SUNDAY'S SCORES
Montana State 75,
Southeast Missouri 68 (San Antonio, Texas)
Evansville,
@Eastern Illinois
Southern 82,
@Tennessee State 80
Belmont, Dayton (Kissimmee, Fla.)
MONTANA STATE 75, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Montana State (4-3) scored 48 second-half points and used a 25-6 run in a 12-minute stretch to beat Southeast Missouri (3-4), 75-68, Sunday afternoon at the Incarnate Word Thanksgiving Invitational.
SEMO finished the tournament with a 1-2 record.
SEMO led, 31-27, at the intermission before a cold second-half start doomed the Redhawks.
The Redhawks struggled to get into any type of rhythm in a second half that saw a combined 29 personal fouls called.
MSU began the final 20 minutes on a 17-3 run and shot free throws for the last 13:23 of the contest. The Bobcats took their largest lead when Tyler Patterson knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 59-44 game with 7:02 left to play.
The Redhawks managed to get within five when a driving layup by Chris Harris narrowed MSU's lead to 73-68 with 21 seconds to go, but that was as close as they could get.
SEMO started strong forcing four turnovers in the first 3:44 of the game and jumped out to an early 8-0 lead. The Redhawks put up their first six tallies on layups and Russell accounted for half of those points during the surge.
After Nygal Russel made a 3-pointer to run SEMO's lead to eight again (13-5), MSU countered with a 12-2 run to take a 17-15 advantage. The Redhawks went scoreless for nearly four minutes before DQ Nicholas' layup ended the drought with 9:58 left in the first half.
Nicholas later knocked down a 3-pointer to stretch the Redhawks lead to 30-24 before SEMO led, 31-27, at the intermission.
Russell finished with a career-best 21 points on 6-of-15 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws. He dropped in two 3-pointers in his sixth-straight game with double figures.
Harris added 17 points off the bench, while Nana Akenten pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds. Eric Reed, Jr., who entered today averaging 17 points a game, had only five in 21 minutes due to his four fouls.
MSU made 24 free throws, all but three of which were in the second half.
All five Bobcat starters scored double figures with Jubrile Belo paving the way with 17 points.
SEMO has been outscored 69-35 at the free throw line for the tournament. Belo also had six rebounds and five blocks. Xavier Bishop followed with 14 points, while Amin Adamu contributed a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds. Patterson and Abdul Mohamed chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively.
For the tournament, the Redhawks were outscored 69-35 at the free throw line.
EVANSVILLE 70, EASTERN ILLINOIS 54
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Evansville opened the game hot from 3-point range as the Purple Aces built an early 22 point lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half as Evansville finished the game 11-of-31 from 3-point range during a 70-54 win over Eastern Illinois on Sunday afternoon at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena.
EIU fell to 1-6 on the season while Evansville improved to 3-6 overall.
Evansville was 8-of-16 from 3-point range in the opening half with Blaise Beauchamp, Shamar Givance and Jawaun Newton all having a pair of 3-pointers in the opening half. Beauchamp scored all 12 of his points in the first half. Givance had ten of his game-high 26 in the opening half.
The Purple Aces hit their first five 3-point shots as they raced out to a 23-5 lead with 11:09 to play in the first. The lead would grow to 22 points on a Beauchamp 3-pointer with 8:21 left in the first half.
EIU would cut the lead down to 12 points with just over a minute remaining on a bucket by Kashawn Charles. Charles would finish the game with ten points, one of three Panthers in double figures in the game.
Beauchamp closed the half for Evansville with a jumper to give the Purple Aces a 38-24 lead at the break.
A 3-pointer by Charles early in the second half would again trim the Evansville lead to 12 points with 19 minutes left in the game.
Evansville would counter with an extended 17-4 run over the next eight minutes with Givance doing most of the damage for the Aces. He would score eight points and add two steals during the run with Evansville leading by 25 points with 10:21 left in the game.
A 3-pointer by Chris Robinson in the final minutes would bring EIU back to within 13 points, but the Panthers would get no closer in the contest.
Sammy Friday IV led EIU with 12 points and eight rebounds. Kejuan Clements had 11 points.
SOUTHERN 82, TENNESSEE STATE 80
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team fell to Southern on a last second reverse layup, 82-80.
