SATURDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 94, Miami-Hamilton 66
@Belmont 81, Evansville 43
Norfolk State 66,
Tennessee State 59 (Atlanta, Ga.)
Youngstown State 97,
@Southeast Missouri 79
@Murray State 78, Bellarmine 59
UT MARTIN 94, MIAMI-HAMILTON 66
MARTIN, Tenn. - Four University of Tennessee at Martin players eclipsed double figures in the scoring column today as the Skyhawks soared to their first victory of the Ryan Ridder Era, 94-66 over Miami-Hamilton.
KK Curry had his second bigtime performance in as many tries during the early stages of the 2021-22 campaign, piling up 22 points (on 8-of-13 shooting), nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks in 26 minutes. He joined KJ Simon (20 points, six rebounds, three steals), Darius Simmons (19 points, four rebounds, four assists) and Chris Nix (13 points on 5-of-5 shooting, seven rebounds, two blocks) in double-digit scoring as UT Martin improved to 27-3 in home openers since joining the Division I ranks in 1992.
Mikel Henderson (nine points), Koby Jeffries (nine assists against zero turnovers) and Josh Endicott (eight rebounds in 15 minutes) also heavily contributed to the Skyhawk success this afternoon as UT Martin won the rebounding battle (54-30) and outscored the Harriers by a 42-14 margin in the paint.
A United States Collegiate Athletic Association member out of Ohio, Miami-Hamilton (5-0) also placed four scorers in double figures. Kaleb Taylor managed 18 points while Ryan Marchal (17), King Goss (17) and Jamison Bradley (11) followed closely behind.
Simon came out on fire, tossing in the Skyhawks’ first 10 points of the contest. That included a three-pointer on the game’s opening possession, another trey, a dunk and a floater in the lane all within the first four-plus minutes.
A 9-0 run led to UT Martin’s first double-digit advantage of the contest as a pull-up jumper from Henderson made the score 17-7 with 11:49 remaining in the opening half.
Miami-Hamilton got within six points at the 7:14 mark but back-to-back triples from Simmons and David Didenko pushed the Skyhawk lead back out to double figures.
UT Martin ended the first half on a 9-2 surge as a Curry dunk with just under a minute to play resulted in a 45-32 advantage at the intermission.
Curry and Simon shared the team lead with 14 points apiece in the first 20 minutes while Goss’ 12 points paced the Harriers.
After Miami-Hamilton got within eight points before the first media timeout of the second half, Simmons went off. The graduate guard from Raleigh, NC splashed a pair of three-pointers during a 12-2 run, extending the Skyhawk lead out to 60-42.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Nix at the 11:33 mark pushed UT Martin’s advantage to 68-48. That started a stretch where the 6-9, 215-pound forward accounted for all 13 of his points during a nine-minute span. His layup off an offensive rebound with a little over five minutes remaining capped off an 11-0 Skyhawk run.
A Henderson free throw with 2:06 to go resulted in UT Martin’s biggest lead of the day at 34 points (94-60) as the Skyhawks coasted to the finish line.
BELMONT 81, EVANSVILLE 43
NASHVILLE - Behind 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals from Grayson Murphy, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Evansville, 81-43, Saturday from the Curb Event Center.
Belmont held Evansville to 27 percent shooting while forcing 20 turnovers.
Leading 34-14 at halftime, Will Richard capped a 10-0 Belmont run to give the hosts a 52-22 lead with 12:58 remaining. Belmont's depth made its mark, as a conventional 3-point play from Derek Sabin increased the margin to 79-33 with 4:55 left.
Belmont shot 53 percent (31-of-59) from the field and made 11 3-point field goals.
Richard and Ben Sheppard each scored 11 points. All 12 Bruins who played in the game scored.
Shamar Givance led Evansville (1-2) with 17 points.
NORFOLK STATE 66, TENNESSEE STATE 59
ATLANTA - The Tennessee State men's basketball team fell to Norfolk State, 66-59, in the Gateway HBCU Invitational.
