THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 65, Tennessee Tech 62
@Murray State 74, Eastern Kentucky 62
Eastern Illinois 72, @Southeast Missouri 70
@Tennessee State 65, Jacksonville State 55
SIUE 90, @UT Martin 75
@Austin Peay 67, Morehead State 58
BELMONT 65, TENNESSEE TECH 62
NASHVILLE - Behind 23 points and seven rebounds from sophomore Nick Muszynski, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Tennessee Tech, 65-62, Thursday night from the Curb Event Center.
Belmont (23-7, 14-3 OVC) led 38-30 at halftime and scored the first four points of the second half before Tennessee Tech found the range from behind the arc to work back into the game.
A Jr. Clay layin made the score 55-54 with six minutes remaining. Muszynski would score six of Belmont's next seven points as the Bruins extended to a 62-56 lead with 3:41 left. After one Tyler Scanlon free throw gave Belmont a 65-62 advantage, both teams exchanged defensive stops before Clay missed a desperation 3-pointer with three seconds left.
Belmont was awarded possession following the miss, and inbounded successfully to secure the victory.
All told, Belmont shot 46 percent (25-for-55) from the field, including 9-for-24 from 3-point distance. Scanlon added 16 points, while sophomore Grayson Murphy (Franklin, Tenn.) had seven points, six rebounds and six assists.
Keishawn Davidson led Tennessee Tech (9-21, 6-11 OVC) with 17 points.
MURRAY STATE 74, EASTERN KENTUCKY 62
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers scored a 74-62 victory over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels Thursday and kept alive their goal of winning a third-straight Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship as they stretched their home court win streak to 20 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (21-8) improved to 14-3 in the OVC and remained in a three-way share of first place with the Belmont Bruins and Austin Peay Governors.
KJ Williams and Tevin Brown each had a double-double for the Racers. Brown scored all 21 of his points in the second half to go with 10 rebounds, while Williams had 20 points and 14 rebounds. Jaiveon Eaves added 14 points.
With the game tied 29-29 at the halftime intermission, the Racers fell behind when EKU started the second half with an 8-2 run. MSU took the lead for good with 10:09 left when Brown made a shot and was fouled. Even though he missed the free throw, the Racers had a 50-48 lead and never gave it up. With 5:34 left, Chico Carter, Jr., hit a 3-pointer for a 60-54 lead. With 2:36 remaining, Williams scored for a nine-point lead for the Racers.
MSU had no offensive rebounds in the first half, but came back to 12 in the second half and won the rebound stat 47-39. After going 3-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half, the Racers hit 19-of-22 in the second half and ended the game hitting 69 percent on 22-of-32.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 70
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eastern Illinois held off a couple of late Southeast Missouri charges on Thursday night as the Panthers escaped the Show Me Center with a 72-70 win.
EIU improved to 15-14 overall, 8-9 in the OVC as the Panthers clinched a spot in this year’s OVC Tournament next week in Evansville. SEMO fell to 7-23 overall, 3-14 in the OVC.
EIU led by as many as 12 points late in the first half as the Panthers held the lead for most of the game. The Panthers built a double figure lead on a Josiah Wallace jumper with 1:23 left in the first half as EIU led 36-26 at the half.
SEMO made several charges early in the second half closing the EIU lead to four points on a couple of occasions. The Redhawks did early damage in the half at the foul line going 14-of-17 from the stripe in the second half.
Shareef Smith connected for a pair of free throws for EIU after SEMO cut the lead to 63-61 with 3:33 to play. Following a lay-up by Sage Tolbert, Wallace answered once again for the Panthers pushing the lead back to four points.
The Redhawks trimmed the lead to one on a 3-pointer by Isaiah Gable with 2:31 left to play. Skyler Hogan gave SEMO its first lead since the early portion of the game with 2:07 left as he converted a fast break. Hogan was one of three SEMO players in double figures finishing with 14 points.
Wallace connected at the line on the Panthers next possession to put EIU back in front. His jumper with 58 seconds left gave the Panthers a 71-68 lead. Wallace scored 29 points reaching the 20-point mark for the seventh straight game.
Marvin Johnson scored 11 off the bench while Mack Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers to extend his streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer made to 78 straight games.
Tolbert posted a double-double for SEMO with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Quatarrius Wilson had 19 points.
TENNESSEE STATE 65, JACKSONVILLE STATE 55
NASHVILLE (AP) - Shakem Johnson had 17 points as Tennessee State topped Jacksonville State 65-55 on Thursday night.
Wesley Harris had 13 points and seven rebounds for Tennessee State (17-13, 9-8 Ohio Valley Conference). Michael Littlejohn added 10 points and six rebounds.
Jacksonville State scored 13 first-half points, a season low for the team.
Kayne Henry had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Gamecocks (12-18, 7-10). Jacara Cross added 12 points.
SIUE 90, UT MARTIN 75
MARTIN, Tenn. - Five SIUE players scored in double figures Thursday and the Cougars led wire to wire, defeating UT Martin 90-75 at the Elam Center.
A 14-0 run over a four-plus minute stretch in the first half allowed SIUE to build a 23-6 lead and the Cougars never looked back, improving to 8-22 overall and 5-12 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
UT Martin fell to 4-13 in the OVC and 8-20 overall.
The Cougars took a 50-29 lead into the break. The 50 points were the most in a first half for the Cougars and the 21-point lead was SIUE's greatest halftime advantage against a Division I opponent.
The Cougars swelled their lead to as many as 25 in the second half when a Cam Williams' three-pointer made it 58-33.
SIUE connected on 48 percent (33-69) of its shots, including knocking down 11 of 24 three-pointers. Brandon Jackson paced SIUE with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. It was the first 20-point game of the season for the senior and the sixth of his career. Jackson now has 897 points and is 22nd all time in career scoring at SIUE.
Shamar Wright and Zeke Moore each scored 13 points and dished out three and four assists, respectively. Kenyon Duling tied his career-high with 11 points and Tyresse Williford scored 10 and added six assists. Iziah James scored seven points and provided a career-best five assists.
SIUE finished the game with a season-best 27 assists as a group.
UT Martin made two separate 7-0 runs late in the second half thanks to improved shooting. The Skyhawks were just 9-39 (23 percent) from the floor in the first half and just 1-13 from three-point range. They connected on 16 of 30 (53 percent) of their shots in the second half.
Quintin Dove led UT Martin with a double-double of 26 points and a career-best 22 rebounds. Derek Hawthorne scored 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds for UTM, which outrebounded SIUE 49-41.
AUSTIN PEAY 67, MOREHEAD STATE 58
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Terry Taylor had 20 points and 12 rebounds as Austin Peay stretched its home winning streak to 14 games, defeating Morehead State 67-58 on Thursday night.
Jordyn Adams had 15 points and eight rebounds for Austin Peay (20-10, 14-3 Ohio Valley Conference). Eli Abaev added 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Tyzhaun Claude had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Eagles (13-17, 7-10). James Baker added 12 points. Jordan Walker had 11 points.
Djimon Henson, the Eagles' second leading scorer coming into the matchup at 11 points per game, was held to four points. He failed to make a shot from beyond the arc (0 of 5).