THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 71, Murray State 64
Morehead State 58, @SIUE 49
@Southeast Missouri 76, Jacksonville State 72
Eastern Kentucky 91, @Eastern Illinois 84
@UT Martin 74, Tennessee Tech 62
@Tennessee State 70, Austin Peay 68
BELMONT 71, MURRAY STATE 64
NASHVILLE - Belmont University men's basketball defeated Murray State, 71-64, Thursday night from the Curb Event Center.
In the second meeting in two weeks between two of the nation's most tradition-rich programs, Belmont rode strong inside scoring and spirited defense in leading virtually wire-to-wire.
Belmont led 32-26 at halftime, but did not make a 3-point field goal until sophomore Adam Kunkel sank a wing triple to give the Bruins a 37-28 lead with 17:48 remaining.
Timely scoring from Devin Gilmore and DaQuan Smith gave Murray State a brief 46-45 lead.
Graduate student Tyler Scanlon scored seven points during a decisive 10-0 Belmont run to make the score 55-46 with 8:46 left.
Murray State would get within three points, but Kunkel and Scanlon would combine to score 14 of Belmont's final 16 points to secure the victory.
All told, Belmont (17-7, 8-3 OVC) shot 45 percent from the field and forced 22 Murray State turnovers.
Scanlon led three Bruins in double figures with a season-high 21 points and nine rebounds. Kunkel added 20, while sophomore Nick Muszynski had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Gilmore led Murray State (17-6, 10-1 OVC) with 13 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 58, SIUE 49
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Morehead State may have had its toughest first-half shooting night of the season, but the Men's Basketball Eagle defense clamped down as well en route to a 58-49 win at SIUE Thursday night.
The Eagles, who scored only 16 first-half points, also held the host Cougars to only 15 in the first 20 minutes and limited SIUE to 1-for-17 from three-point range overall and to 30 percent from the field in the game. The Eagles swept the season series from the Cougars and improved to 12-12 overall and 6-5 in the OVC.
The 15 first-half points allowed tied for the program's lowest since allowing 15 to host Saint Louis University in a road victory in the 2010-11 season.
MSU also heated up finally in the second half, shooting 59 percent, as the Eagles used a late surge to thwart the Cougars' win hopes.
Junior guard Juice Thomas led the surge with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Freshman forward Tyzhaun Claude cashed in a team-best 12 points and hauled in nine rebounds.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 76, JACKSONVILLE STATE 72
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Alex Caldwell scored 17 points and Skyler Hogan added 16 off the bench to lead Southeast Missouri (5-19, 1-10) to a 76-72 win over Jacksonville State (9-15, 4-7) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO ended a 10-game losing streak with its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season.
The Redhawks held a 62-44 lead with 11:37 left to play in the game when JSU put together a 24-9 run to pull to within three (71-68) on two free throws by Derrick Cook at the 2:04 mark. SEMO, however, scored five of the game's final seven points to nail down the win.
Jordan Love made a big layup with just over a minute left after the Gamecocks made it a three-point game. Nygal Russell (2) and Love (1) combined to make three free throws to push SEMO's lead to 76-68 with 21 seconds remaining.
Marek Welsch stole the ball and made a layup to close the Redhawks lead to four with one second left before time expired on SEMO's last possession.
SEMO set the tone early with a great start out of the gate. The Redhawks led for nearly 17 minutes and heated up to shoot 56.7 percent from the field in the first half.
Caldwell gave SEMO a nice boost early scoring 12 first-half points, while Sage Tolbert attacked the rim for eight points off four dunks. Seven different players got in the scoring column for the Redhawks who led by double figures for the final 2:22 of the half en route to a 43-30 halftime advantage.
Caldwell finished at 6-of-9 from the field and buried a pair of 3-pointers to go along with 3-of-4 free throws. He also dished out a career-high eight assists and grabbed five rebounds. Hogan shot 6-of-10 from the floor and led SEMO with four 3-pointers. He added seven rebounds, as well. Tolbert contributed 14 points and six boards.
SEMO shot a season-high 56.9 percent (29-of-51) from the field for the night. The Redhawks also outrebounded the Gamecocks, 37-33, and assisted 16 of their 29 made field goals.
Additionally, the Redhawks pulled away despite facing adversity when they turned the ball over 21 times, including 14 in the second half.
