WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 68, Murray State 55
@Eastern Kentucky 69, Eastern Illinois 61
@Jacksonville State 80, UT Martin 70
Austin Peay 68, @Tennessee State 59
@Tennessee Tech 72, Southeast Missouri 63
BELMONT 68, MURRAY STATE 55
NASHVILLE - Behind a career-high 21 points from sophomore Ben Sheppard, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Murray State, 68-55, Wednesday night from the Curb Event Center.
Leading 26-25 at halftime despite 30 percent shooting, Belmont (9-1, 3-0 OVC) seized control early in the second half behind strong defense and precision offense.
A deep 3-pointer from junior Grayson Murphy followed by a Murphy-to-Sheppard fast break layin sparked a 9-0 Belmont run which gave the Bruins a 44-34 lead with 13:38 remaining. Murray State would get within seven points on three occassions, but Belmont had an answer through halfcourt execution and strong finishing at the rim.
Six Bruins scored during another 14-4 run, capped by a 3-pointer from junior Tate Pierson which increased the lead to 17, 66-49, with 3:20 left.
Belmont would shoot 60 percent from the field in the second half, while forcing 15 Murray State turnovers.
Sheppard also spearheaded a Belmont defensive effort which limited Murray State All-OVC guard Tevin Brown to six points on 2-for-8 shooting.
Murphy added 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, while junior Nick Muszynski had 12 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Brion Whitley led Murray State (4-4, 1-2 OVC) with 15 points.
Belmont has won 10 of 15 meetings vs. Murray State since joining the OVC in 2013.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, EASTERN ILLINOIS 61
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team held off Eastern Illinois University down the stretch for a 69-61 victory on Wednesday at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels (8-2, 2-1 OVC) saw a 9-point lead early in the second half dwindle to just one point on two occasions, but the Panthers (3-5, 0-1 OVC) couldn’t get over the hump.
The Eastern Kentucky lead was just two, 56-54, after Marvin Johnson’s dunk for EIU with 7:49 left in the game. EKU answered with a 7-2 run to build a 7-point cushion. A steal, dunk and free throw from Curt Lewis put the home team in front 63-56.
Eastern Illinois was within four in the final minute, but Tre King put back a miss with 50 seconds remaining and the Colonels made all four of their free throws in the final minute to hang on.
Eastern Kentucky held the Panthers to 33 percent shooting on the night and forced 24 turnovers. EKU shot 44 percent from the field for the game and turned those EIU turnovers into 23 points.
King scored a game-best 22 points and pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. Lewis finished with nine points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Wendell Green Jr. had nine points, five steals, three rebounds and three assists.
King’s put-back early in the second half gave Eastern Kentucky a 9-point lead, 45-36. A lay-up and free throw from Sammy Friday IV with 12:45 left in the game got EIU to within one, 51-50. George Dixon’s two free throws with 11:50 showing on the clock made it a 1-point game again, 53-52.
Dixon put Eastern Illinois in front by one, 23-22, with 6:51 remaining in the first half, but Cooper Robb scored the next four points for EKU and the Colonels never trailed again. Robb’s jumper and two free throws made it 26-23. A 3-pointer by Robb from the left wing later in the first half pushed the margin to six, 33-27. An old-fashioned 3-point play by Lewis with 29 seconds to play in the first half sent the home team to the locker room with a 7-point advantage, 43-36.
EKU made 53 percent of its shots in the first half and turned nine Eastern Illinois turnovers into 14 points.
Dixon led the Panthers with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 80, UT MARTIN 70
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - - Junior Amanze Ngumezi led the Jacksonville State men's basketball team to an 80-70 win Wednesday night over UT Martin at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The forward scored a career-high 20 points and was just two rebounds shy of the team's first double-double, helping the Gamecocks (7-2, 3-0 OVC) overcome a second-half Skyhawk (3-3, 1-1 OVC) rally.
Jax State led 45-23 at halftime, but UTM enjoyed a 47-point second half to cut the game's final to a 10-point deficit.
Jacksonville State's biggest lead of the game came with just 3:14 to play before the half. The Gamecocks scored 10-straight points midway through the period, highlighted by one of three big dunks from Ngumezi. The Savannah, Ga., native totaled seven points and six boards at the half, while fellow transfer Darian Adams led the home team with 12 points at halftime.
With Ngumezi and Adams combining to go 6-for-9 from the floor in the opening stanza, the Gamecocks shot 53.3 percent (16-for-30), while the defense held the Skyhawks' shooters to just 28.1 percent (9-for-32) in the first 20 minutes of action.
Despite its biggest run coming on six consecutive, UT Martin rallied back in the second half to cut its deficit to nine points with one minute to play. That was the narrowest gap the game had seen since the 10:09 mark of the first period when the Gamecocks lead stood at just eight.
