MONDAY'S SCORES
ETSU 66,
Murray State 58 (Naples, Fla.)
@Eastern Kentucky 82,
Eastern Illinois 43
@LSU 83,
Belmont 53
@Southeast Missouri 71, Missouri Baptist 63
ETSU 66, MURRAY STATE 58
NAPLES, Fla. - The Murray State Racers saw their three-game winning start to the 2021-22 season end with a 66-58 loss to the East Tennessee Buccaneers in the first round of the Naples Invitational.
On a night when an invisible force seemingly kept the ball from going through the net, the Racers (3-1) were led by KJ Williams who had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Tevin Brown added 12 points and Trae Hannibal 10 points.
The competitive first half began with the Bucs taking a six-point lead before the Racers answered with a 15-7 run to take the lead with 9:15 before half. The game was tied again 26-26 at the 4:00 mark before ETSU hit a 3-pointer for a 29-26 lead. DaQuan Smith hit the Racers' first and what turned out to be MSU’s only 3-pointer of the game to make a 32-29 ETSU lead at halftime.
ETSU opened the second half with a 14-6 run and made the Racers play from behind the rest of the way.
After tailing by as many as 16 points with 9:30 remaining, the Racers made a run late in the game to cut the lead to 61-57 with 1:36 left on a Williams shot in the lane. MSU never got the ball with a chance to tie the game.
The Racers never got on the right track on offense with a game shooting percentage of 42 percent (23-of-55) including a 1-of-16 night from the 3-point line. MSU also committed 17 turnovers and did outscore ETSU 44-28 in the paint.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 82, EASTERN ILLINOIS 43
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky used a 17-0 run early in the second half to break open a 29-18 lead into a 82-43 win over Eastern Illinois on Monday evening.
The game was part of the EKU Hoops Invitational presented by Geneva Financial as EKU improved to 5-1. EIU fell to 1-4.
EIU opened the game leading 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Micah Schnyders. EKU had the first of several key runs in the game as they pushed out to a 13-5 lead.
EIU would get within seven points two times late in the first half as Kashawn Charles hit a jumper with 4:29. Sammy Friday IV hit a lay-up with 3:45 remaining in the half bringing EIU to within seven at 22-15.
EKU led 29-18 at the half. The Colonels opened the second half with a 17-0 run to take a 46-18 lead before Friday could end the EKU run with 15:46 left in the contest.
CJ Lane led EIU with nine points as EIU was held to 26.3 percent shooting for the night. Friday had eight points going 4-of-5 from the floor. The Panthers were forced into 25 turnovers leading to 35 points off turnovers.
Four Colonels scored in double figures with Curt Lewis and Jannson Williams both collecting double-doubles. Lewis had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Williams added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
LSU 83, BELMONT 53
BATON ROUGE, La. - Belmont University men's basketball dropped an 83-53 decision at [rv/rv] LSU Monday from Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
After defeating Missouri, Alabama, Georgia and Vanderbilt in recent years, the Bruins endured a cold shooting night as LSU was able to turn defensive stops into scoring opportunities.
Trailing 36-23 at halftime, Belmont had a purposeful start to the second half and appeared on the verge of working back into the game. But empty offensive trips and missed clean looks halted momentum
A Brandon Murray 3-pointer pushed the margin to 39-23 with 18:47 remaining and the hosts rode balanced scoring from there.
Will Richard led Belmont with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Ben Sheppard had 14 points and three assists.
The duo also held LSU leading scorer Darius Days to 1-of-6 shooting.
Tari Eason led LSU (5-0) with 17 points.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 71, MISSOURI BAPTIST 63
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Phillip Russell scored 18 points, while Chris Harris (16) and Nana Akenten (15) combined for 31 points off the bench to lead Southeast Missouri (2-2) to its first home win of the season, a 71-63 victory over Missouri Baptist (5-3).
SEMO overcame a 15-point deficit to get by NAIA member MBU. The Redhawks improved to 20-0 all-time against the Spartans and posted their 31st consecutive win over a non-Division I opponent.
It was a tale of two halves for the Redhawks, who trailed for the majority of the first half before taking control of the final 20 minutes.
Akenten's layup gave SEMO a 45-44 edge with 12:49 left to play, the Redhawks first lead since the 18:16 mark of the first half.
After Jadis White made a layup to regain a 53-51 advantage for MBU, SEMO went on an 8-0 run to build a six-point cushion. Eric Reed, Jr. buried a 3-pointer and Russell got a steal that led to a dunk by Akenten. Harris then converted a 3-point play to widen the Redhawks lead to 59-53.
Akenten, who missed a trey earlier in the possession, knocked down a big 3-pointer off an assist by Harris to push SEMO's lead to 62-55 with 5:24 to go. DQ Nicholas rebounded the ball off Akenten's missed shot from long range.
MBU, which went a stretch of over six minutes without a field goal, managed to narrow the Redhawks lead to three twice in the final 4:13, but that was as close as it would get.
The Spartant stormed out to a 21-6 lead in the first 10 minutes of the contest. MBU pressured SEMO into committing seven turnovers in the opening 8:29.
MBU heated up to make five of its first seven field goals and ran its lead to double-digits (12-2) for the first time when RJ Pair made a 3-pointer with 14:35 remaining in the first half.
After Tyrell Andrews converted a 3-point play to stretch the Spartans lead to 15, SEMO responded with a 16-3 run to get within two. Nygal Russell stole the ball and threw down a dunk to make it a 24-22 game at the 6:53 mark. The steal was one of four for Russell in the opening stanza.
SEMO was one possession away from catching MBU twice more in the final 6:22 of the first half before the Spartans headed into the locker room ahead, 36-31.
Russell put together another strong game shooting 5-of-8 from the field and a flawless 3-of-3 from downtown. He also made 5-of-7 free throws en route to his third-straight double-digit scoring performance. Additionally, Russell collected four steals.
Harris went 4-of-9 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line. He added a game-high five assists, as well.
Meanwhile, Akenten made a pair of 3-pointers and finished at 6-of-12 from the floor. He also had a game-high three blocks.
Nygal Russell posted six points, six rebounds and four steals in his first start of the season.
SEMO outscored MBU, 40-27, and made 10-of-11 free throws in the second half alone. The Redhawks shot 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the field for the night.