SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Evansville 59,
Tennessee Tech 51
@Western Illinois 81,
UT Martin 64
@Southeast Missouri 76, Webster 64
@Chicago State 59,
Tennessee State 49
@Eastern Illinois 76, North Park University 71
@Bradley 80,
SIUE 55
@Murray State 93, Middle Tennessee 87
EVANSVILLE 59, TENNESSEE TECH 51
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - A defensive struggle between the Tennessee Tech and Evansville basketball teams went in favor of the home squad Saturday afternoon, as the Purple Aces bested the Golden Eagles at the Ford Center, 59-51.
Neither side led the contest by more than eight at any point during the day, with Evansville taking the largest advantage of the game with 5:32 left to play at 46-38. Both sides traded blows over the next three minutes, but the purple and gold finally looked to break through as the clock began to wind down.
Trailing by seven with 2:14 on the clock, returning junior guard Jr. Clay cut into the paint and dropped in a floater to trim the deficit to five. Evansville was called for flopping for the second time in the contest, resulting in a technical free throw for Tech.
Returning sophomore guard Keishawn Davidson calmly converted the try to make it a four-point game. Playing tenacious defense on the ensuing inbounds play, the Golden Eagles forced a turnover by the Purple Aces and took advantage of the new possession.
Clay found Davidson open from deep, and the Murfreesboro, Tenn. native buried the triple, bringing Tech to within a point. Evansville hit a dagger on the following turn with the ball, answering a make from downtown that propelled the home squad back to a four-point lead.
Both sides struggle to convert throughout the contest, with Tech being held to 37.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from 3-point range on the day. Evansville converted slightly better, shooting 42.3 percent from the field, but just 27.6 percent from distance. The Golden Eagles made 15 turnovers while the Purple Aces turned in 11.
Clay led the purple and gold with 15 points and three assists in the contest. Graduate transfer John Pettway added 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting off the bench. Amadou Sylla hauled in a game-high nine rebounds while Diante Wood and Shandon Goldman each chipped in seven boards.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 81, UT MARTIN 64
MACOMB, Ill. - The third and final game of the University of Tennessee at Martin’s three-game road swing did not go the Skyhawks’ way today as Western Illinois protected its home court with an 81-64 win.
Leading the way for UT Martin (3-6) was junior guard KJ Simon, who collected 19 points, a game-high 12 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist. It marked the first double-double as a Skyhawk and third of his collegiate career (also accomplishing that feat while playing at Troy).
Darius Simmons added 11 points for UT Martin while the frontcourt tandem of KK Curry and Chris Nix pitched in 10 points apiece. The Skyhawks won the rebounding battle (35-33) but were hampered by 15 turnovers – nine of which came in the first half.
Western Illinois (7-2) shot 52.6 percent (30-of-47) this afternoon and were paced by Will Carius’ 26 points. Tarnell Pearson and Trenton Massner additionally scored in double figures with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
The Leathernecks opened the contest on a 12-2 run before a Curry jumper and back-to-back buckets by Nix helped UT Martin shake off its slow start. Simon threw down a dunk at the 11:21 mark to pull the Skyhawks within five points at 16-11.
After Western Illinois went back ahead by 13 points with a little under nine minutes to go in the first half, UT Martin went on an 8-0 run thanks to two points each out of Curry (layup), Simon (dunk), Nix (layup) and Simmons (free throws).
A pair of free throws from Nix kept the Skyhawk deficit at five (26-21) with 4:48 remaining before the halftime break. Two minutes later, Josiah Morris converted an old-fashioned three-point play but the Leathernecks scored the final six points of the half to lead 37-24 at the intermission.
Nix accounted for a team-best eight points in the opening 20 minutes while Carius’ 12 points guided Western Illinois.
Curry scored four of UT Martin’s first six points in the second half before a Nix layup and Koby Jeffries jumper made the score 44-34 with 16:30 to go.
The Leathernecks came back with seven unanswered points but Mikel Henderson soon had the hot hand – draining a pair of triples in the span of 58 seconds to pull the Skyhawks back within 10 at 56-46.
