SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 78, Southeast Missouri 63
@Jacksonville State 80, SIUE 60
@Tennessee Tech 80, Eastern Illinois 67
Eastern Kentucky 93, @Tennessee State 73
@Belmont 73, Morehead State 58
@Murray State 84, UT Martin 55
AUSTIN PEAY 78, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 63
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Before the game, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team honored senior Terry Taylor for recently breaking the program's career scoring record.
Taylor then went out and added 32 points to that tally in a 78-63 win against Southeast Missouri, Saturday, the latest in what has been a series of dominant performances during the lefty's four years in Clarksville. Enjoy the greatness; this caliber of player comes along once in a generation.
Saturday, it was obvious from the start that this is one of the special nights Taylor will periodically create out of thin air that we'll remember long after his time as a Gov has come to an end. In the first 10 minutes of action, the Govs led 21-10 and Taylor already had 15 points, coming on threes, and-one opportunities and second-chance clean-up jobs that opponents have found it hard to stop as the years have gone by.
A 10-0 Austin Peay run later in the first half, highlighted by a Carlos Paez three-point play, helped take the Govs into halftime with a comfortable 15-point lead at 42-27. Taylor racked up 23 in the half. It was all Govs, all the time.
And it would stay that way for most of the second half. Although there was a little of head coach Matt Figger's least-favorite phrase in there—"playing the score and not the opponent"—Austin Peay never saw its lead drop back into single digits at any point in the half and led by as much as 22 points after a highlight-reel dunk by Elton Walker at the halfway point.
The Govs would only hit three field goals in the final 10 minutes of the game—a layup from Taylor and a pair of Tai'Reon Joseph three-pointers—but Austin Peay's ball-hawking defense stopped many Southeast Missouri possessions before they ever got fully going. The Govs purloined 12 steals in the contest, its first outing with double-digits in the steal column since Dec. 14 against McKendree.
Taylor finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds, numbers that look super-human until you do a little research and find that it's the 10th time in his Austin Peay career he's put up at least 30 points and 12 rebounds in the same game. So basically, every 12 times Terry Taylor has put on an Austin Peay uniform, he's put together one of the greatest performances of his or anyone else's career.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 80, SIUE 60
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team matched its longest winning streak of the season Saturday with an 80-60 win over SIUE at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The fourth Jax State win in a row came as five scored in double figures for the Gamecocks (14-7, 10-5 OVC), including a 16-point performance by Amanze Ngumezi.
The two forwards combined for 29 points, helping JSU outscore SIUE (8-11, 6-7 OVC) by 16 in the paint. They also totaled 15 rebounds, bullying the Cougars 40-29 on the boards for 19 second-chance points.
The Jacksonville State defense forced the Cougars to cough up the ball 15 times Saturday, capitalizing on the miscues for 19 points. It was the sixth time this season the Gamecocks forced 15 turnovers or more. On the other end of the court, the offense shared the ball for 30 field goals on 21 assists.
SIUE led for less than 25 seconds following a Courtney Carter 3-pointer that gave the Cougars a brief 3-2 advantage. Kayne Henry erased the lead on a layup and the Gamecocks never looked back.
Trailing by 13 with seconds to go before halftime, SIUE's Sidney Wilson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Jax State lead down to a dime, 40-30, but the two teams would match their scores exactly in the second half to push the game's final to 20 points.
After a quiet first half, Jalen Finch scored eight points to lead JSU through the final 20 minutes. The point guard scored three of his four baskets in the last period, including a 3-pointer and a free throw.
To go along with Amanze's 16 and Huffman's 13, Demaree King and Finch each tallied 11 points. Darian Adams ended the night with 10 points to round out double-digit scorers.
Wilson was the Cougars' leading scorer, snagging 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting.
TENNESSEE TECH 80, EASTERN ILLINOIS 67
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - An incredible team effort lifted the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to an impressive, 80-67 victory over Eastern Illinois Saturday night in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Bouncing back from a tough loss to SIUE Thursday evening, the Golden Eagles (3-19, 3-12) turned in one of its most complete performances during the John Pelphrey era, shooting 52.8 percent from the floor, 44.4 percent from 3-point range and 70.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Highlighting the impressive night, the team compiled a whopping 25 assists on 28 made field goals, the team's highest total of helpers since dishing out 27 on Dec. 6, 2018 against Warren Wilson. Tech also made just 11 turnovers in the contest while out-rebounding the Panthers (7-16, 4-12) 35-26.
Enjoying the best overall performance of his collegiate career, graduate transfer Shandon Goldman flirted heavily with a triple-double, missing out on becoming just the third Golden Eagle ever to accomplish the feat by two assists. The big man turned in career-highs of 20 points and eight assists while snagging a game-high 11 rebounds. It marked his first double-double in the purple and gold and second of his career.
Leading the Golden Eagle scoring effort was junior guard Jr. Clay, who tallied a game-high 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting and 4-for-9 clip from distance. He dished out three assists while scoring 18 points in the first half alone. The Chattanooga native hit a 3-pointer for the 32nd-consecutive contest, tying for the second-longest streak in program history with Cameron Crisp. He also passed Frank Davis on the all-time scoring list, moving into 26th overall in program history.
