THURSDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 85, @Jacksonville State 66
@Murray State 73, Tennessee State 53
Belmont 81, @Austin Peay 76
@UT Martin 51, Eastern Illinois 41
@Southeast Missouri 64, SIUE 62
MOREHEAD STATE 85, JACKSONVILLE STATE 66
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Junior guard DeVon Cooper and sophomore guard Ta'lon Cooper combined for 37 points - each registering a season-high - and the Morehead State men's basketball team scored a season-high for points in a half (50) as the Eagles never trailed in the contest and raced away to knock off Jacksonville State 85-66 on the road Thursday night for the program's eighth consecutive victory.
Senior forward James Baker (11) and junior guard Skyelar Potter (14) joined the Coopers in double figures as the Eagles moved to 12-6 overall and 9-2 in the OVC, equaling the best 11-game league mark since the 2009-10 team. Morehead State also completed its first regular-season sweep over the Gamecocks since the 2014-15 campaign and upped its winning streak to the longest since a nine-game success streak in 2010-11.
DeVon Cooper's 20 markers established his career-high. MSU, which led only 35-32 at the half, outpaced JSU 50-34 in the final half and shot 59 percent (16-of-27) in that period, including 7-of-10 from three-point range. The Eagles finished 12-of-22 from distance, a season-high 54 percent. While JSU shot 45 percent overall, MSU's top-rated OVC defense held the hosts to just 22 percent from outside the arc. The Eagles also committed a season-low 10 turnovers.
MURRAY STATE 73, TENNESSEE STATE 53
MURRAY, Ky. - Behind a monster night from KJ Williams, the Murray State Racers blitzed past the Tennessee State Tigers 73-53 in Thursday night action in the Ohio Valley Conference at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers evened their overall mark at 7-7 and improved to 4-5 in the OVC on back-to-back wins. MSU ends a four-game home stand at The Bank when Belmont Bruins come to town Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. tip.
Williams scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-16 from the field, including 1-of-3 from the 3-point line and he added six free throws in eight tries. His 16 rebounds tied his career-high. Devin Gilmore scored 12 points in 24 minutes off the bench to go with five rebounds. Chico Carter, Jr., hit a pair of threes off the bench for 10 points.
In the first half, the Tigers had a 15-14 lead 13 minutes into the game before the Racers finished the half on a 17-7 run for a 31-22 lead. With 16:07 remaining in the game, TSU cut the Racers lead to nine, but Gilmore, Williams and Carter combined for three baskets in a row to push it back to a 14-point lead at 13:35. Carter drilled a 3-pointer at 3:54 and Gilmore scored soon after for a 22-point lead, the largest of the game for the Racers at 3:04 when the score was 66-44.
The Racers dominated the rebound stat 45-25, as they limited the Tigers to only four offensive rebounds. The Racers shot 48 percent from the field (26-of-54) and held TSU to 31 percent (16-of-52). MSU was good from the free throw line in making 16-of-21 for 76 percent.
BELMONT 81, AUSTIN PEAY 76
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Behind a career-high 24 points from junior Caleb Hollander, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Austin Peay, 81-76, Thursday.
A national television audience was treated to a riveting game full of drama, intensity and shotmaking as both team traded emotional haymakers for 40 minutes. The teams combined to make nine consecutive shot to open the game - including four 3-pointers - as an electrifying display of outside shooting and inside finishing portended a high-scoring game.
After Belmont (17-1, 11-0 OVC) rclosed within 20-19 on a 3-pointer from junior Grayson Murphy, Terry Taylor capped an 8-0 Austin Peay run to give the Governors a 28-19 lead nine minutes in. Junior Nick Muszynski made his first five field goal attempts and Belmont got timely bench contributions from freshman JaCobi Wood and Even Brauns to tie the score at 35.
Austin Peay led 40-39 at halftime. Belmont shot 59 percent (16-of-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Five quick points from sophomore Ben Sheppard gave Belmont its first lead, 49-48, with 13:31 remaining. A confident Wood 3-pointer increased the margin to 55-50. Muszynski battled foul trouble midway through the second half and his presence was missed on both ends of the floor. There would be 13 lead changes in the second half, with Hollander and Murphy exchanging courageous scores with Taylor and Carlos Paez.
A Mike Peake layin gave Austin Peay a 75-71 lead with 2:49 left. Belmont responded, as a Murphy driving score and a Hollander 3-pointer pushed Belmont ahead 76-75 with 1:53 remaining. After one Jordyn Adams free throw tied the score at 76, Belmont worked its offensive possession and saw Murphy score an acrobatic, double-pump layin with 40 seconds left to give the Bruins a 78-76 lead.
Austin Peay then turned to Taylor, who missed a twisting leaner with 15 seconds to go. As his initial putback attempt rimmed off, the scramble for the proceeding loose ball rebound led to a monitor review to determine possession. The Governors were awarded possession underneath their own basket with 13 seconds left and five seconds on the shot clock.
A well-designed inbounds play freed Alec Woodward for a layin attempt, but Muszynski was there to block his shot at the rim. As the ball bounced around, Peake had a putback attempt rim off, with Hollander eventually securing the Belmont rebound with eight seconds remaining. Hollander was quickly fouled, and he was sent to the free throw line for free throws. After making a clutch front-end of the one-and-one to increase the Belmont lead to three points, Hollander's second free throw was a bit too strong.
However, Murphy snuck in for an enormous offensive rebound, and he would quickly be fouled with six seconds left. His two free throws provided the final margin,
All told, Belmont shot 63 percent (32-of-51) from the field - including 67 percent in the second half. Belmont outscored Austin Peay, 46-30, in points in the paint.