UTM junior Cameron Holden was the catalyst for the Skyhawks, going 6-for-12 from the field with seven made free throws for 19 points in the final 17 minutes of the game to bring his night's total to 23.
Freshman Anthony Thomas scored all 15 of his points in the closing half to aid Holden's efforts in the late-game push, but a scoring drought of more than four minutes at the final media timeout all but ended the Skyhawks' chances of a comeback win in Jacksonville. The Gamecock defense held UTM to 0-for-6 shooting during the stretch, and another thunderous dunk from Ngumezi slammed the door shut.
AUSTIN PEAY 68, TENNESSEE STATE 59
NASHVILLE - In its first dose of post-Christmas action, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team traveled to the Music City for contest in the unfriendly confines of the Gentry Center and emerged with a true road win against Tennessee State for the first time since 2014, coming out ahead in a 68-59 Ohio Valley Conference decision, Wednesday.
A Mike Peake three-point play got the Govs going early and kicked off a back-and-forth exchange that would last for the first 10 or so minutes. After that, the teams began exchanging runs—a 9-0 Governor jaunt, followed by a 7-0 answer by the Tigers. Then the resumption of traded buckets began again before the Govs scored six straight into and out of the final first-half media timeout, followed immediately by eight in a row for the hosts to take the game into halftime with the Govs leading 35-33.
After neither team could find sustained momentum in the first half, the second half saw the Govs come out strong and begin to put the game out of reach. Austin Peay (6-3, 2-1 OVC) scored 14 of the first 17 points in the second half, including a Terry Taylor putback slam and a Tai'Reon Joseph banked-in three-pointer, to put the game in Governor hands.
The Tigers would cut into the deficit—even without Carlos Marshall Jr., the all-OVC choice whose performance down the stretch turned momentum against the Govs in last season's meeting in Nashville, Tennessee State (1-5, 0-3 OVC) head coach Brian Collins had some surprises in store to get his team back in it. Amorey Womack's trio of three-pointers proved to be timely, especially the two in the second half, and the Tigers amped up their defense over the final 10 minutes or so, as Austin Peay was held to 5-for-17 shooting with a trio of turnovers to finish the contest. But if the Govs found the scoring difficult toward the end of regulation, the Tigers found it nigh-impossible; Tennessee State hit just eight shots from the floor the entire second half and could never mount a sustained charge to trim the lead into a one- or two-possession game after Austin Peay's early second-half success.
Reginald Gee led all scorers with 20 points on the night, equaling his career high as a Gov; Taylor added 11 and 12 rebounds while Mike Peake, in his return to the starting lineup, chipped in with 10. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. was the only Tiger in double figures, finishing with 13 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 63
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A strong effort from every part of the roster on both sides of the ball led the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to victory Wednesday evening. The Golden Eagles (1-9, 1-2) collected their first victory of the 2020-21 season, defeating visiting Southeast Missouri (2-6, 0-2), 72-63 to end a long and tough 2020 calendar year on a high note.
The offense, led by junior guard Jr. Clay, paced the Golden Eagles early, taking a 15-point lead into the half with 38 points on the board. In the second, half, turnovers and fouls found their way into the mix, allowing the Redhawks to close the gap to within four points with six-and-a-half minutes to play.
The defense was special in the contest, forcing 19 SEMO turnovers and racking up 12 steals. The purple and gold also outworked the Redhawks on the glass, gaining a 35-30 advantage.
Amadou Sylla turned in one of his best showings of his career while making his first start of the year. The junior notched 13 points, including eight big ones early in the contest, and seven rebounds. He scored each of Tech's first six points as the team opened the night on an 11-2 run.
Off the bench, JUCO transfer Damaria Franklin added 11 points, a team-high eight boards and two steals while graduate transfer Shandon Goldman posted six points on a pair of clutch triples down the stretch. Keishawn Davidson scored nine points with four assists
The star of the night was Jr. Clay, who balled out to the tune of a season and game-high 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals. He set career highs with 11 free throws made and 14 attempted while making a 3-pointer for the 20th-consecutive game dating back to last season. Shooting 50 percent from the field, he turned in his 56th double-digit scoring contest to climb the all-time leaderboard into a tie for 19th.
With the win, the Golden Eagles collected their third-straight victory over the Redhawks and fourth-straight against SEMO in Cookeville. Pelphrey moved to 4-0 in his coaching career against Southeast Missouri, including a 3-0 mark while at Tech.
Tech will look to snag its first victory on the road and in the year 2021 on Saturday, Jan. 2 with a trip to Eastern Illinois. The 4:00 p.m. CT tilt kicks off a three-game road slate for the purple and gold, with a visit to "Death Valley" and match-ups with Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State on the horizon.