THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 76, Southeast Missouri 65
@Belmont 79. Eastern Illinois 66
@Eastern Kentucky, UT Martin
@Austin Peay 72, Tennessee Tech 69
Jacksonville State 85, @Murray State 82
SIUE 67, @Tennessee State 65
MOREHEAD STATE 76, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 65
MOREHEAD, Ky. - In a slugfest that featured 62 combined free three attempts, the Morehead State men's basketball team kept its current winning streak intact Thursday night, besting visiting Southeast Missouri 76-65 at Johnson Arena in a game featured on ESPNU.
The Eagles, who swept back to back games against the Redhawks, improved to 10-6 overall and 7-2 in the OVC, the best conference start since being 9-0 at that point in 2009-10. SEMO fell to 4-9 and 2-5 in the league.
MSU is now 18-3 in the last 21 games against Southeast Missouri and has won 14 of the past 16 games played against the schools in Johnson Arena. Morehead State's six-game winning streak is its longest since a seven-game success run in 2015-16.
Four-time OVC Freshman of the Week Johni Broome posted a strong start for another weekly award in recording his fourth career double-double with 14 points and a team-best 10 rebounds. Junior guard DeVon Cooper led the Eagles with 17 points, two shy of his career high. Sophomore guard Ta'lon Cooper registered a season-high 15 points and hit all three of his three-pointers, including a buzzer beating triple to put the Eagles up by five at the half. Senior forward James Baker scored 11, reaching double figures with an emphatic run-out slam in the final 15 seconds of the game.
The Eagles won despite hitting just 19 of 35 free throws, while the Redhawks canned 18 of their 27 free tosses.
BELMONT 79, EASTERN ILLINOIS 66
NASHVILLE - Behind 17 points from freshman JaCobi Wood, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Eastern Illinois, 79-66, Thursday.
Wood scored 16 of his team-high 17 points in the second half as Belmont rode active defense and a deep bench to seize control.
After a Henry Abraham 3-pointer got Eastern Illinois within 48-46 with 12:48 remaining, Wood sparked an 18-3 run over the next six minutes. A conventional 3-point play from freshman Even Brauns and a 3-pointer from sophomore Ben Sheppard gave Belmont a 74-54 lead with 4:58 left.
Belmont (15-1, 9-0 OVC) shot 65 percent from the field in the second half and forced 20 Eastern Illinois turnovers. Belmont outscored Eastern Illinois, 50-32, in points in the paint and 11 Bruins scored.
Junior Luke Smith scored 12 points while junior Nick Muszynski added 10. Junior Grayson Murphy had nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Sammy Friday led Eastern Illinois (5-9, 2-5 OVC) with 20 points.
Belmont has won 27 of its last 28 games and 21 consecutive conference games.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 113, UT MARTIN 73
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team tied the Ohio Valley Conference record with 20 three-pointers, and shot 60 percent from the field, in a 113-73 victory over the University of Tennessee at Martin on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels (13-2, 7-1 OVC) hit on 20-of-37 three-point attempts (54.1 percent), tying the mark set by Southeast Missouri in 2012-13, matched by the 2013-14 EKU squad and also completed by the 2017-18 Belmont team. It is the most three-pointers ever by the Colonels against a Division-I opponent.
Eastern finished the game having made 42-of-70 from the field.
Freshman Wendell Green Jr. scored a game-best 25 points for the Colonels. He made 10-of-16 attempts from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range, to go along with four assists and two steals. Sophomore Michael Moreno scored 23 points, hitting on 9-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range.
EKU, ranked No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top-25, has won eight straight games and is now off to its best OVC start in 56 years.
The Colonels will host Southeast Missouri on Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Skyhawks (3-8, 1-6 OVC) made 2-of-14 from behind the arc. Eastern had 12 steals, leading to 22 UTM turnovers. EKU out-scored the visitors 27-10 off turnovers.
Freshman Curt Lewis finished with 19 points and five steals. Freshman Devontae Blanton added a career-high 19 points and five rebounds off the bench. The duo missed just three shots from the field combined (13-for-16).
UTM was within eight, 59-51, after a dunk by Anthony Thomas with 13:48 remaining in the game. Eastern Kentucky answered with a 19-5 run to put the game away. Moreno scored seven of the 19 and his three-pointer with 9:07 to go made it a 22-point advantage, 78-56.
The Colonels went on to score 29 points in the final seven and a half minutes. Green’s three-pointer at the 5:02 mark stretched the margin to 30 for the first time. Isaiah Minters tip-in with 51 seconds on the clock set the final margin at 40.
Cameron Holden had a team-high 20 points and 13 rebounds for UT Martin. The Skyhawks out-rebounded the Colonels 34-28, and grabbed 17 boards off the offensive glass.