Kayne Henry led JSU with 15 points and eight rebounds.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 91, EASTERN ILLINOIS 84
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Sophomore Tre King matched his career high with 22 points to lead the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team to a 91-84 road victory over Eastern Illinois on Thursday night at Lantz Arena.
It is EKU’s (12-12, 9-2 OVC) sixth consecutive win, making it the Colonels’ longest regular season win streak since 2007.
Five Colonels reached double figures in the victory. Freshman Michael Moreno poured in a career-high 17 points, connecting on 5-of-5 shots from the field and 4-of-4 shots from three-point range.
Senior Ty Taylor had 14 points, sophomore Jomaru Brown chipped in 13 and junior Russhard Cruickshank had 10 points, all in the first half.
King and Moreno both pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.
Eastern Kentucky led for most of the first half, and grabbed a seven-point advantage when Moreno drained a three-pointer to make it a seven-point game, 33-26, with 3:28 remaining.
EIU (11-12, 4-7 OVC), however, ended the half on a 12-4 run, and a dunk by Marvin Johnson gave the Panthers a 38-37 lead at the break.
The Colonels re-took control early in the second half. A jumper by Brown capped an early 8-2 run and gave EKU a 45-40 lead at the 16:48 mark. A three-pointer by Taylor at the 12:08 mark ballooned the lead to nine, 60-51.
A pair of free throws by Moreno gave EKU its largest lead, 82-68, with 1:04 left.
The Colonels shot well on the night, going 30-of-60 from the field (50 percent) and 8-of-17 from deep (47 percent).
UT MARTIN 74, TENNESSEE TECH 62
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team played one of its best defensive games of the season this evening, gliding past Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech by a 74-62 margin at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks led by as many as 31 points tonight, relying on defensive intensity to create some separation on the scoreboard. The 62 points allowed were the least by a UT Martin Division I opponent this season while the Skyhawks limited the Golden Eagles to 39.1 percent shooting (25-of-64) and 25.7 percent accuracy from three-point range (9-of-35) – both season-lows by a UT Martin Division I opponent in 2019-20.
Not to be overshadowed, the Skyhawk offense connected on 50 percent (28-for-56) of their field goal tries, recording 21 assists on 28 made baskets. Quintin Dove compiled a team-best 19 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists this evening, leading UT Martin in scoring for the ninth time this season. Parker Stewart flirted with a triple-double (16 points, eight rebounds, career-best eight assists) while Derek Hawthorne, Jr. (16 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Ja’Darius Harris (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Skyhawks (7-15, 3-8 OVC)
Tennessee Tech (5-19, 2-9 OVC) was keyed by Jr. Clay’s 17 points, six assists and three steals. Keishawn Davidson chipped in 13 points for a Golden Eagle squad who never led during the contest.
The first half was all Skyhawks as Dove scored eight points during the Skyhawks’ 15-5 lead to begin the game. A layup by Eric Rustin at the 9:53 mark pushed UT Martin’s advantage out to 24-10 before a 10-0 Skyhawk run extended their lead out to 36-14 with 3:36 to go before the break. Miles Thomas and Harris each added a three-pointer before an electric fast break dunk by Harris doubled up Tennessee Tech (44-22) at the intermission.
Dove and Harris tallied 15 and 10 points, respectively, for UT Martin in the first stanza as the Golden Eagles could only manage a 30 percent (9-of-30) shooting effort from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.
Dunks by Miles Thomas and Dove began the second-half scoring for the Skyhawks before Hawthorne splashed a three-pointer at the 14:23 mark that resulted in UT Martin’s biggest lead of the contest (58-27). Tennessee Tech soon went on a 9-0 run but another Hawthorne trifecta with 8:48 remaining increased the Skyhawk advantage out to 68-40 and UT Martin’s lead was never in jeopardy throughout.
TENNESSEE STATE 70, AUSTIN PEAY 68
NASHVILLE (AP) - Carlos Marshall Jr. registered 19 points as Tennessee State narrowly beat Austin Peay 70-68 on Thursday night.
Jon Brown's dunk with 13 seconds left gave the Tigers a four-point lead.
Mark Freeman had 11 points for Tennessee State (15-9, 7-4 Ohio Valley Conference). Wesley Harris added nine rebounds. Shakem Johnson had nine rebounds.
Terry Taylor had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Governors (16-8, 10-1), whose 10-game win streak ended with the loss. Jordyn Adams added 12 points. Eli Abaev had 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Tigers leveled the season series against the Governors with the win. Austin Peay defeated Tennessee State 99-74 on Jan. 23.