WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 59, Georgia Southern 51
@Middle Tennessee 73,
UT Martin 61
@Northern Illinois 55,
Eastern Illinois 45
MOREHEAD STATE 59, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 51
MOREHEAD, Ky. - A pair of double-doubles and a near-miss on a third double-double, coupled with a 22-5 scoring furry over an eight-minute span in the second half, sparked Morehead State men's basketball to a 59-51 home win over Georgia Southern Wednesday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who beat their second Sun Belt Conference foe in the last three games, improved to 5-3 and won their 11th consecutive home game since last December.
Second-year forward Johni Broome helped fuel the scoring push by scoring 10 straight points in the final half, part of a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double and his fourth DD of the year and 16th of his two-year career. The Ohio Valley Conference leader in blocked shots also smacked away six GSU shot attempts.
Junior guard Skyelar Potter started the pull away for the Eagles with a pair of three-pointers 25 seconds apart with 12 minutes to play and drained four total triples on the night to score a team-high 16 points while grabbing 11 rebound as well. Potter's double-double was his second this year and sixth of the his career.
Third-year point guard Ta'Lon Cooper, who already has one point-assist double this winter, nearly did that again tonight with a game-high 10 helpers and nine points. He also had a trio of steals as the host Eagles forced 15 mistakes from the visiting Eagles.
Georgia Southern held a 35-34 advantage with 13:28 left to play before Potter connected on the back-to-back long distance shots at 12:08. Then Broome got going with five consecutive field goals, and the home team found itself leading 56-40 with 4:18 to play. During that run, GSU was 2-for-10 from the floor with five turnovers. The visitors did trim the MSU lead back down under double-digits to as low as eight but with only 17 seconds remaining.
Morehead State held Georgia Southern to 43 percent from the field, well below its 52 team efficiency for the year. The home Eagles also shot 43 percent (23-of-54) and hit nine three-pointers. MSU also out-rebounded GSU 37-27, against a team which had a plus-seven rebound margin entering the game.
MIDDLE TENNESSEE 73, UT MARTIN 61
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Darius Simmons topped the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team in scoring for the third straight contest this evening but the Skyhawks fell by a 73-61 margin at Conference USA opponent Middle Tennessee.
A graduate guard out of Raleigh, NC, Simmons shot an even 50 percent from the field tonight – knocking down six of his 12 field goal tries for 17 points. That included a 3-of-5 effort from three-point land and a perfect 2-for-2 performance from the charity stripe.
Simmons was joined in double figures scoring by Koby Jeffries (11 points) and KJ Simon (10 points, game-high seven rebounds). UT Martin (3-5) forced the Blue Raiders into 13 turnovers but uncharacteristically shot 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from beyond the three-point line.
Middle Tennessee improved to 7-1 as Eli Lawrence accounted for a game-high 19 points. Donovan Sims had 15 points to go along with game-highs of seven rebounds and four assists while Tyler Millin contributed 11 points for the Blue Raiders.
The Skyhawks were the aggressors early, holding Middle Tennessee without a field goal for the first 4:05. Simons converted back-to-back buckets for UT Martin in the process – including a highlight reel dunk off a dish from David Didenko to make the score 6-1 in favor of the Skyhawks.
The Blue Raiders responded with eight unanswered points until a Mikel Henderson trey at the 12:08 mark evened the score at 9-all. Two more ties followed before a Grant Hurst layup and Chris Nix jumper gave UT Martin a 15-13 advantage 11 minutes into the contest.
Simmons went off for the Skyhawks’ next seven points but Middle Tennessee took advantage of a 9-0 run to claim a 34-27 lead going into the halftime break.
Despite the fact that it trailed, UT Martin outshot the Blue Raiders (42.9 percent to 38.7 percent) in the opening 20 minutes. Simmons had a team-high seven points for the Skyhawks while Lawrence’s 13 points paced Middle Tennessee.
Simon knocked down a pair of free throws for the first points of the second half. Simmons then buried two straight triples to trim UT Martin’s deficit to 40-35 at the first media timeout.
A pull-up jumper by Henderson and a driving layup from Simon helped the Skyhawks make it a one-possession contest (44-41) with 11:45 remaining. However, the Blue Raiders went on a 12-2 run in a 3:19 stretch to go on top by a 56-43 margin.
Simmons canned a pair of free throws and KK Curry made a jumper in the paint to get UT Martin within 11 points with six minutes to go but that was ultimately as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way.
Jeffries went on a scoring spree late as the freshman guard out of Olive Branch, Miss. tossed in UT Martin’s final six points of the contest but the Skyhawk deficit was too large to overcome by that point.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 55, EASTERN ILLINOIS 45
DEKALB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois had scoreless stretches in both halves on Wednesday night with a seven minute scoreless streak in the second half allowing Northern Illinois to pick up a 55-45 win over the Panthers.
EIU fell to 1-7 on the season while NIU improved to 2-5.
Northern Illinois led 29-23 at the half as EIU hit two of its first three shots from 3-point range in the opening half, Kashawn Charles hitting both as he moved into 16th on the EIU career 3-pointers made list.
Charles would score 15 points in the game for EIU but the Panthers hit a cold stretch from outside late in the first half as they missed their final 12 3-pointers of the half. EIU would finish the game 7-of-28 from behind the arc.
Trendon Hankerson scored 12 points in the first half for NIU making all four Huskies 3-pointers in the opening half. Keshawn Williams scored 13 of his game-high 24 points in the opening half.
Williams steal with 8:42 left in the game gave the Huskies their biggest lead at the time at 44-36. Williams would give NIU their first double figure lead on the next possession with Hankerson pushing the NIU lead to 49-36 with 5:36 remaining. Hankerson finished with 14 points.
EIU would have a seven minute scoreless streak late in the second half that was eventually snapped on a Henry Abraham 3-pointer with 2:53 left to play in the game.
Jermaine Hamlin scored 12 points off the bench going 6-of-6 at the foul line. Paul Bizimana pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Panthers.