SATURDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 70, Kansas City 62 (Jonesboro, Ark.)
@Creighton 70,
SIUE 65
@Western Kentucky 81,
UT Martin 66
Portland 74,
Southeast Missouri 68 (San Antonio, Texas)
MOREHEAD STATE 70, KANSAS CITY 62
JONESBORO, Ark. - Led by a season-high 20 points from junior guard Skyelar Potter, Morehead State men's basketball never trailed in defeating Kansas City 70-62 to sweep the Eracism Invitational Saturday night at First National Bank Arena.
The Eagles moved above .500 at 4-3 with their second win in as many days. Potter hit four three-pointers, joined by grad transfer guard Tray Hollowell who also hit four three-balls and scored 14. That pair was 8-of-12 on shooting from behind the arc.
MSU also got 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots from second-year man Johni Broome. Sophomore guard Ta'Lon Cooper was efficient again with nine points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Potter (12) and Broome (10) both scored in double digits just in the second half.
While the Eagles did get out-rebounded 34-29, they shot 48 percent (22-of-46), including hitting eight of 15 triples. Morehead State also had its lowest turnover total of the young campaign with just six.
Hollowell set the tone with a made three-pointer a minute into the contest, and MSU pulled ahead by as mch as 12 (25-13) midway through the first period. The Eagles held a 34-25 advantage at the halftime break.
The Eagles led 56-45 with eight minutes to play, but saw the 'Roos rally back to get to within as low as four (62-58) with 1:28 remaining. But Potter, Cooper and junior guard Jake Wolfe sank pairs of free throws to ice the win.
CREIGHTON 70, SIUE 65
OMAHA, Neb. - Creighton used an 11-0 run over the final four minutes to score a come-from-behind 70-65 win over SIUE Saturday in front of 16,417 at CHI Health Center Omaha.
The Cougars slipped to 2-5. Creighton improved to 6-1.
The Cougars built a 12-point lead at halftime thanks to shooting 50 percent (19-38) from the field. SIUE pushed its lead to 16 with back-to-back baskets from DeeJuan Pruitt and Ray'Sean Taylor. The teams traded points several times and SIUE had pushed the lead back to 16 (56-40) on a Shaun Doss, Jr. bucket with 15:33 to play, when Creighton started it run back.
The three came from Trey Alexander with 3:11 to play which cut SIUE's lead from 65-61 to 65-64. Alexander's bucket with 2:10 to play put Creighton on top for good at 66-65.
Barone and the Cougars were making a bid to pull off the upset where his father, Tony Barone, Sr. was head coach for six seasons.
Taylor paced SIUE with his first career double-double. He led all players with 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Pruitt scored a career-high 13 points. Shamar Wright added 13 points of his own and Lamar Wright notched 10 points for the second consecutive game.
Ryan Hawkins led Creighton with 14 points. Ryan Kalkbrenner added 13 points.
SIUE hit on 43 percent of its shots for the game, hitting just 9 of 27 shots after halftime. The Cougars outrebounded Creighton 39-35 and scored 44 points in the paint.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 81, UT MARTIN 66
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team set a new season-high in three-point field goals made for the second straight contest but the Skyhawks could not protect a halftime lead in an 81-66 loss at Western Kentucky.
Keyed by five treys apiece out of Darius Simmons and David Didenko, UT Martin (3-4) canned 13 three-pointers this afternoon – including eight in the first half on its way to a 38-34 advantage at the break. However, the Hilltoppers shot 63 percent (17-of-27) over the final 20 minutes to claim the win.
Simmons led the team in scoring for the second consecutive outing – pumping in 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Didenko followed closely behind with a career-best 15 points while KJ Simon added 12 points, a team-high six rebounds and game-high two steals. Didenko and Koby Jeffries shared the team lead with four assists each for the Skyhawks, who led for over 21 minutes of clock time.
Western Kentucky saw four players score in double digits, led by Jairus Hamilton's 24 points and 11 rebounds. Camron Justice contributed 17 points while Luke Frampton and Dayvion McKnight each scored 16 points as the Hilltoppers held a 19-1 advantage on free throw attempts.
Didenko swished a three-pointer to cap off an early 7-0 run for UT Martin less than three minutes into the contest. Triples from Didenko and Simmons kicked off a separate 8-0 spurt for the Skyhawks that pushed their lead out to 17-12 at the 11:21 mark of the first half.
Josiah Morris got in on the three-point action a little under two minutes later before another Simmons trey resulted in UT Martin's biggest lead of the day (26-18) with 7:19 remaining before the halftime break.
Western Kentucky went on a 14-4 run to briefly take a lead but Didenko and Mikel Henderson both knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to help the Skyhawks claim a 38-34 lead at the half.
Both Didenko (12) and Simmons (10) already reached double figures in the scoring column at the break while the Hilltopper duo of Hamilton and McKnight each had nine points apiece.
A Simon jumper kept UT Martin's lead at four points at the 18:06 mark of the second half but Western Kentucky responded by scoring eight unanswered points. The Hilltoppers took a 48-43 lead but the Skyhawks got right back in the game with a 12-4 run over a 3:33 span. KK Curry got things started with an old-fashioned three-point play before a Didenko three-pointer and two-handed slam dunk by KJ Simon. Koby Jeffries and Simmons followed with trifectas on back-to-back trips down the floor to make the score 57-52 in favor of UT Martin.
Western Kentucky came back with a 10-0 run before back-to-back jumpers from Jeffries willed the Skyhawks within one possession (64-61) with 5:23 remaining.
However, the Hilltoppers tallied a 12-2 run and UT Martin could not get back within single digits the rest of the way.
PORTLAND 74, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Southeast Missouri (3-3) fell to Portland (6-2), 74-68, Saturday at the Incarnate Word Thanksgiving Invitational.
Freshman Phillip Russell scored a season-high 19 points, while Eric Reed, Jr. followed with 17 and Chris Harris added 11 to lead the Redhawks.
SEMO never led for the final 15:17 of the contest. Reed, Jr.'s 3-pointer gave the Redhawks a 40-39 edge for their last advantage in the game.
Chris Austin's two free throws gave Portland its largest lead of the afternoon at 74-65 with 22 seconds left before the Pilots picked up their sixth win of the season. The Redhawks didn't lead by more than two points the entire game. Russell's 3-pointer put SEMO haead, 5-3, with 18:03 left in the first half for SEMO's only lead.
Portland was ahead, 33-30, at halftime.
Russell shot 7-of-10 from the field and knocked down three 3-pointers in his fifth-straight double-digit performance. He also had four assists and one steal. Reed, Jr. made three 3-pointers and 4-of-5 free throws, while Harris hit 5-of-12 field goals.
SEMO made 10 three-pointers for the second game in a row. The Redhawks were outscored, 23-6, at the free throw line.
Tyler Robertson led the Pilots with a game-high 20 points.