MONDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 83, @Tennessee Tech 72
Murray State 86, @SIUE 57
EASTERN KENTUCKY 83, TENNESSEE TECH 72
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team delivered a dominant first half and then cruised the rest of the way to an 83-72 win at Tennessee Tech on Monday at the Eblen Center.
Just like at Tennessee State two days earlier, EKU (17-5, 11-4 OVC) exploded out of the gates and grabbed a commanding early lead. A three-pointer by junior Cheikh Faye made it 21-8 just over five minutes into the game.
A jumper by senior Russhard Cruickshank pushed the Colonels’ advantage to 16, 27-11, with 11:17 on the clock. A triple by sophomore Michael Moreno handed Eastern its largest lead of the day, 48-22, with 3:34 left in the first half.
The Colonels led the Golden Eagles, 56-36, at the break. In an impressive display of offensive efficiency, EKU shot 69 percent (20-of-29) from the field and 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. Eastern’s 20 first-half field goals came on 16 assists.
EKU led by double digits the rest of the way.
Moreno paced a balanced scoring effort for the Colonels, pouring in 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep. Junior Tre King added 13 points and five rebounds, while redshirt freshman Curt Lewis had 10 points, five boards and three assists.
The Colonels finished the game 56.4 percent (31-of-55) from the field and 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from long range.
Tennessee Tech’s Jr. Clay led all players in the game with 23 points.
The Colonels stifled the Golden Eagles (3-20, 3-13 OVC) to 22.2 percent (6-of-27) shooting from deep.
MURRAY STATE 86, SIUE 57
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Murray State Racers pushed their winning streak to four after winning a Monday afternoon game against the SIUE Cougars at First Community Arena in Edwardsville 86-57. With four games remaining in the Ohio Valley Conference regular season, the Racers (12-9) are 9-7 in league play.
KJ Williams recorded his 16th career double-double (seventh this season) with 28 points and 14 rebounds, while Tevin Brown scored 18 on 6-of-9 from the 3-point line. Chico Carter, Jr. added 14 points and Demond Robinson had his fifth double-digit scoring game in his last seven games with 10 points. Justice Hill hit a pair of 3-pointers off the bench and scored eight points.
The Racers hit their first three 3-point attempts to grab an 11-8 lead and stretched that to 18-9 on a 7-0 run a little more than seven minutes into the game. Hill's threes pushed the Racers in front 23-10 at 11:58. Carter scored for MSU's largest lead of the game with three seconds left and the Racers enjoyed a 46-30 advantage at the halftime intermission.
Entering the game ranked ninth in NCAA D-I with 17.2 assists per game, the Racers notched 11 assists on their 17 first half field goals. Ninth in the nation in field goal percentage at .507, the Racers hit 17-of-31 shots in the first 20 minutes for a percentage of .548.
Williams scored seven straight points at the start of the second half, using his third-straight 3-pointer of the day for a 23-point MSU lead (58-35) with 16:31 left. MSU later went 4:24 between made baskets, but held SIUE to only four points in the segment to keep a 70-52 lead with 7:45 left. Brown put the game away with back-to-back threes for a 78-56 lead with 5:41 remaining.
The Racers ended the game shooting 53 percent on 31-of-58, including 12-of-23 from the 3-point line. SIUE managed 18-of-50 from the field for 26 percent and 5-of-18 from the 3-point line for 28 percent. Williams and Robinson combined to grab 21 of the Racers 41 rebounds and the Racers limited SIUE to 27.