SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 66, Tennessee State 63
Murray State 59, @SIUE 58
@Eastern Illinois 83, Austin Peay 80 (OT)
@Jacksonville State 72, UT Martin 58
@Tennessee Tech 71, Southeast Missouri 62
Belmont 83, @Eastern Kentucky 70
MOREHEAD STATE 66, TENNESSEE STATE 63
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State's men's basketball team claimed a crucial Ohio Valley Conference victory Saturday, fending off Tennessee State 66-63.
The Eagles, who improved to 7-9 in the league, are still in the hunt for an OVC Tournament berth as they avenged an earlier loss to the Tigers (16-13/8-8 OVC).
It was Senior Day for guards Jordan Walker and Djimon Henson, but it was a junior who stole the show. Forward James Baker scored a career-high 21 points, including 17 in the first half. Baker also corralled a season-best nine rebounds.
Henson added 14 points, while freshman point guard Ta'lon Cooper played a career-high 37 minutes and totaled 11 points, career-best eight assists and had just one turnover.
MURRAY STATE 59, SIUE 58
EDWARDSVILLE, lll. - The Murray State Racers scored their 20th win of the season in a 59-58 last-second victory Saturday afternoon over the SIUE Cougars at the Vadalebene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois.
The drama of a shrinking second half lead and then a five-point deficit with a minute left was washed away in a blink when Tevin Brown hit a deep 3-point shot to give the Racers the winning margin with nine seconds left.
The win gives the Racers (20-8) and head coach Matt McMahon a third-straight 20-win seasons for just the third time by the same coach. MSU goes into the final week of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season at 13-3, still looking for their third-consecutive championship. The Racers host Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 27) and Austin Peay (Feb. 29) at the CFSB Center.
Jaiveon Eaves tied his career high with 21 points after hitting his first five 3-point attempts and Tevin Brown added 10 points as his winning shot was his first made 3-pointer of the day.
Eaves and the MSU defense was the story in the opening half. He had an 8-0 run all by himself to give the Racers a 24-13 lead with 8:34 left. Chico Carter, Jr. hit a three with a few seconds on the clock and the Racers enjoyed a 36-19 at the intermission. MSU held the Cougars to 29 percent shooting in the first half including 0-of-8 from the 3-point line.
In the second half, the Racers went cold and SIUE got hot to tie take the lead with 2:11 left at 52-52.
When the clock ticked to one minute remaining, the Racers were down 57-52. Devin Gilmore scored twice and the score was 57-56 with 34 seconds left. With 30 seconds remaining, SIUE hit a free throw to make their lead 58-56 setting up Brown’s heroics. Carter drove across the lane and hit Brown on the wing where he made the 3-pointer to put the Racers up 59-58. The Racers held the Cougars out in the final nine seconds to get a big win.
The Racers ended the day hitting 39 percent (20-of-51) and 33 percent from the 3-point line (7-of-21). MSU held the Cougars to 40 percent from the field (20-of-50) and 14 percent from the 3-point line (2-of-14).
EASTERN ILLINOIS 83, AUSTIN PEAY 80 (OT)
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A weekend full of comebacks best describes what the Eastern Illinois men's basketball team just went through. The Panthers trailed OVC co-leader Murray State by 27 points with 11:45 remaining on Thursday night before rallying to win 63-60.
On Saturday, the Panthers once again found themselves trailing an OVC leader by double digits with over 11 minutes to go. EIU once again rallied, this time in overtime, as they beat Austin Peay 83-80 in overtime sweeping the weekend home series.
The Panthers improved to 14-14 on the season, 7-9 in the OVC. APSU fell to 19-10 overall, 13-3 in the OVC.
The two teams traded the lead 14 times in the first half with Austin Peay taking a 35-34 lead into the locker room at the half. Terry Taylor scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half. EIU shot 52 percent in the opening half but APSU held the lead with a rebounding margin.
EIU and APSU continued to trade the lead through the opening five minutes of the second half before Jordyn Adams took control for the Governors. He scored 26 of his game-high 31 points in the half. He had three 3-pointers in the span of one minute, forty seconds that pushed APSU's lead out to 61-48 with 11:11 to play.
After EIU cut it back to single digits on a Josiah Wallace jumper and Jordan Skipper-Brown dunk, Taylor answered to make it a double digit Governors lead with 8:46 left to play.
The Panthers then went on extended 14-4 run with Skipper-Brown scoring four points and both Mack Smith and Shareef Smith draining big 3's. A lay-up by Mack Smith tied it at 67-67 with 3:07 left to play as he finished with 15 points, one of four Panthers in double figures.
