first half scoring mark was 62, accomplished three times with the last coming in 2018. The Racers scored 87 in the opening half to smash that record. MSU's 86 points in the second half is also a school record, surpassing the old mark of 81 in the same 1994 game with Campbellsville.
The Racers also rewrote the record book in the Ohio Valley Conference with league records for points, points in one half, combined points and most field goals attempted.
Every one of MSU's 14 players scored, including 10 in double-figures. KJ Williams had 22 points and Devin Gilmore scored a career-high 20 as the two combined to make 20-of-23 shots. Justice Hill (three points shy with 10 rebounds and 11 assists) and Tevin Brown (two rebounds and one assist shy with 10 points) each flirted with a triple-double. Freshmen Dionte Bostick, Ja'Queze Kirby, Nicholas McMullen, Jackson Sivills and Matthew Smith all got into the act and scored their first points in their Murray State careers.
The style of play Greenville uses lends to high scoring games as they entered the contest averaging 99 points in losses to Samford and UMKC. The Racers held GU under their average and were able to handle the Panther's full-court press which led to scoring 62 fast break points and 142 points in the paint. The Racers also held a 79-31 advantage on the boards. The Racers ended the game making 77-of-105 from the field for 73 percent, while they held Greenfield to 28 percent on 30-of-107.
The win also pushed the Racers' home court winning streak to 22.