AUSTIN PEAY 72, TENNESSEE TECH 69
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Terry Taylor scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Austin Peay fended off Tennessee Tech 72-69 on Thursday night.
Mike Peake had 14 points and seven rebounds for Austin Peay (8-4, 4-2 Ohio Valley Conference). Jordyn Adams added 12 points. Carlos Paez had 10 points and six assists.
Adams banked in a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 2:41 remaining to give the Governors a five-point lead, 72-67, and Tennessee Tech hit just two of four free throws the rest of the way. Tennessee Tech's Jr. Clay's 3-pointer at the buzzer was short.
Clay scored a career-high 29 points for the Golden Eagles (2-14, 2-7). Damaria Franklin added 22 points and six rebounds.
Austin Peay hit 11 of its first 14 shots and built a 22-point lead before Tennessee Tech erased it in the second half.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 85, MURRAY STATE 82
MURRAY, Ky. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team outlasted Murray State 85-82 Thursday at the CFSB Center, claiming the program's first road win against the Racers.
The Gamecocks (9-5, 5-3 OVC) were 0-11 in Murray, Ky., coming into the game, but a double-double from Jalen Finch and four made free throws in the final seconds helped Jax State survive a late-game surge from the Racers (5-7, 2-5 OVC).
Leading by 10 with less than three minutes to go, the Murray State defense transitioned to a half court press. The extra pressure forced a pair of turnovers and the Racers quickly put up eight-straight points in a 44-second span to cut the Gamecock lead to two, 81-79. Five points during the stretch came courtesy of Chico Carter, who hit a jumper followed by a 3-pointer.
The Gamecocks gathered themselves in the final minute, though, and hit all four of their free throws down the stretch to keep ahead in the race. Amanze Ngumezi hit a pair of freebies and Darian Adams knocked down his two chances with just 11 seconds remaining in the game. MSU's Tevin Brown threw up a last-second 3-point attempt, but the shot hit the glass and ricocheted away.
Finch earned the first double-double of his career in unusual fashion, scoring 15 points with 10 rebounds from the point. The junior was 5-for-11 with a 3-pointer and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. He was assisted by double-digit scoring efforts from Ngumezi, Adams, Brandon Huffman and Demaree King.
Ngumezi led the Gamecocks in scoring with 17 points, and Adams was a spectacular 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and totaled 10 points. Huffman finished with 16 points and eight boards, and King rounded out the top scorers with 13 points on 3-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc.
Jax State erased an 11-point deficit in the first half to go to the locker room with a 38-36 lead. The Gamecock defense held the Racers scoreless for nearly five minutes while Ngumezi led the offense on a 10-0 run to cut the Murray State lead to one point. Ngumezi gave JSU its first lead of the night on a breakaway layup with less than two minutes to go in the first period.
Ngumezi totaled 13 points in the opening 20 minutes, going 5-for-6 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from long range. He also contributed two rebounds and an assist in the first half.
Murray State was led by Carter's 21 points, while KJ Williams totaled 19 and Brown finished with 14. Williams completed a double-double with 11 boards
SIUE 67, TENNESSEE STATE 65
NASHVILLE - Playing for the first time in 33 days, SIUE men's basketball emerged from a hard-fought game with a 67-65 win over Tennessee State Thursday night.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 4-4 overall and are 2-0 in OVC play for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Tennessee State fell to 2-10 overall and 1-8 in OVC play.
Early on, the shots weren't falling for the Cougars, who found themselves down by as many as 14 with 3:54 to play in the first half. SIUE then scored the next 12 points to pull within two (27-25) at halftime.
The Cougars extended the run to 18 points, scoring the first six points of the second half to pull ahead 31-27. They never trailed in the game again.
SIUE opened its largest lead at 15 points (57-42) after a three-point play by Mike Adewunmi with 6:06 left, but it was Tennessee State who answered with a run. The Tigers went on a 15-0 run to tie the score. TSU freshman Marcus Fitzgerald scored 13 of the 15 points including the layup to tie the score at 57 with 4:01 left. He finished with a game-high 32 points.
Adewunmi responded for the Cougars with a three-pointer from the right wing to regain the lead with 3:37 to play. Fitzgerald tied the score at 64 with 1:35 to play, before a Shamar Wright tip dunk put the Cougars back on top 66-64.
Fitzgerald went to the free throw line with 2.2 seconds left with a chance to tie, but missed the second free throw. Adewunmi hit one of two free throws with a second to play for the final score.
Adewunmi led the Cougars with 18 points and added eight rebounds. Shamar Wright pitched in 14 points and career-best and team-high nine rebounds.
SIUE connected on 38 percent of its shots, but knocked down 48 percent in the second half. The Cougars were 6-24 from three-point range and 11-23 from the free throw line.
Michael Matas provided a spark off the bench, scoring nine, going five-for-five at the free throw line and collecting four rebounds in nine minutes of play.