George Dixon tied the game with 29 seconds left in regulation before Adams missed a long jumper with two seconds in regulation.
The teams traded the lead three more times with two ties in overtime before EIU closed out the game at the free throw line. Wallace hit a pair of free throws and Mack Smith added one with five seconds left. Austin Peay had three shots in the final 51 seconds including two missed 3-pointers.
Wallace led EIU with 23 points. Dixon posted his tenth double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Shareef Smith had ten.
Taylor had a double-double pulling down 16 rebounds to go with his 26 points. Eli Abaev had 11 rebounds as APSU won the battle on the glass 41-34, but both teams collected 11 offensive rebounds.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 72, UT MARTIN 58
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team completed the season sweep of UT Martin on Saturday, earning a 72-58 win at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (12-17, 7-9 OVC) win over the Skyhawks (8-19, 4-12 OVC) brought JSU its first weekend sweep of Ohio Valley Conference play since opening weekend on the road, and marked the first set of back-to-back wins on Bill Jones Court in league action this season.
Jacara Cross and Kayne Henry each scored in double figures. Cross led the way with his team-leading fifth 20-point game of the year, while Henry came just two points shy of the mark with 18.
Jacksonville State held its opponent to under 60 points for the second game in a row, and out-rebounded the visitors 28-22 with the help of a zone defense.
Henry scored all 18 of his points in the first half, going 6-for-8 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. His big half overshadowed a quiet 11-point half from Cross.
UT Martin came out and took a quick 5-0 lead to begin the game, but Jax State retaliated soon after and found a 6-0 run to jump ahead 16-9 near the halfway mark of the period. The Skyhawks turned the ball over four times during a four-minute stretch, allowing JSU to gain control.
Martin came back to tie the game 18-18, but it was short-lived as Cross came up with a basket and foul to send the Gamecocks up three. JSU held onto the lead and took a 36-25 advantage going into the locker room at halftime.
The closest the Skyhawks came to the lead after the half was nine points - the same total they trailed by at the end of the first. Cross kept the visitors away with nine more points, and sophomore De'Torrion Ware pitched in nine second-half points to help spark the offense. The sharp-shooter was 3-for-8 from the floor with a pair of 3-pointers in the closing 20 minutes.
For the Skyhawks, star forward Quintin Dove scored 26 points and Derek Hawthorne Jr. had another 20, but the next-highest scorer was Hannes Polla with six. Aside from Dove and Hawthorne, Jacksonville State held the other four UTM scorers to just 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting (26.3%).
TENNESSEE TECH 71, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 62
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Keishawn Davidson had 14 points to lead five Tennessee Tech players in double figures as the Golden Eagles defeated Southeast Missouri State 71-62 on Saturday.
Tujautae Williams and Jr. Clay added 12 points apiece for the Golden Eagles. Amadou Sylla and Darius Allen chipped in 10 points each. Clay also had seven assists.
Quatarrius Wilson had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Redhawks (7-22, 3-13 Ohio Valley Conference). Skyler Hogan added 15 points. Isaiah Gable had 13 points.
Alex Caldwell, who was second on the Redhawks in scoring entering the matchup with 12 points per game, shot only 20 percent for the game (3 of 15).
BELMONT 83, EASTERN KENTUCKY 70
RICHMOND, Ky. - Behind a game-high 22 points from sophomore Adam Kunkel, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Eastern Kentucky, 83-70, Saturday night.
Kunkel scored 11 points in the first three minutes as Belmont staked an early 13-5 lead.
The Bruins led wire-to-wire, attacking the hosts pressure defense for scores, while holding Eastern Kentucky leading scorer and All-OVC guard Jomaru Brown to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Two free throws from freshman Ben Sheppard and a basket from sophomore Grayson Murphy gave Belmont a 42-30 halftime lead. After Eastern Kentucky closed within 46-40 on a Brown 3-pointer, Kunkel capped a decisive 20-3 run with a dunk to make the score 66-43 with 12:08 left.
Belmont shot 54 percent from the field in the second half and made 12 3-point field goals for the game. Belmont had 14 steals and forced 21 Eastern Kentucky turnovers.
Graduate student Tyler Scanlon had 14 points, while Murphy added 13 points, seven assists and a career-high tying seven steals. Sheppard had 10.
Sophomore Nick Muszynski, who injured his left ankle in Belmont's victory at Morehead State Thursday, started the game and played 10 minutes.
Lachlan Anderson led Eastern Kentucky (14-15, 11-5 OVC) with 15 points.
Based on other results in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday, Belmont moves into a first-place tie with two regular season conference games remaining.