Simmons splashed a trifecta at the 7:51 mark to get UT Martin’s deficit back down to single digits (65-57) for the first time in the second half. However, Western Illinois scored 15 of the next 19 points and the Skyhawks could not recover.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 76, WEBSTER 64
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eric Reed, Jr. scored a season-high 26 points to lead Southeast Missouri (4-4) to a 76-64 win over Webster University (1-5) Saturday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
Reed, Jr. scored 15 of his points and knocked down four of his game-high five 3-pointers in the second half.
SEMO and WU were locked up in a tight game until the Redhawks pulled away for good in the final 5:43.
The Redhawks, who were ahead, 60-54, with 6:28 remaining, quickly extended their lead to 12 on a pair of 3-pointers by Reed, Jr. The second of those two increased SEMO's margin to 66-54 with 5:13 to go. Another 3-pointer by Reed, Jr. gave SEMO a 14-point lead before Dylan Branson's layup gave the Redhawks their largest advantage (74-58) with 3:22 left to play. SEMO led by double figures for the last 5:13 of the game en route to its first double-digit win of the season.
SEMO and WU battled to six ties and four lead changes in a first half where neither team led by more than seven points.
Knotted at 14-14, the Redhawks went on a 9-2 run to take their largest lead of the opening stanza. Reed, Jr. scored seven of the points and capped the surge when he buried a 3-pointer to put SEMO ahead, 23-16, with 7:47 left to play.
Stephen Hawkins later made a jumper to tie the game at 29-29 at the 3:18 mark before the Redhawks carried a 34-31 edge into the locker room at intermission.
Reed, Jr. scored 11 points in the first half.
Reed, Jr. shot 8-of-17 from the field and 5-of-12 from 3-point range. He added 5-of-6 free throws, three rebounds, four assists and a block in his third 20-point effort this year. Manny Patterson followed with a near double-double 14 points and nine rebounds, while Nygal Russell and DQ Nicholas contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively.
SEMO outscored WU, 42-39, in the second half and hit 41.8 percent (28-of-67) of its field goals for the game. Additionally, the Redhawks attempted a season-high 32 three-pointers and posted a season-best seven blocks.
Wynne Brown, Jr. led the Gorloks with 26 points and Mark Moore had 12. WU turned the ball over 16 times and SEMO capitalized with 23 points off those miscues.
CHICAGO STATE 59, TENNESSEE STATE 49
CHICAGO - The Tennessee State men's basketball team was defeated by Chicago State, 59-49, on Saturday afternoon at the Jones Convocation Center.
Chicago State registered the first basket of the game with a three-pointer from Jahsean Corbett. The Tigers secured their first lead of the game after a jumper from Carlos Marshall Jr., however, the Cougars responded with a 7-1 scoring stretch. CSU extended their advantage to nine points, 25-16, following another long-range jumper from Corbett. TSU trimmed the lead heading to halftime with a four-point run.
TSU opened the second half with an 12-1 run, ultimately grabbing their first lead since the opening minutes. Six different Tigers contributed to the streak, extending the edge to 32-26. Tennessee State began the half, connecting on 7-for-10 from the field. Kassim Nicholson added ten points in the second half, totaling 16 for the contest. With ten minutes remaining, the Cougars went on an 18-3 run to take control of the game.
CSU's Corbett, a freshman from Kissimmee, Florida, recorded a career-high 17 points on 7-for-15 from the field.
Nicholson posted his third double-double of the season with a season-high 16 points and 12 rebounds.
TSU, the conference's leader in three-point percentage, went scoreless from deep in the first half. The Tigers ultimately converted 2-of-11 from three-point range.
Chicago State had three players score at least 12 points as they shot 38% from the field.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 76, NORTH PARK 71
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Kejuan Clements had a double-double with 25 points and 11 assists on Saturday afternoon as Eastern Illinois held off a determined North Park University team, 76-71, at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena.
EIU improved to 2-7 on the season. North Park is 3-2.
EIU shot 52 percent from the floor in the opening half but the Panthers could never create much breathing room against North Park as they pushed their lead to a high of seven points with 8:32 left in the first half on a bucket by Sammy Friday IV.
