SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 56, Jacksonville State 55
Austin Peay 74, @Eastern Illinois 71
@Belmont 89, UT Martin 69
@Eastern Kentucky 90, Tennessee Tech 80
MOREHEAD STATE 56, JACKSONVILLE STATE 55
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Freshman Johni Broome missed a game and played sparingly in the previous contest against Tennessee Tech. But the 6-10 Florida native showed little rust Saturday as the three-time OVC Freshman of the Week produced 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks to pace the Morehead State men's basketball team to a 56-55 edging of Jacksonville State at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles (7-6/4-2 OVC) survived a late charge from the Gamecocks after leading by double digits (7-4/3-2 OVC) as they won over JSU at home for the first time in five tries. The victory also halted an overall seven-game unsuccessful streak against JSU.
Junior guard DeVon Cooper added 11 points, his team-high 10th double-figure output this season, while sophomore guard Ta'Lon Cooper contributed eight points. He nailed two crucial three-pointers on back-to-back possessions midway through the second half to push the home team's lead out to double-digits.
AUSTIN PEAY 74, EASTERN ILLINOIS 71
CHARLESTON, Ill. - When Terry Taylor is at his best, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team is tough to beat.
Terry Taylor was at his very best Saturday against Eastern Illinois. And when the Govs needed him most, he answered the call one more time, banking home the game-winning three as time expired to send Austin Peay home victorious in a 74-71 decision against the Panthers.
The Govs brought energy straight out of the locker room to start this game. Right away, Austin Peay went straight to Taylor as the tone-setter, and he poured in eight of Austin Peay's first 11 points.
Eastern Illinois scored 22 of the next 32 points to take a brief lead near the six-minute mark, and over the course of that eight-and-a-half minutes the Panthers held Taylor to one point and forced three turnovers. Had the Panthers maintained that energy, perhaps the outcome is different.
The Govs closed the first half on a 13-4 run to take a 35-29 lead into halftime. Seven of those points belonged to Taylor, including a rainbow three-pointer as the shot clock expired to put the Govs back in front.
The Govs would never trail again, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The start of the second half was heralded by 16-8 run for the Govs, with Taylor accounting for nine of those points. Staked to a 14-point lead, the tide seemed firmly in favor of the Governors with 14 minutes to play.
But this is Eastern Illinois and Jay Spoonhour's Panthers are known for erasing large deficits in their building. Even with All-OVC sharpshooter Josiah Wallace sidelined after going down hard early in the second half, the Panthers had the shooting and tenacity to get back in the contest.
And slowly, Eastern Illinois began crawling back into the game. Henry Abraham hit a three. Marvin Johnson converted a three-point play. Johnson answered a Jordyn Adams three-pointer with one of his own. Barlow Alleruzzo IV and Mack Smith hit threes on back-to-back possessions. The Govs had become no less potent on the offensive end—Taylor had 10 during this time, with both Adams and Alec Woodard nailing clutch threes—but suddenly the Panthers could not be tamed.
At the final media timeout of the game, the Govs led 69-61. At the two-minute mark, it was 71-65. Then Smith hit a three with 1:05 to play; and another with 12.7 to go. Tie game.
Timeout Govs. And at this point, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of high-stakes basketball plays knew exactly where the ball was going.
Credit the Panthers on the final play. Defensively, they could not have asked for more—they harassed Woodard and Carlos Paez in the backcourt, forcing them to dump the ball to Taylor, not at or near the basket but instead just a few steps inside halfcourt. Taylor took two dribbles up the left wing, rose and banked home a three as time expired, the last of his 38 points the most crucial for the Govs and heartbreaking for the Panthers.
BELMONT 89, UT MARTIN 69
NASHVILLE - Behind a season-high 21 points from freshman JaCobi Wood, Belmont University men's basketball defeated UT Martin, 89-69, Saturday.
Wood scored 18 second-half points as Belmont turned defense into offense to secure its ninth consecutive win.