Keishawn Davidson dropped 18 points, five rebounds and six helpers off the bench, sinking all six of his tries from the charity stripe. Damaria Franklin scored nine points with six boards in 24 minutes while battling through some foul issues.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 93, TENNESSEE STATE 73
NASHVILLE - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team jumped out to a 29-7 lead on its way to a 93-73 victory over Tennessee State University on Saturday.
Eastern (16-5, 10-4 OVC) led wire-to-wire, but was in front by just two after a three-pointer from TSU’s Ravel Moody with 16:25 to go in the first half. Curt Lewis converted an old-fashioned three-point play at the other end to begin a 22-2 run by the Colonels. After a lay-up from Shakem Johnson got Tennessee State within six, 13-7, the Tigers went 5:22 without scoring as EKU rolled of 16 unanswered.
Eight of those 16 came at the free throw line. When Michael Moreno knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to finish off the run the visitors were up by 22, 29-7. The Colonels started 8-of-15 from the field and 10-of-10 at the free throw line.
The Tigers ended the first half by scoring seven unanswered to get within 14, and scored the first four points of the second half to stretch it to an 11-0 run. A three-pointer from Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. extended the run to 14-2 and got Tennessee State within nine, 51-42, with 18:26 remaining in the game.
Eastern Kentucky came alive, out-scoring TSU this time 17-4 over the next five minutes. Four straight points from Cheikh Faye, a jumper and two free throws, extended the margin to 22 points, 68-46, with 13:29 to play.
Faye finished with 15 points, hitting 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-7 from deep. Wendell Green Jr. had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Lewis scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high and career-best 11 rebounds while dishing out four assists. Tre King contributed 14 points.
Johnson led Tennessee State (3-16, 2-14 OVC) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Mark Freeman finished with 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
EKU shot 50 percent from the field and went 19-for-21 (90 percent) at the free throw line. TSU made 29 percent of its shots. Eastern out-rebounded the home squad by six, 40-34.
BELMONT 73, MOREHEAD STATE 58
NASHVILLE - Junior Grayson Murphy recorded a triple-double as Belmont University men's basketball defeated Morehead State, 73-58, Saturday.
Murphy had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in registering the first triple-double of Belmont's NCAA Division I era (and first in the OVC since Ja Morant in 2019).
Belmont (22-1, 16-0 OVC) limited Morehead State to one field goal in the first five minutes, as six points from junior Nick Muszynski gave Belmont a 10-2 lead. Two Murphy baskets and another post score from Muszynski increased the Belmont lead to 18-8 seven and a half minutes in.
Freshman JaCobi Wood hit consecutive 3-pointers to keep Belmont ahead before KJ Hunt tied the game at 27. Murphy sparked a key 16-3 run to end the first half, scoring or assisting on 14 of the 16 points, as his offensive rebound putback basket gave Belmont a 43-30 lead at halftime.
Belmont shot 53 percent (18-of-34) from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Belmont outrebounded Morehead State - which entered play with a +8.5 rebounding margin in conference games - 24-15 in the first half and limited the Eagles to three second chance points.
Five points from junior Caleb Hollander and a 3-pointer from junior Luke Smith gave Belmont a 51-32 lead with 16:35 remaining. Morehead State closed within 55-47 on a Devon Cooper basket before Muszynski answered with a post score. Wood delivered consecutive determined drives as Murphy capped an 8-0 Belmont run with a coast-to-coast score to extend the margin to 16, 65-49, with 4:01 left.
The Bruins outscored Morehead State, 44-26, in points in the paint, while limiting the Eagles to 33 percent shooting.
Wood led four Bruins in double figures with 19 points. Muszynski had 13 points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals. Smith had 10.
Ta'lon Cooper led Morehead State (16-7, 13-3 OVC) with 16 points.
The game marked the third time in the last 25 seasons two teams riding win streaks of at least 12 games met in the regular season.
Belmont has won 19 consecutive games, 34 of its last 35 games and 28 consecutive conference games (including an OVC-record 26 consecutive regular season conference games). Belmont has also won an NCAA-best 20 consecutive road/neutral games.
MURRAY STATE 84, UT MARTIN 55
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers won their third straight game Saturday in an 84-55 victory over the UT Martin Skyhawks at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (11-9) have won six of their last seven and are now 8-7 in Ohio Valley Conference play. MSU hits the road Monday at a 4 p.m. makeup game at SIUE.
Tevin Brown scored a season-high 25 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the 3-point line for his fifth career game at MSU of six or more 3-pointers. He also added six rebounds and three assists. KJ Williams once again threatened the CFSB Center record with 16 rebounds (the record is 18) to go with 15 points. Chico Carter, Jr., added 17 points, while Demond Robinson scored 10 points on 5-of-5 from the field.
The Racers’ performance in the first half might be a scoresheet they want to frame not only from an offensive standpoint, but also defensive. The Racers held UTM to zero assists in the first half and their final field goal of the half came with 10:55 remaining. MSU hit 6-of-12 from the 3-point line (Five from Brown) and made 17-of-30 from the field for 57 percent.