TUESDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 87, @Eastern Illinois 74
@UT Martin 69, Southeast Missouri 66
SIUE 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 74
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Five SIUE players scored in double figures and the Cougars led nearly wire to wire on their way to an 87-74 win at Eastern Illinois Tuesday.
The Cougars improved to 3-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 5-5 overall and have won three of four games. The 87 points is a season high for SIUE.
Mike Adewunmi collected his third double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, which tied his career high. It is the fifth double-double of his career. Carlos Curtis pumped in a career-high 18 points to lead SIUE in scoring. He added six rebounds and four assists.
Sidney Wilson and Cam Williams each scored 13 points and Shamar Wright scored 12 points.
All 13 of Williams points came in the second half and Lamar Wright added six points all in the second half where the Cougars connected on 64 percent (18-28) of their shots.
The Cougars led 35-29 at half and the 13-point margin was as large as they had in the game. SIUE shot a season-high 53 percent (33-62) for the game and outrebounded Eastern Illinois 39-25.
Marvin Johnson's 28 points paced the Panthers, who fell to 5-11 overall and 2-7 in the OVC. The Panthers have lost six straight games.
Josiah Wallace added 20 points for EIU, who played with just seven players.
UT MARTIN 69, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 66
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team had its fair share of heroes during tonight’s 69-66 Ohio Valley Conference triumph over Southeast Missouri.
In a game that featured 14 lead changes and 11 ties, Jaron Williams poured in a career-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and Ajani Kennedy scored all 13 of his season-high points in the second half for the Skyhawks. Vinnie Viana added a career-best 12 points off the bench while Kenton Eskridge dished out a career-high nine assists and made two clutch free throws with six seconds left to play to help secure the victory.
As a team, UT Martin set season-highs in field goal percentage (50 percent, 25-of-50), three-point field goals made (10) and three-point field goal percentage (55.6 percent). The Skyhawks also sank 81.8 percent of their free throw tries, including seven of eight attempts over the final 20 minutes to improve to 3-9 overall (2-7 OVC).
Southeast Missouri (4-10, 2-6) was led by Nana Akenten’s 18 points while Chris Harris (12 points) was the only other Redhawk to score in double figures. DQ Nicholas contributed a game-high nine rebounds and six assists for Southeast Missouri, who was forced into 15 turnovers.
Eman Sertovic got the Skyhawks rolling early as the 6-5, 195-pound sophomore was 3-for-3 from three-point range in the first half. His first trifecta opened the game’s scoring while Viana scored six of eight UT Martin points during the midway point of the opening half.
Four straight points from Williams plus two Sertovic treys and a Viana three-ball helped the Skyhawks claim a 30-25 advantage late in the first half. The Redhawks answered with a 7-0 run to briefly take the lead before a step-back jumper from Williams made the score 32-32 at the break.
Williams’ 11 points paced UT Martin while Southeast Missouri was paced by Akenten’s 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Anthony Thomas splashed a three-pointer from the left corner just 15 seconds into the second half before Williams scored five of the Skyhawks’ next seven points. Dante Gonzales’ first career three-pointer soon nudged UT Martin ahead by a 51-45 margin with 11:20 to go.
It was mostly Kennedy from there as the redshirt junior forward out of Moreno Valley, Calif. stepped up and literally took charge late in the contest. With the Skyhawks facing a three-point deficit with five minutes remaining, the UC Riverside transfer accounted for eight consecutive UT Martin points over a stretch of 3:23. Mixing in an assortment of drives to the hoop, Kennedy hit a go-ahead jumper in the lane at the 1:23 mark to make the score 67-66.
The Redhawks then missed a pair of free throws but received the possession back after a Flagrant 1 foul. Ahead by one point and needing a stop, Kennedy slid in to take a charge with eight seconds to go, setting up Eskridge for the pair of aforementioned free throws.
The Skyhawks then made one final defensive stand as an errant Southeast Missouri three-point attempt landed in the hands of Sertovic for a rebound, leading to a sweep in the season series against the Redhawks for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.