In the first half, Carlos Marshall Jr. drained a three-pointer to begin the contest and the Tigers opened up a five-point lead to start the game. At the 10:16 mark, Jalen Dupree extended the TSU lead to 19-14 with a layup, his second bucket in the opening ten minutes. Over the next six minutes, the Spartans went on a 15-2 run as nine points came from the free-throw line. NSU extended the lead to 31-21 before the Tigers registered consecutive baskets to trim the lead. Joe Bryant Jr. led Norfolk State with 12 points in the first half, shooting 6-for-6 from the line. In total, the Spartans went 12-12 from the charity stripe in the opening stanza. For TSU, Marshall Jr. tallied 10 points and two steals in the first half of action.
With 12:49 remaining in the seoncd half, Norfolk State increased the lead to 16 points, 47-31. However, the Tigers fought back after Dedric Boyd got the momentum started with a three-pointer. Over the final 12 minutes, Boyd led the team with 14 points as the Illinois State transfer totaled 16 points for the game. With 9:06 remaining, Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. drew a charge to heighten the Tigers' intensity on the defensive end. TSU forced three straight turnovers as they cut the deficit to six, 49-43. Tennessee State could not close the gap over the final eight minutes, despite battling until the end.
Marshall registered a team-high 17 points, shooting 6-of-9 from the field, 3-for-4 from the three-point line.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 97, YOUNGSTOWN STATE 79
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (1-1) fell victim to a big second half run and couldn't recover in a 97-79 loss to Youngstown State (1-1) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
SEMO held a 39-37 lead at halftime, but things quickly slipped away from the Redhawks in the final 20 minutes.
Down, 54-52, following a free throw by Eric Reed, Jr. with 13:16 remaining in the game, YSU went on a 15-0 run to build a 17-point advantage (69-52). Garrett Covington contributed five points to help key the surge.
The Penguins took their largest lead at 84-60 when Luke Chicone converted a 3-point play at the 5:34 mark. SEMO didn't get YSU's lead lower than 18 points the rest of the way.
DQ Nicholas scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half, where SEMO's largest lead was 37-32 with 2:27 to go. Nygal Russell's two free throws gave the Redhawks that five-point advantage.
Reed, Jr. and Nicholas paced SEMO with 17 points each, while Russell added a double-double 11 points and 11 rebounds. For Russell, it was the first double-double of his career. Phillip Russell scored 11 points for his first double-digit game as a Redhawk.
YSU had all five of its starters score double figures. Tevin Olison poured in 27 points, Covington followed with 18, Michael Akuchie had 16, S. Rathan-Mayes finished with 15 and Dwyane Cohill chipped in 10.
The Penguins shot 60.6 percent (20-of-33) in the second half alone.
Combined, the teams were called for 56 fouls and shot 72 free throws. YSU made 28-of-36 (.778) and SEMO hit 25-of-35 (.714) at the charity stripe.
Additionally, YSU outrebounded SEMO, 43-33, and had just seven turnovers.
MURRAY STATE 78, BELLARMINE 59
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers met the Bellarmine Knights for the first time Saturday and came away with a 78-59 victory to push their home win streak to three in a row at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
Tevin Brown hit six 3-point baskets and finished the game with 27 points and added six rebounds and three assists. Trae Hannibal scored 12 points off the bench and Justice Hill and KJ Williams each added 10 points to key the Racer attack that hit 52 percent from the field on 28-of-54.
The next challenge for the Racers is Tuesday (Nov. 16) when they take to the road for the first time this season for a game at Illinois State in Normal, Ill.
With the game tied 15-15 nine minutes into the game, the Racers fell behind 26-19 with 4:40 left in the half. The Racers finished the half with a flurry when Hill hit a 3-pointer to give the Racers the lead for good 27-26 with 3:12 on the clock. The Racers ended the half on a 10-0 run to take a 29-26 at the intermission. MSU started the second half on a 16-3 run fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from Brown for a 44-29 lead with 16:04 remaining. The Racers ended up having a 19-0 run that spanned the end of the first half and the start of the second half.
The Racers held the Knights to 42 percent from the field on 21-of-50. The rebound battle was even at 32-32. MSU forced Bellarmine into 18 turnovers and it produced 26 points.