North Park would answer with a 7-0 run as the Vikings tied the game four times over the next four minutes of action. The final tie in the run came at 26-26 on a jumper by Michael Osborne with 4:18 left in the half. Osborne had 17 points in the game for North Park, one of three Vikings in double figures in the game.
Adam Bulwa gave North Park the lead at 28-26 with a put-back basket with 2:33 left in the half. North Park finished with a 43-31 advantage on the glass pulling down 20 offensive rebounds in the game.
Clements would lead a late first half EIU rally to give the Panthers a 31-28 lead at the break. He hit a 3-pointer with 1:36 left in the half and assisted on a bucket by CJ Lane to close the opening half scoring.
Kashawn Charles connected on back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to push EIU’s lead out to eight points. Charles second 3-pointer came with 11:21 remaining giving EIU a 55-47 lead. Charles hit five 3-pointers for the second straight game finishing with 17 points.
A three-point play by Jermaine Hamlin on the next possession gave EIU its first double figure lead of the game with 10:11 left in the contest. EIU would lead by as many as 12 points with 7:16 left in the game.
North Park closed to within four points twice in the final 1:14 of the game, the final time with 17 seconds remaining on a jumper by Osborne. Gabe Johnson led North Park with 19 points to go with 10 rebounds. Jalen Boyd added 13 points.
EIU had four players in double figures with Hamlin and Rodolfo Bolis each scoring ten points to join Clements and Charles in double figures.
BRADLEY 80, SIUE 55
PEORIA, Ill. - A seven-minute stretch at the end of the first half proved to be the difference Saturday as SIUE men's basketball fell to Bradley 80-55 at Carver Arena.
The Cougars dropped to 3-6 overall. Bradley improved to 4-5.
The game was close to start, with both teams taking modest leads. SIUE led by as many as five at 16-11 with 11:33 to play.
What had been a tight game for the first 13 minutes, changed near the 7:00 minute mark in the first half. Shaun Doss, Jr. knocked down a pair of free throws to draw SIUE within a point at 23-22. From there, Bradley went on a 16-0 and finished the half on a 22-4 run to lead 45-26 at the break. The Cougars didn't hit a field goal for the final 7:19 of the period, scoring six points all at the free throw line.
SIUE connected on just 28 percent (9-32) of its shots in the first half, while Bradley knocked down 16-28 shots (57 percent) including hitting seven three-point shots in the half.
The Cougars shot just 28 percent for the game (16-58). SIUE was just 2-18 from three-point range but 21-26 at the free throw line.
Bradley cooled to just 42 percent from the field in the second half and finished 10-22 for the game from three-point range. The Braves outrebounded SIUE 39-35.
Ray'Sean Taylor led SIUE with 22 points. It is the third 20-point game of his career. He was 3-8 from the field and 8-8 from the free throw line. Doss was the only other Cougar in double figures with 14 points. He was 3-10 and also was 8-8 at the foul line.
Bradley had three players in double figures. Terry Roberts led the way with 17 points. He was 7-11 from the field with two threes. Jayson Kent had 13 points and was 4-6 from three-point range.
MURRAY STATE 93, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 87
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers won for the fourth-straight time Saturday in a 93-87 victory over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
On a night when each team had rightly earned a reputation of possessing shutdown defensive abilities, offense reigned and the Racers (7-1) scored their season-best in points against NCAA D-I team and put five players in double-figures. Trae Hannibal scored 19 points, while KJ Williams and Justice Hill each scored 18 points and Tevin Brown 15 points. DJ Burns added 12 points. Williams and Burns each had a double-double and combined to haul in 27 rebounds.
Leading 44-40 at the intermission, the Racers began the second half with a 28-15 run including a 3-pointer from Hill and a dash of quick scoring from Brown and baskets from Nicholas McMullen, Burns and Hannibal. The Racers built a 72-55 lead with 10:12 left. The Racers cooled off with a 1-of-8 shooting stretch and MTSU cut the lead to 73-63 with 7:53 left. When the Racers scoring drought went to four minutes, the Blue Raiders got as close as 74-69 at 5:57. The Racers salted the game away by making 12-of-15 from the free throw line to secure the win.