SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 85, UT Martin 77
@Eastern Kentucky 70, Southeast Missouri 57
@Austin Peay 68, Eastern Illinois 64
Belmont 78, @Jacksonville State 64
@Murray State 74, SIUE 55
Tennessee State 72, @Tennessee Tech 67 (OT)
MOREHEAD STATE 85, UT MARTIN 77
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior Jordan Walker netted a team-high 22 points, including 17 in the second half, to lead four players who scored double digits as the Morehead State men's hoops team held off UT Martin 85-77 Saturday at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who have still not lost to the Skyhawks at home since 2005-06, moved to 10-2 at home in 2019-20 and to 11-12 overall. The Eagles are also now 5-5 in the OVC. UTM slipped to 6-15 overall and 2-8 in the league.
Morehead State scored 52 points in the second half against UTM, a season-high for points in a half against Division I competition.
The Eagles shot 50 percent for the second consecutive game and also nailed 9-of-18 three-pointers. Senior guard Djimon Henson and freshman guard Ta'lon Cooper combined for 7-of-11 triples and both registered 14 points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 70, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 57
RICHMOND, Ky. - Lachlan Anderson hit a career-high six 3-pointers to lead the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team to a 70-57 win over Southeast Missouri State University on Saturday at McBrayer Arena. At 8-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Colonels are off to their best start in league play in 41 years.
The last time EKU started conference play with eight wins in 10 games was during the 1978-79 season. That squad began the OVC schedule with a 9-2 mark.
Anderson came off the bench to make 7-of-13 shots from the field, including 6-of-12 from behind the arc. He finished with a game-best and season-high 20 points.
After Nygal Russell put in a lay-up to draw Southeast Missouri to within six, 54-48, with 8:53 left in the game, Eastern rolled off a 12-4 run to put the contest out of reach. Jomaru Brown hit five free throws and Anderson nailed a pair of 3-pointers during the run. Anderson’s long ball from the right wing with 2:44 left in the game put the Colonels on top 66-53.
The first half featured an exchange of long runs by each team. Trailing by three, Eastern used a 13-0 run to take a 10-point lead, 21-11. Anderson scored eight of the 13, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and landing a put-back dunk.
Later in the half, the Redhawks rolled off a 12-2 run to turn a 10-point deficit into a tie game. A dunk by Jordan Love capped the run and knotted the score 31-31 with 25 seconds showing on the clock. Ty Tayler buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Colonels to the locker room in front 34-31.
Eastern Kentucky eased out to an eight-point lead in the second half before SEMO closed within five midway through the period. A pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions by Anderson stretched the lead to nine, 54-45, with 10:13 remaining. The Redhawks immediately closed the gap to six before EKU put the game away with its 12-4 run.
The Colonels shot 39 percent from the field for the game and 31 percent (10-for-32) from 3-point range, but turned 18 Southeast Missouri turnovers into 23 points.
Brown finished with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. Taylor scored 13 points and pulled down seven boards.
SEMO made 37 percent of its shots overall and 28 percent from deep (5-for-18). Sage Tobert led the visitors with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Love added 12 points.
AUSTIN PEAY 68, EASTERN ILLINOIS 64
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University men's basketball team survived an outstanding effort from an Eastern Illinois side poised to score a major upset in the Ohio Valley Conference, rallying back from a double-digit first half deficit to score a 68-64 win to keep the Govs atop the league standings.
After pushing Murray State to the limit Thursday night on the other side of the border, Eastern Illinois was unlikely to be fazed by the raucous crowd that filed into the Dunn Center on Saturday. Lacking the pop they displayed against SIU Edwardsville, the Govs found themselves unable to find room to maneuver in the post early on, while Eastern Illinois countered by hitting 61.5 percent from the floor for the half.
One place the Govs have found success this season has been getting second and third chances on the offensive end thanks to the work of Terry Taylor and Eli Abaev. The duo were up against the most formidable opponent they have faced since league play started in Eastern Illinois, whose kamikaze style of relentless board-crashing centered around the vortex of George Dixon, the league's second-leading rebounder. Austin Peay garnered just two offensive rebounds over the opening 20 minutes.
It was important the Govs closed out the first half on a high note after trailing by as much as 13 points. Austin Peay got a much-needed change in momentum, outscoring the Panthers 11-5 over the final five minutes of the half, with Taylor and freshman Carlos Paez each converting three-point plays to take chunks out of the deficit.
As the Govs were making a run early in the second half, a crisis struck when Taylor was saddled with a third foul of the questionable variety. Just over a minute later, Antwuan Butler picked up No. 3 battling for a loose ball. Suddenly, under the most dire home circumstances they'd faced this season, Austin Peay was without two starters for a few minutes.
