SATURDAY'S SCORES
Omaha 65,
@SIUE 63
Eastern Illinois 93, @Green Bay 91 (2OT)
Samford 96,
@Belmont 83
@Murray State 76, Illinois State 65
OMAHA 65, SIUE 63
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Matt Pile's two-hand dunk, with a second to play, propelled Omaha to a 65-63 win over SIUE Saturday at First Community Arena.
The win snapped a two-game winning streak for the Cougars, who dropped to 2-3. Omaha improved to 2-4.
The Mavericks got out to a 7-0 lead and pushed the lead to as many as 18 (35-17) in the first half. SIUE used a 7-0 run to end the first half to trim the lead to 11 at 35-24 at halftime.
The run continued after the break, as the SIUE scored the first nine points of the second half to trim the lead to 2. Omaha was up three when Shamar Wright tied the game with a three-pointer at 14:42. Cam Williams gave the Cougars their first lead with a tripe at 9:22 to make it 44-43.
Courtney Carter pushed SIUE's lead to 61-58 after a turnover and bucket with 1:15 left, but Omaha's Marco Smith buried a three as the shot clock was running down to even the score with 45 seconds to play. Two free throws by Smith, followed by two free throws from SIUE's Mike Adewunmi had the score tied again with 27 seconds left.
Smith found Pile down low for the final score. Pile finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Smith finished with seven points and four assists.
Adewunmi paced the Cougars with his second straight double-double. He scored 13 points and added 10 rebounds.
Courtney Carter turned in his first double-digit scoring outing of the year, with 12 points.
The Cougars shot just 37.5 percent (21-56) from the field and were only 9-30 (30 percent) in the first half.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 93, GREEN BAY 91 (2OT)
GREEN BAY, Wis. - A flurry of activity in the final nine seconds of double overtime ended in Eastern Illinois advantage as the Panthers won 93-91 over Green Bay as George Dixon dropped in a put-back shot as time expired.
It was EIU's first win in Green Bay since Jan. 15, 1988 as the Panthers have now won back-to-back games to improve to 2-3 on the season. Green Bay fell to 0-3.
Marvin Johnson gave EIU a three point lead at 88-85 in the second overtime. Josh Jefferson would tie the game for Green Bay with 1:54 to play. Following an EIU turnover, Lucas Stieber hit a lay-up to give the Phoenix a 91-89 lead.
EIU, which struggled at the foul line in both overtime periods (7-of-16), went 2-of-4 at the line in final 1:30. With 9.9 seconds left Josiah Wallace went to the line for two shots. He made the first to tie the game at 91-91. On his second free throw his miss was pulled down by Sammy Friday IV. The Panthers ran last second offense and with a shot attempt off the mark landing in Dixon's hands, he converted the lay-up as time expired.
Wallace led EIU in scoring with 27 points, 23 of those coming in the second half and overtime. Friday posted his first EIU double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Dixon also added 12 rebounds for EIU.
The Panthers led 37-32 at the half. In the second half Green Bay hit 6-of-11 from 3-point range as the Phoenix led by as many as seven points.
Five Green Bay players scored in double figures led by Amari Davis with 20 points. Josh Jefferson (16 points) and PJ Pipes (18 points) both knocked down four 3-pointers for Green Bay.
Johnson scored in double figures for the third straight game for EIU finishing with 11 points while freshman Henry Abraham added 11.
SAMFORD 96, BELMONT 83
NASHVILLE - Belmont University men's basketball dropped a 96-83 decision to Samford Saturday afternoon from the Curb Event Center.
The visiting Bulldogs scored 11 of the first 14 points and kept the positive momentum throughout. Opportunistic Samford shooting coupled with a Belmont offense which struggled to find a rhythm saw the margin grow to 48-29 late in the first half on a Triston Chambers 3-pointer.
A scoring run from junior Luke Smith helped Belmont cut the margin to 52-39 at halftime.
Belmont (3-1) methodically worked closer behind defensive stops and free throws.
As Samford forward Christian Guess received his second technical foul and was ejected with 12:05 remaining, Belmont got within 62-56 on two free throws from freshman JaCobi Wood. But the 3-point line - traditionally kind to Belmont - was cruel on this day. As the Bruins endured a cold stretch Samford had timely responses.
Jacob Tryon's baseline 3-pointer capped an 8-0 Samford run to make the score 70-56 with 9:20 left. More Wood free throws and a 3-pointer from junior Grayson Murphy (Franklin, Tenn.) got Belmont within 76-73 with 5:25 remaining.
Just as Belmont appeared poised to take its first lead since the opening moments, consecutive 3-pointers from A.J. Staton-McCray and Preston Parks increased the margin to nine. Samford would make 11 free throws in the final 2:24.
All told, Belmont shot a season-low 34 percent (22-for-64) from the field - including 10-for-41 from 3-point distance. Meanwhile Samford went 14-for-30 from long distance. Though Belmont forced 19 turnovers, Samford held a plus-two advantage in points off turnovers.
Smith led four Bruins in double figures with 24 points. Junior Nick Muszynski (Pickerington, Ohio) had 19 points while Wood and Murphy each scored 17.
Myron Gordon led Samford (2-1) with 23 points.
Belmont had its 15 game-win streak snapped, and lost a non-conference home game for the first time in 1,104 days.
MURRAY STATE 76, ILLINOIS STATE 65
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers pushed their home win streak at the CFSB Center to 23 with a 76-65 victory over the Illinois State Redbirds in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers (2-1) host the Austin Peay Governors Tuesday in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.
MSU junior Tevin Brown became the 47th Racer to join the MSU 1000-Point Club with a terrific game of 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Brown's junior teammate, KJ Williams, posted his 10th career double-double with 15 and 11 rebounds. Demond Robinson added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Justice Hill tallied 15 points and six assists.
After falling behind in the first four minutes of the game 10-6, the Racers went on an 18-8 run for a 24-18 lead at the 8:18 mark of the first half. After starting the game 0-of-5 from the 3-point line, Brown hit his first and the Racers hit five more to grab a 44-31 lead at the halftime intermission.
MSU went 1-of-9 from the field to start the second half and the Redbirds were able to cut the lead to 47-40 with 14:22 left. Williams scored twice on backdoor cuts and Justice Hill hit back-to-back threes to push the lead back to 11 at 11:41. ISU made another run at the Racers and trimmed the lead to 67-62 with 4:06 left, but Chico Carter, Jr. sealed the game with a three with one minute left.
The Racers shot 50 percent for the game from the field (29-of-58) bolstered by 40 points in the paint. They limited ISU to 40 percent (25-of-62). After the slow start from the 3-point line, the Racers ended up shooting 43 percent (9-of-21), while ISU was 5-of-23 for 28 percent. The Racers had a 10-rebound edge, with a solid foundation of Williams, Brown and Robinson combining for 28 of their total of 44.