Hollander had 24 points and five rebounds while Murphy added his 12th career double-double with a season-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Musynski had 14.
Taylor led Austin Peay (8-6, 4-4 OVC) with 23 points.
Belmont has won 29 of its last 30 games and 23 consecutive conference games.
UT MARTIN 51, EASTERN ILLINOIS 41
MARTIN, Tenn. - A stingy defensive unit was on full display this evening as the University of Tennessee at Martin downed Eastern Illinois, 51-41, in an Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball matchup.
The 41 points allowed tonight are the fewest by any Skyhawk team against a NCAA Division I opponent in school history. The last time a UT Martin squad allowed fewer points was a 115-29 win over Champion Baptist (a member of the Association of Christian College Athletics) on Nov. 20, 2014. The Skyhawks held Eastern Illinois to 28.1 percent shooting (16-of-57), including a 3-for-24 effort (12.5 percent) from three-point range.
Jaron Williams topped UT Martin in scoring for the second straight game, pouring in a game-high 17 points. Vinnie Viana (11 points) also reached double figures in the scoring column for the second consecutive outing while Ajani Kennedy hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds for the Skyhawks, who improve to 5-9 overall with a 3-7 OVC record.
Eastern Illinois (5-12, 2-8 OVC) were led by Deang Deang’s 14 points. Josiah Wallace tacked on 11 points for the Panthers, who dressed only seven players because of injuries and COVID-19 protocols.
After Eastern Illinois scored on its first possession, buckets by Kenton Eskridge, Anthony Thomas and Kennedy provided the Skyhawks with a 6-3 lead. A driving fast break layup by Viana at the 12:17 mark stretched UT Martin’s advantage out to 13-7.
The Panthers answered back to score the next 11 points of the contest but the Skyhawks ended the first half on a 13-0 run. A Kennedy dunk ignited the spurt while back-to-back trifectas from Williams closed out UT Martin’s rally which resulted in a 26-18 advantage at the break.
Williams’ eight points paced the Skyhawks while Deang had 10 points to carry Eastern Illinois in the opening 20 minutes.
A pull-up jumper by Williams began the scoring in the second half and resulted in UT Martin’s first double-digit lead of the night (28-18). The Panthers reeled off six unanswered points before a big three-pointer by Dante Gonzales at the 15:23 mark pushed the Skyhawk advantage back out to seven.
Eman Sertovic converted a tough left-handed runner in the lane to make the score 36-28 in favor of UT Martin but Eastern Illinois kept battling. With the Skyhawk lead whittled down to two points (39-37) with eight minutes to go, Viana nailed a pair of three-pointers to keep the Panthers at bay.
Eastern Illinois wouldn’t get any closer than four points in the final two minutes as an emphatic Williams breakaway dunk with 13 seconds to go put the exclamation point on the UT Martin win.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 64, SIUE 62
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eric Reed, Jr. made two free throws with five tenths of a second left to propel Southeast Missouri (5-10, 3-6) to a thrilling 64-62 come-from-behind win over SIU Edwardsville (5-6, 3-2) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
Reed, Jr. was fouled by Mike Adewunmi and calmly went to the line to sink his game-winning free throws. Jordan Love then stole the ball on the in-bound pass to polish off the win.
DQ Nicholas, who went scoreless in the first half, had seven huge points in the final stanza. Nicholas split two free throws to narrow SIUE's lead to 58-57 with 1:28 on the clock and later tied the game at 62-62 on a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to go. Nygal Russell scored a layup to make it a one possession game before Nicholas nailed his big trey.
SEMO trailed, 43-30, with 16:48 remaining before mounting its comeback.
Defensively, the Redhawks smothered the Cougars into committing 14 turnovers in the second half. SEMO converted those miscues into 15 points and won the half, 37-28. Five of those turnovers came in a ferocious span of 3:41.
Down, 50-39, with 11:27 left to play, SEMO used an 8-0 run ignited by 3-pointers from Love and Dylan Branson to narrow the Cougars lead to three.
Courtney Carter's jumper put SIUE ahead, 58-51, with a little under three minutes to go. The Redhawks were within three or less points five times in down the stretch before getting ahead of the Cougars for the only time of the night on Reed, Jr.'s free throws.
Sidney Wilson set the Cougars off to a roaring start by scoring six of his team's first seven points as SIU opened the contest on a 7-0 run. Wilson had double figures in the first 4:32 of play.
Nana Akenten later buried a 3-pointer and Nate Johnson later pulled SEMO within a point. Then, after Dylan Branson buried a 3-pointer to cut SIUE's lead to 24-22, the Cougars used a 10-0 surge to build a 12-point advantage.
Carter and Adewunmi each knocked down a 3-pointer before Wilson's layup stretched SIUE's lead to 34-22 with 1:33 left in the first half.
SEMO scored the last five points of the opening stanza and trailed, 34-27, at the intermission.
Akenten was the Redhawks only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Nine other Redhawks, however, joined Akenten in the scoring column. Nolan Taylor and Reed, Jr. followed with nine points each, while Harris and Nicholas chipped in seven apiece. Nicholas added seven rebounds, as well.
SEMO missed 15 free throws (17-of-32), but made the clutch shots it needed to win the game. The Redhawks finished strong shooting 55 percent (11-of-20) from the field in the second half after hitting just 25.7 percent (9-of-35) of its field goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Wilson scored a game-high 23 points to lead SIUE. Wilson scored 18 points in the first half, but was held to only five in the second.
The Redhawks improved to 14-4 all-time against SIUE at the Show Me Center. Additionally, SEMO picked up its fifth NCAA Division I win. As a result, the Redhawks matched their season total of Division I victories a year ago. Ironically, that fifth NCAA Division I win in 2019-20 also came against SIUE.