A 3-pointer from junior Nick Muszynski gave Belmont a 34-26 lead with 3:11 left in the first half. But behind second-chance points and timely 3-point shooting, UT Martin closed within 38-34 at halftime.
The teams exchanged scores to open the second half, with an Eden Holt 3-pointer closing the margin to 52-49 with 14:04 remaining. Belmont rode the energy plays of junior Grayson Murphy and instant offense of sophomore EJ Bellinger to fuel a decisive 18-0 run midway through the second half.
Wood scored eight points during the run, and went the dust settled following a coast-to-coast Bellinger layin, Belmont led 70-49 with 9:35 left.
Belmont (12-1, 6-0 OVC) shot 59 percent from the field in the second half and forced 16 UT Martin turnovers. Muszynski had 11 while Bellinger and freshman Even Brauns each added 10. Murphy had nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Anthony Thomas led UT Martin (3-6, 1-4 OVC) with 21 points.
Belmont and Gonzaga are the only two programs in America to win 24 of their last 25 games.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 90, TENNESSEE TECH 80
RICHMOND, Ky. - Lexington native Tre King scored a career-best 29 points and the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team hit 16 three-pointers in a 90-80 victory over Tennessee Tech University on Saturday at McBrayer Arena. At 11-2, the Colonels are off to their best start since the 1952-53 season.
A 4:02 scoring drought in the second half by EKU allowed Tech to turn an 8-point deficit into a 1-point lead. Dane Quest finished off the 9-0 run with a lay-up at the 3:56 mark to put the visitors in front 78-77, but from that point Eastern (11-2, 5-1 OVC) out-scored the Golden Eagles 13-2.
Curt Lewis ended the drought with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:32 to go to put Eastern back on top by two. With the game tied at 80-80, Georgetown native Cooper Robb hit 3-pointers from the right corner on back-to-back possessions to give the home squad a 6-point cushion with less than two to go. King’s dunk with 1:12 left to play put an end to Tennessee Tech’s hopes for an upset.
Eastern Kentucky made 16-of-37 attempts from 3-point range (43.2 percent). Tech shot well from deep too, going 15-of-31 (48.4 percent).
King hit on 13-of-23 from the field, including 2-of-5 from 3-point range, and grabbed nine rebounds. Freshman point guard Wendell Green Jr. had 15 assists to go along with 10 points and two steals. Georgetown native Michael Moreno finished with 13 points and four boards. Robb made 3-of-5 from long range to finish with 11 points and five rebounds.
EKU had 26 assists on its 35 made field goals and out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 36-33.
Tennessee Tech (1-12, 1-5 OVC) started the game hot from long range and led by as many as seven points late in the first half. An 8-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Damaria Franklin, put the Golden Eagles in front 34-27 with 4:09 to go in the opening frame. Ten of TTU’s first 11 field goals came from behind the arc, starting 10-for-17 from deep. Tech hit just one of its first seven attempts from inside the 3-point line.
The Golden Eagles still led by seven, 36-29, with 3:26 left in the first half before the Colonels scored 10 unanswered. Green and Moreno both hit 3-pointers during the run. A dunk by Tariq Balogun finished it and put EKU in front 39-26. Tennessee Tech went more than two and a half minutes without scoring. A 3-pointer from Lewis with 0.9 seconds remaining in the first half put Eastern on top by three, 44-41, at the break.
EKU shot 43 percent in the first half and made seven 3-pointers. Tech shot 44 percent from the field, going 10-of-19 from long range (53 percent).
EKU led by just two early in the second half before a dunk by King and a 3-pointer from Robb pushed the margin to seven, 51-44. Moments later, 3-pointers from Moreno and JacQuess Hobbs pushed the Colonels out in front by double digits, 59-49, with 14:25 left in the game.
A 3-pointer from Russhard Cruickshank with 10:38 on the clock gave Eastern another 10-point advantage, 70-60.
Keishawn Davidson led Tennessee Tech with 18 points. Jr. Clay had 15 points and 10 assists.