TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 108, Campbellsville-Harrodsburg 66
Morehead State 80, @IUPUI 52
@Ball State 75,
Eastern Illinois 55
@Cincinnati 76,
Tennessee Tech 67
@South Alabama 84,
SIUE 69
@Cal Baptist 84,
Southeast Missouri 68
TENNESSEE STATE 108, CAMPBELLSVILLE-HARRODSBURG 66
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team dominated Campbellsville-Harrodsburg, 108-66, in the final non-conference game.
TSU jumpstarted the contest with a 10-0 run as Emmanuel Dowuona logged the first six points of the game. Jalen Dupree tallied consecutive baskets to extend the advantage to double-digits. After the Pioneers responded with a handful of points, the Tigers registered 13 unanswered points to enlarge the lead to 19.
Campbellsville-Harrodsburg opened the second half with a jumper from their leading scorer, Chris Rawlins. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. responded with a three-pointer to push the lead to 21. In the middle of the half, the Tigers went on a 9-2 run to keep a firm grasp of the lead.
At the 9:13 mark, Dupree earned his first double-double of the year (13 points, 13 rebounds). Carlos Marshall Jr. rattled off 21 points in the final seven minutes for a career-high 26 in total. Marshall was 8-of-14 from the field, including a season-high 5-of-11 from deep.
Shakem Johnson went a perfect 8-for-8 from the field, as he totaled a season-high 16 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 80, IUPUI 52
INDIANAPOLIS - Morehead State men's basketball used a 12-0 midway through the first half and pulled away in the final 20 minutes to fend off host IUPUI 80-52 at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum Tuesday night.
The Eagles finished their non-conference 2021-22 ledger at 8-5, tying for the most non-league wins since 2014-15. IUPUI slipped to 1-10. It also marked MSU's first true road win over a team based in Indianapolis.
The 12-0 run, started with a Jaylon Hall triple at 14:07 first half and capped with a Tray Hollowell three-ball at 8:56 - pushed an 8-8 game to a 20-8 Eagle advantage. Morehead State went on to lead by 19 (42-23) at halftime. The Eagles later ballooned their cushion to as much as 30.
Hollowell led MSU with 17 points, including a career-high tying five three-pointers. The Wright State transfer Hall knocked in 4-of-5 triples and scored a career-best 15 points. MSU hit 11 three-pointers, the fifth game this season with 10+ treys.
Second-year center Johni Broome notched his OVC leading eighth double-double and his fourth straight with double-digit points and boards with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
BALL STATE 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 55
MUNCIE, Ind. - Ball State was used an extended 20-0 run closing the first half and opening the second half as the Cardinals beat Eastern Illinois 75-55 on Tuesday night at Worthen Arena.
EIU wraps up non-conference play with a 2-11 record. Ball State improved to 5-6 on the year.
Ball State took an early lead in the contest before Eastern Illinois put together one of its best stretches of basketball this season.
Kashawn Charles gave EIU a 19-18 lead with 9:25 to play in the first half. Paul Bizimana pushed EIU’s lead out to five points with a pair of free throws as EIU led 31-26.
EIU had its biggest lead at 36-28 as Bizimana hit a 3-pointer with 3:04 left to play in the first half. Bizimana scored 12 of his 13 points in the opening half.
The Panthers would go scoreless for the final three minutes of the first half as Ball State closed the half on a 9-0 run to lead 37-36. Mickey Pearson scored the final five points of the half for the Cardinals with his cutting lay-up to the basket giving BSU the lead.
Ball State continued its run in the second half as they opened with an 11-0 run. Tyler Cochran had an early basket followed by a 3-pointer by Luke Bumbalough. Bumbalough was one of four BSU players in double figures scoring 13 points.
Rodolfo Bolis would get a put-back basket with 16:21 left in the game to end the Ball State run with the Cardinals leading 48-38.
Kejuan Clements scored ten of the Panthers first 12 points of the second half as he scored 17 points in his return following an injury. EIU would shoot just 28 percent from the floor in the second half after opening the game at 57 percent in the first half.
Payton Sparks led Ball State with 16 points with Miryne Thomas (14 points) and Pearson (10 points) also in double figures. Cochran had ten rebounds to lead Ball State.
CINCINNATI 76, TENNESSEE TECH 67
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team fought ferociously, but ultimately fell in its final non-conference contest of the 2021-22 season at Cincinnati Tuesday evening, 76-67.
First-half advantages on the glass and in the turnover department by the Bearcats in the first half proved the ultimate difference-maker on the night, as the home squad took a 37-26 advantage into the locker room.
Cincinnati hauled in 21 boards over the opening 20 minutes, including eight on the offensive glass, to Tech's 15. Tech also was forced into 11 turnovers in the opening stanza, while forcing seven by the Bearcats.
The Golden Eagles stayed resilient in the second half, outrebounding Cincy 16-15 and making just five turnovers. Tech delivered a resurgent effort on offense over the closing 20 minutes, outscoring the Bearcats 76-67.