Credit the reserves for holding Eastern Illinois at bay, particularly Matheus Silveira and Alec Woodard who replaced the duo. Credit Taylor, who only sat two minutes, and Butler with not picking what would have been a truly devastating fourth foul. Austin Peay kept its cool as a team and began to chip away at the deficit. Threes from Taylor, Jordyn Adams and Evan Hinson helped cut the deficit from seven to two at the 10-minute mark.
Butler gave the Govs their first lead with 9:10 remaining, absorbing contact on a jumper and sinking the and-one opportunity. One possession later, Adams picked up a steal and swooped to the hoop to put the Govs up three.
Eastern Illinois' Mack Smith has the nation's longest streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer, which he extended to 71 games in this contest, and he provided the Panthers a prime opportunity to snatch momentum away from the Govs with back-to-back threes with under three to play to put Eastern Illinois ahead by four. But back-to-back buckets by Butler and Adams tied the game with a minute to play.
An Eastern Illinois shot clock violation gave the Govs the ball with 40 seconds to play. Austin Peay walked it into the front court and chewed clock until Paez, driving baseline, found a cutting Eli Abaev at the hoop. Abaev had only two shots on the night, but this one found twine to give Austin Peay the lead with 10.2 ticks remaining.
On the other end of the court, Butler stole the ball on an Eastern Illinois drive but was fouled, setting up a one-and-one opportunity. The first attempt drew iron, but Taylor skied to tip the ball up… and up… and into the net to make it a four-point game with less than three seconds to play. He stole the inbounds pass for good measure to ensure the Govs would go home victorious.
BELMONT 78, JACKSONVILLE STATE 64
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Belmont University men's basketball defeated Jacksonville State, 78-64, Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore Caleb Hollander capped an 18-0 second half run that gave Belmont a 59-42 lead with 10:46 left. Graduate student Tyler Scanlon scored 12 of his team-high 19 points in the second half and sophomore Adam Kunkel went 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 1:53 to secure the victory.
Belmont (16-7, 7-3 OVC) scored 39 points off 22 Jacksonville State turnovers.
Sophomore Nick Muszynski scored Belmont's first 12 points of the game. muszynski and Kunkel each scored 13, Hollander added 12. Freshman Ben Sheppard had 10.
Sophomore Grayson Murphy had eight points, five rebounds, six assists and a career-high seven steals.
Jacara Cross led Jacksonville State (9-14, 4-6 OVC) with 25 points.
MURRAY STATE 74, SIUE 55
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers posted their 11-straight win Saturday in a 74-55 victory over the SIUE Cougars and kept a share of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers (17-5) moved to 10-0 in the OVC, while winning for the 21st time against league opponents and for the 18th consecutive time at home.
The largest crowd of the season of 7,512 attended and witnessed Racer great Ja Morant, at halftime, seeing his No. 12 retired and hung in the rafters at The Bank.
KJ Williams scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, while Tevin Brown scored 17 points to go with three assists. Jaiveon Eaves added 14 points and Anthony Smith grabbed 12 rebounds with nine points.
Leading 35-26 at the halftime intermission, the Racers found themselves in a 46-46 tie with 12:42 remaining after the Cougars started the second half on a 20-11 run. MSU responded with an 11-0 run to take a 57-46 lead at 8:35 on a basket by Williams. The Racers pushed to their biggest lead of 17 with 3:57 left.
The Racers outscored SIUE 39-29 in the second half and enjoyed having the lead for 36:55 of the game.
The Racers held SIUE to 31 percent shooting on 19-of-62, while the Racers hit 26-of-55 for 47 percent. From the time the game was tied at 46-46, MSU limited the Cougars to 1-of-17 shooting. After dropping the rebound battle to Eastern Illinois Thursday night, MSU came back to win this one 41-32 and limit SIUE to eight second-chance points.
TENNESSEE STATE 72, TENNESSEE TECH 67 (OT)
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Picture this. 1.7 seconds left in regulation. The Tennessee State men’s basketball team down 61-58 after Tennessee Tech’s leading scorer sank three free-throws. The referee hands Carlos Marshall, Jr. the ball under TTU’s goal. He chucks it clear up the floor. Wesley Harris catches it at the top of the key and dishes it to Jy’lan Washington on the wing. Washington pulls up and sinks it.
Moving into overtime, TTU knocked in the first two points at the charity stripe before the Tigers outscored the Golden Eagles, 11-4 in the final minutes of play to win 72-67.
Marshall and Emmanuel Egbuta led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points a piece, while Wesley Harris marked his fourth double-double of the season, second in-a-row with 10 points, 10 rebounds.
The Tigers split the four-game road swing with its win over TTU and are 14-9 overall, 6-4 in OVC play.