In the first half, Carlos Marshall Jr. secured the opening bucket for TSU with a mid-range jumper, off an assist from Kenny Cooper. Cooper drained a three-pointer, to grab an early five-point lead. The Tigers extended the lead to six, 8-2, after three consecutive free-throws from Kassim Nicholson. Southern took the lead following a 10-2 scoring stretch, with Tyrone Lyons contributing five points to the run.
The game remained a battle throughout the half as the two teams exchanged the lead multiple times. In the first half, Marshall Jr. recorded a team-best nine points and three rebounds. Cooper went a perfect 2-for-2 from long-range, totaling six points, three rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes of action. For the Jaguars, Lyons led the way with a game-high 11 points as he converted 5-of-6 at the charity stripe.
In the second half the Tigers logged an 11-2 scoring stretch to take a four-point lead, 45-41. Four separate players contributed to the run, as Emmanuel Dowuona added four points on a layup and two free-throws. TSU held a five-point lead at the midway point, 57-52, following a Dedric Boyd jumper. With 5:32 remaining, SU's Lyons drained a three-pointer to give Southern a 67-66 lead, which they did not relinquish.
At the 2:17 mark, Boyd converted two free-throws to cut the deficit to three, 76-73. After forcing a missed shot, Shakem Johnson spilt a pair at the charity stripe. Trailing by three, with 31 seconds left, Marshall Jr. splashed a three-ball to tie the game. On the final possession, the Jaguars' P.J. Byrd registered the game-winning basket on an up-and-under reverse layup.
Three Tigers registered double-digit scoring, as Marshall Jr. led the team with 14 points. Cooper, a graduate transfer from WKU, posted eight points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Southern's Terrell Williams Jr. rattled off a game-high 19 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
DAYTON 63, BELMONT 61
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Belmont University men's basketball dropped a 63-31 decision to Dayton Sunday in the ESPN Events Invitational championship.
Following victories over conference favorites Drake and Iona, Belmont was seeking a Disney storybook ending to its memorable trip to Orlando. However, in the land of faith, trust and a little bit of pixie dust, uncharacteristically cold perimeter shooting inhibited Belmont from finding an offensive rhythm.
Dayton got 10 first half points from transfer Kobe Elvis - who had played only three minutes in the previous two games - to lead 31-27 at halftime.
Two determined post scores from Nick Muszynski and a Ben Sheppard 3-pointer tied the score at 34 with 18:14 remaining. However, behind two 3-pointers from Elijah Weaver, Dayton answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead.
Muszynski continued to produce inside to keep Belmont within reach, but balanced Dayton scoring maintained a working margin. After Lynn Greer gave Dayton a 54-45 lead with 7:56 left, Belmont held Dayton scoreless for nearly four minutes. Six more Muszynski points got Belmont within one, 54-53, with 4:38 remaining.
But following a Dayton miss, a loose ball rebound caromed to Toumani Camara, who ended the Dayton drought with a conventional 3-point play. Camara would increase the margin to six before baskets from Muszynski and Sheppard got Belmont within 59-57 with one minute remaining. Koby Brea would miss an off-balance shot on Dayton's next possession, but DaRon Holmes scored a putback basket to make the score 61-57 with 31 seconds left.
After one Muszynski free throw and two free throws from Malachi Smith, Grayson Murphy drove the length of the floor and scored to get Belmont within 63-60 with 10 seconds remaining. Belmont would then foul Camara, who missed the front-end of a one-and-one from the free throw line. And though Belmont secured the defensive rebound, Dayton had two fouls to give in the final 10 seconds.
A third foul was given on Murphy with four seconds left to deny Belmont an opportunity at a game-tying 3-pointer. Or so Dayton thought. Murphy would make the first free throw to get Belmont within two points. He then intentionally missed the second free throw and Tate Pierson secured an offensive rebound for Belmont. However, Pierson's pass outside to Sheppard for a potential game-winning 3-pointer was stolen by Malachi Smith and the horn sounded.
All told, Belmont shot 46 percent (25-of-55) from the field - but only 6-of-22 from 3-point distance. Belmont was +14 points in the paint.
Muszynski led Belmont with a game-high 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. Sheppard had 14.
Holmes led Dayton (4-3) with 11 points.