The Cookeville crew shot 53.8 percent from the floor on 14-of-26 attempts and a red-hot 55.6 percent from distance with five makes on nine tries.
After spending four seasons at Cincinnati, transfer forward Mamoudou Diarra enjoyed a homecoming of sorts in his return to Ohio, leading the purple and gold with 15 points and a pair of blocks. The big man hit three attempts from downtown while also hauling in four boards.
One game after pouring in a career-high 24 points, returning freshman Kenny White Jr. chipped in 10 points in his first start of the season, all in the second half. He hit 4-of-6 tries from the field. Both Jr. Clay and
Daniel Ramsey added eight points to the mix, with Clay also contributing four assists, four boards, and three steals.
SOUTH ALABAMA 84, SIUE 69
MOBILE, Ala. - South Alabama shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the first half Tuesday and used a strong first half to propel itself to an 84-69 win over SIUE at the Mitchell Center.
The Jaguars scored eight of the game's first 10 points and never trailed in the contest. South Alabama, which has won nine of its last 10 games, improved to 10-3. SIUE snapped a three-game losing streak and fell to 6-7.
South Alabama connected on 20-29 (69 percent) of first-half shots and led 49-35 at halftime.
The Jaguars scored 34 of their 49 points in the half from inside the paint.
SIUE trimmed the South Alabama lead down to eight following a three-point play by DeeJuan Pruitt with 14:45 to play, but the Jaguars took control, scoring the next 10 points, culminating in a layup for Charles Manning, Jr. which made it 67-49 with 11:59 left.
South Alabama pushed its lead to as many as 23 (82-59) before the Cougars ended the game on a 10-2 run.
SIUE shot 47 percent (25-53) for the game and finished with four players scoring in double figures. Ray'Sean Taylor and Shamar Wright each scored 12 points. Taylor has scored in double figures in all 13 games he has played in college. Pruitt and Lamar Wright each scored 11. Pruitt lead SIUE with seven rebounds.
Shaun Doss, Jr. scored eight points and now has 994 points in his college career.
The Cougars held the Jaguars to just 35 percent (12-34) shooting in the second half. South Alabama finished the game at 51 percent (32-63) overall. The Jags were led by Jay Jay Chandler's 22 points.
CAL BAPTIST 84, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Ty Rowell dropped in 24 points to lead California Baptist (9-3) to an 84-68 win over Southeast Missouri (5-8) Tuesday night at the CBU Events Center.
SEMO was led by reigning Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week Phillip Russell's 17 points.
The Redhawks led for 6:39 of the game and that was it. During that time, SEMO was ahead by five points on three occasions early in the first half.
Russell made a 3-pointer to put the Redhawks up, 11-6, before Nate Johnson scored on a hook shot and Eric Reed, Jr. gave SEMO a 15-10 cushion on a jumper with 13:46 remaining.
After Russell scored to give SEMO a 20-18 edge, the Redhawks fell into a cold spell. As a result, the Redhawks missed 10 of 11 field goals and went scoreless for 3:43.
Meanwhile, CBU capitalized with a 13-0 run to take a 31-20 lead. Powell, who went over 1,000 points in his CBU career, stuck a 3-pointer to finish off the jaunt with 5:37 to go.
CBU later widened its lead to 12 twice in the final four minutes of the first half before taking a 43-34 advantage at the break.
The Lancers started the second half with a 10-4 surge to quickly push their lead to 15 (53-38).
SEMO managed to get within eight on a pair of free throws by Chris Harris which made it a 53-45 game at the 13:33 mark, but that was the last time the Lancer lead dipped below double figures.
Daniel Akin's driving second chance layup gave CBU its largest lead of the night at 75-56 prior to the Lancers polishing off their ninth home win of the season.
CBU, now 9-0 on its homecourt, has gone 25-3 against non-conference foes at the CBU Events Center since it made the jump to NCAA Division I.
Russell, who scored 11 of his points in the first half, shot 6-of-13 from the field with half of his makes coming from 3-point range. Russell had a strong California swing averaging 21 points in two games.
Harris followed with 16 points off the bench and Reed, Jr. added 11. Sam Thompson, who was back in the starting lineup for the first time since Nov. 19, contributed six points and six rebounds.
SEMO shot 34.4 percent (22-of-64) from the field and just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) from beyond the arc.
Rowell hit 6-of-13 from the field and drained six 3-pointers, half of the Lancers dozen for the game. He paced four starters in double-digits.
Aken had a double-double 17 points and 14 boards, while Chance Hunter and Reed Nottage pitched in 15 and 13, respectively.
Taran Armstrong, CBU's leading scorer who entered tonight's game ranked second in the nation in assists, exited the game early in the first half with a cut on his shooting hand. Armstrong did not return in the game.
CBU outrebounded SEMO by a +10 margin (45-35) and shot 48.4 percent (30-of-62) from the floor.
SEMO concluded non-conference play with four-straight losses, all by double figures.