FRIDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 69, @Morehead State 65
Belmont 88, @Tennessee State 63
UT Martin 69, @Southeast Missouri 67
@#10 Tennessee 103,
Tennessee Tech 49
SIUE 69, MOREHEAD STATE 65
MOREHEAD, Ky. - SIUE men's basketball erased an early deficit and outlasted Morehead State to win its Ohio Valley Conference opener 69-65 Friday at Johnson Arena.
The Cougars improved to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in the OVC. It marks the second straight season the Cougars have won their OVC opener on the road. Morehead State dropped to 4-5 and 1-2 in the OVC.
The Eagles got off to a 7-0 start before Barone called a timeout with 17:23 to play in the first half. The Cougars scored the next 12 straight points and went on 19-5 run, never trailing in the game again.
SIUE built as much as an 11-point lead (25-14) in the first half and took a 35-30 advantage into the halftime.
After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Morehead State pulled even with the Cougars at 47 apiece when Ta'lon Cooper buried a three-pointer. The Cougars responded by scoring 15 of the next 20 points to lead 60-52 with 8:42 left. Sidney Wilson scored nine of the 15 points and had SIUE back up 10 (62-52) with a pair of free throws at 6:27. Wilson led the Cougars with 18 points in the game. Wilson also added career highs with nine rebounds and five assists.
Morehead State chipped away and got within three with 11 seconds to play after a Skyelar Potter three-pointer. Cam Williams hit one of two free throws with seven seconds left to seal the win. Wilson, Carlos Curtis and Lamar Wright each had big rebounds to help SIUE close out the game's final two minutes.
The Cougars connected on 50 percent of their shots, hitting 26 of 52 attempts, including eight of 16 three-point attempts. Curtis was the only other Cougar in double figures. He scored a career-best 13 points an added five rebounds. Williams scored nine points.
Johni Broome led Morehead State with 14 points. Potter scored 12, including three three-pointers.
The Eagles outrebounded SIUE 42-30. The Cougars finished with 16 assists on 26 made baskets.
BELMONT 88, TENNESSEE STATE 63
NASHVILLE - Behind a game-high 19 points from freshman JaCobi Wood, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee State, 88-63, Friday night.
After managing early fouls for junior Nick Muszynski and sophomore Ben Sheppard, Belmont led 34-27 at halftime. Consecutive 3-pointers from sophomore Mitch Listau increased the Belmont lead to 47-32 with 16:38 left.
Tennessee State closed within 50-42 on a Shakwon Barrett 3-pointer, but a second-chance slam from freshman Even Brauns capped an 11-0 Belmont response to make the score 61-42 with 10:32 remaining.
Belmont (7-1, 2-0 OVC) shot 67 percent from the field in the second half - including 7-for-13 from long distance. Belmont outrebounded Tennessee State, 42-24, and forced 21 Tiger turnovers.
Wood paced four Bruins in double figures, as Listau added a career-high 11 points. Muszynski and junior Luke Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) each scored 10.
Barrett led Tennessee State (0-3, 0-2 OVC) with 17 points.
UT MARTIN 69, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 67
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - For the first time since the 1989-90 season, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad is 3-0 as the Skyhawks grinded through a 69-67 triumph at Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri this evening.
UT Martin led for 36:15 of game time – holding a double-digit lead in the first half – but the host Redhawks tied the score at 67-all with eight seconds remaining. The Skyhawks elected to not call a timeout as Eden Holt received the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court, pulling up for a 15-foot jumper from the right baseline that rattled in for the game-winner with 0.2 seconds left.
Cameron Holden notched the first double-double of his budding UT Martin career tonight with game-highs of 24 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jaron Williams (13 points) and Holt (10 points, team-best five assists) joined Holden in double figures scoring while Kenton Eskridge and Anthony Thomas tossed in nine points apiece.
Southeast Missouri (2-4, 0-1 OVC) was led by Chris Harris’ 23 points. DQ Nicholas and Eric Reed, Jr. scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Redhawks.
Holden set the tone early for UT Martin, scoring the Skyhawks’ first seven points of the game. Williams swished a three-pointer at the 10:15 mark of the first half to cap off a 10-2 run and provide UT Martin with a 19-8 lead.
Southeast Missouri soon followed with a 12-0 run to claim its first advantage of the game. The lead traded hands seven times over the final 6:30 of the opening half before the two sides settled on a 31-31 score at the break.
Holden’s nine points guided the Skyhawks while Harris tallied 12 points in the first 20 minutes for the Redhawks.
A trifecta by Williams and an old-fashioned three-point play by Holden quickly pushed UT Martin’s lead back out to six points less than two minutes into the second stanza.
After Southeast Missouri trimmed its deficit to one point, the Skyhawk defense ramped up and held the Redhawks to zero field goals over a 6:16 stretch. As a result, UT Martin built up a 45-38 advantage after a putback jumper by Thomas midway through the second half.
Southeast Missouri began to heat up from three-point range down the stretch but the Skyhawks never played from behind in the second half. Eskridge sank a straightaway three-pointer late in the shot clock to snap a 54-54 tie with 5:18 remaining and Holden soon reeled off four consecutive points.
An Ajani Kennedy tip-in at the 1:18 mark provided UT Martin with a 67-62 lead but the Redhawks managed to tie things up with a Harris corner trey with eight seconds to go. Holt then drove coast-to-coast for another clutch shot, just 16 days after his game-tying three-pointer sent the Evansville game into overtime.
#10 TENNESSEE 103, TENNESSEE TECH 49
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team got a first-hand look at why in-state rival Tennessee came into the teams' match-up ranked 10th nationally Friday evening, falling to the Vols in Knoxville, 103-49.
Known for its defensive prowess this season, the Vols had yet to allow an opponent score reach the 60-point plateau, Tennessee saw an explosive output from its offense on the night, shooting over 58 percent from the field while holding the Golden Eagles to 31 percent on the other end of the floor.
Tech knocked back a couple of triples very early in the contest, keeping things tight at 10-6 heading into the first media break. The Vols flipped a switch on both sides of the ball, using their size advantage to their benefit with a 45-26 output on the glass.
The purple and gold dealt with some offensive cold spells in both halves, scoring in spurts but struggling to keep pace with a consistent and relentless attack on the other end of the floor.
Junior guard Jr. Clay led the Golden Eagles on offense, scoring all 13 of his points on the night in the second half. He also tied for the team lead with four rebounds and corralled a pair of steals.
Backcourt mate Keishawn Davidson joined him in double figures, producing 12 points and team-high three assists. JUCO transfer Damaria Franklin (pictured) chipped in eight points in the affair to round out Tech's leading scorers.
In the contest, CJ Gettelfinger became the first known Golden Eagle to call Knoxville home to score against the Vols in their home gym with a mid-range jumper early in the first half. The Oakland University transfer finished with two points and a rebound in five minutes off the bench.