MONDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 87, Southeast Missouri 65
Morehead State 56, @SIUE 48
EASTERN KENTUCKY 87, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 65
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team bounced back with an impressive 87-65 win at Southeast Missouri on Monday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
The win caps a 12-day, seven-game road trip for the Colonels (19-6, 13-5 OVC).
EKU started the game 1-of-11 from the field, but went 30-of-50 the rest of the way.
The game was tied at 13-13 with 11:23 left in the first half. That is when EKU went on a 20-3 run to blow the game open. A three-pointer by freshman Wendell Green Jr. capped the run and made it 35-18 with 4:25 left in the half. The Colonels led by double digits the rest of the way.
EKU took its largest lead of the day, 66-41, when sophomore Michael Moreno buried a triple with 10:33 remaining in the game.
Green Jr. led all players in the game with 23 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
Junior Tre King finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Redshirt freshman Curt Lewis had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists, while junior Cooper Robb chipped in 12 points and two steals.
Freshman Devontae Blanton came off the bench to give the Colonels 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.
EKU shot a season-best 61 percent from three-point range (14-of-23).
Two days after getting out-rebounded by 19 to SEMO, the Colonels out-rebounded the Redhawks, 39-30.
Eastern stifled SEMO (9-15, 7-11 OVC) to 27 percent shooting from behind the arc (6-of-22).
The Redhawks were led on the day by Chris Harris, who finished with 15 points and seven assists.
MOREHEAD STATE 56, SIUE 48
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - It took the whole 40 minutes, and Morehead State's men's basketball team shook off a long scoreless spell in the second half to rally late and defeat SIUE 56-48 on the road Monday night.
The current flock of Eagles (18-7/15-3 OVC) tied the 2009-10 team for the program record for Ohio Valley Conference victories and finished the 2020-21 season with eight league road wins, also a program record. The win also enacted some payback to the Cougars (8-15/6-11 OVC), who had handed MSU a 69-65 setback all the way back on Dec. 18 in Morehead.
Freshman forward Johni Broome, named earlier in the day as the OVC Freshman of the Week for a program-record eighth time, came up clutch in this one. He poured in 23 points and tied his career high with 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double. He scored six points in the final 3:32, including the go-ahead bucket to break a 44-44 stalemate. The OVC's top shot blocker turned back three SIUE shots as well.
Teammate Skyelar Potter, a junior guard, collected his third double-double as well with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Potter has now scored in double digits in eight straight contests.
Morehead State went for more than seven minutes without a made field goal in the second period but stayed within striking distance and eventually finished the game on a 16-4 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes.