THURSDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 66, UT Martin 53
@Morehead State 74, Tennessee State 60
@Eastern Kentucky 81, Belmont 67
Southeast Missouri 94, @Eastern Illinois 88
@Jacksonville State 87, Murray State 74
@Tennessee Tech 81, Austin Peay 76
SIUE 66, UT MARTIN 53
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Lamar and Shamar Wright accounted for half of SIUE's scoring Thursday as SIUE took a step closer to postseason play with a 66-53 win over UT Martin at First Community Arena.
SIUE improved to 7-11 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 9-15 overall, surpassing its win total from a season ago. The win snapped a season-long five-game losing streak for the Cougars. UT Martin fell to 7-16 overall and 5-14 in the OVC.
SIUE seized control with a double digit first-half run. UT Martin led 13-12 at the going to a media timeout with 14"16 left before halftime. The Cougars responded with an 11-0 run to lead 23-13 9:04 left in the half.
SIUE led 33-26 with time running out in the period when Desmond Polk lined up for a three-pointer in the corner. He was fouled and awarded three free throws. He hit two of three to give SIUE a 35-26 lead at the break.
SIUE opened the second half with a 12-2 run and had its biggest lead of the game at 47-28 with 15:33 to play. The Cougars would go up 19 again at 52-33.
Lamar Wright earned his first career double-double with career highs in points (16) points and rebounds (10) rebounds. Shamar Wright scored 17 points and was 6-9 from the field. It is the ninth time in 11 games that he has finished in double figures.
Mike Adewunmi scored 16 points and finished a rebound shy of a double-double. Desmond Polk added a career-high 10 points.
SIUE connected on 49 percent (21-43) of its shots and outrebounded UT Martin 35-28.
Jaron Williams scored 20 points to lead the Skyhawks, who shot just 39 percent from the field.
MOREHEAD STATE 74, TENNESSEE STATE 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State's men's basketball team set the program record for Ohio Valley Conference victories and locked in the No. 2 seed for next week's conference tournament with a 74-60 triumph over Tennessee State at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles (19-7 overall) improved to 16-3 in league games in 2020-21, besting the previous OVC wins mark of 15 set by the 2009-10 squad. MSU earned the league's second seed for the first time since 2010-11 and will play a yet-to-be-determined opponent in the opening round Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. The format has changed back to a traditional three-round with no byes for this season due to not all games being played in the league ledger.
Senior forward James Baker, playing in his penultimate game at home, led the Eagles with a season-high tying 15 points while also collecting a season-best four of the OVC's top shot blocking team's season-best 12 rejections.
Junior guard DeVon Cooper reached double-figures for the 20th time this year with 14 points, while namesake (but not related) sophomore guard Ta'lon Cooper notched 12 points. Freshman forward Johni Broome fought off constant double teams by the TSU defense to still lead all players with 13 rebounds while scoring nine points. It was his 11th double-figure rebound game.
The Eagles weathered an incredible stats night from TSU guard Mark Freeman, who led all players with 30 points. MSU did, however, limit Freeman to no points in the final nine minutes.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 81, BELMONT 67
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team handed Belmont University its first conference loss of the season and set a new program record with its 14th Ohio Valley Conference victory, beating the Bruins 81-67 on Thursday at McBrayer Arena.
This year’s EKU team, now 20-6 overall and 14-5 in OVC play, was tied with the 2006-07 squad (13-7) and 1964-65 team (13-1) for the program record for conference wins. Belmont came into the game having won 21 straight games, including all 18 of its league match-ups. The Bruins had won 30 straight games against OVC teams, one away from tying the all-time conference record.
The Colonels methodically built a 20-point lead in the first half and then never let Belmont (24-2, 18-1 OVC) make an extended run in the second half.
Trailing 15-10, EKU strung together a 23-4 run. A three-pointer by Curt Lewis tied the game at 15-15. A steal and lay-up by the redshirt freshman gave Eastern the lead. Lewis scored seven straight early in the run and accounted for 11 of the 23 points. A steal and lay-up by Devontae Blanton pushed the margin to double figures. A three-pointer from the left wing by Cooper Robb, and a lay-up from Blanton finished off the run and gave the home squad a 33-19 lead with 8:28 remaining in the first half.
Lay-ups from Lewis and Wendell Green Jr. pushed EKU out in front by 18, 44-26, with 4:11 to go. Green’s lay-up with 1:46 showing on the clock gave the Colonels a 20-point lead, 50-30. Eastern led 50-32 at halftime.
Eastern Kentucky made 22-of-35 attempts from the field in the first half for 63 percent.
Both teams started the second half cold, going a combined 0-for-11 from the field to start. Belmont was the first to score in the second when Tate Pierson made a three-pointer with 16:29 showing on the clock. Eastern’s first basket didn’t come until the 15:02 mark, but the Bruins had only scored three points at that point.
Ben Sheppard’s three-pointer made it an 8-2 Belmont run to start the second half and cut the deficit to 12, 52-40. When Russhard Cruickshank connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key with 12:49 remaining in the game, Eastern was just 2-of-14 from the field in the second half but still led by 15, 55-40.
The Bruins got within 12 again before EKU pushed back in front by 19, 69-50, on a lay-up by Michael Moreno, and again on a spinning lay-up from Green with 5:13 to go to make it 73-54.
Belmont closed back to 12 three more times, but never got any closer.
Green led all players with 22 points, to go along with four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Lewis added 15 points. Tre King had 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
Sheppard finished with a team-best 14 points and eight boards for Belmont.
The Colonels shot 51 percent for the game while holding the Bruins to 37 percent shooting, including 6-of-23 from long range (26 percent).
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 94, EASTERN ILLINOIS 88
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eric Reed, Jr. scored a career-high 27 points and drained seven 3-pointers to lead Southeast Missouri (10-15, 8-11) to a 94-88 win over Eastern Illinois (9-17, 6-13) Thursday night at Lantz Arena.
With the win, SEMO locked up a spot in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The Redhawks will make their first OVC Tournament appearance since 2017 and 16th all-time in program history. Brad Korn, in his first year as a head coach, is the first to lead SEMO to the conference tournament since it has been held in Evansville, Indiana.
Reed, Jr., this week's OVC Newcomer of the Week, scored over 20 points for the third time in his last five starts and SEMO made its free throws down the stretch to nail down its 10th win of the season.
The Redhawks eliminated the Panthers OVC Tournament hopes and can finish as high as seventh with a win at SIU Edwardsville Saturday.
SEMO started hot in the first half shooting 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from the field burying five of its first six 3-pointers.
Nana Akenten scored the Redhawks first eight points of the game and had 11 in the first half. SEMO buried seven 3-pointers in the opening stanza as Reed, Jr. also notched 11 points and buried three treys. The Redhawks led by seven (26-19) on Reed, Jr.'s 3-pointer with 11:12 remaining.
Josiah Wallace later made two free throws and Marvin Johnson made a layup to give EIU a 42-34 lead with less than a minute left before the Panthers held a 44-39 advantage at the intermission.
SEMO and EIU traded baskets and DQ Nicholas gave the Redhawks their first lead of the second half at 71-70 when he drained a 3-pointer with 5:28 to go.
The Redhawks never lost the lead from that point on and made 11 free throws in the final 54 seconds to polish off their victory.
SEMO's 94 points were the Redhawks most in a road OVC game since they beat UT Martin, 96-74, on Feb. 16, 2013.
The Redhawks finished strong shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the field in the second half alone. For the game, SEMO shot 74.1 percent at the free throw line on 20-of-27 shots.
Reed, Jr. was 10-of-16 from the field and 7-of-9 from downtown. He dished out two assists and had two steals, as well.
Four others, including Nicholas (14), Akenten (11), Darrious Agnew (10) and Nate Johnson (10) joined Reed, Jr. with double figures in the scoring column. Nicholas also led the way with seven rebounds.
SEMO outscored EIU, 55-44, in the second half.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 87, MURRAY STATE 74
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Darian Adams led Jacksonville State to an historic 87-74 win Thursday at Pete Mathews Coliseum, completing the regular-season sweep of Murray State for the first time in school history.
The senior netted a career-high 30 points, becoming the first Gamecock to accomplish the feat since 2019, and helped help Ray Harper become the winningest head coach in Jax State's Division I history with his 96th win.
The milestone win was the second-largest against Murray State (13-11, 10-9 OVC): the largest a 20-point win in 2018-19. The Gamecocks (16-8, 12-6 OVC) came close to that mark, leading by as many as 19 points halfway through the second period.
After scoring 16 points, including a 4-point play moments before halftime, Adams tacked on another 14 in the second and fueled three separate runs of five or more points. The Montgomery, Ala., native was a ridiculous 7-for-9 from 3-point range, and capped off a 9-0 run when he and Demaree King hit a trifecta of treys in less than a minute to push JSU's lead to 13 midway through the final period.
The Gamecocks ended the night 13-for-24 from beyond the arc for a season-best 54.2 percentage from long range.
Despite shooting nearly 20 percent better in the second half than the first, the Racers never recovered from the barrage of 3-pointers. MSU only briefly shortened its deficit to single digits with less than four minutes to play. Adams put Jax State back ahead by 10 just seconds later with a breakaway layup.
The Gamecocks dominated inside to outscore Murray State 34-18 in the paint. Brandon Huffman tallied 15 points, while Kayne Henry snuck in 15 from the wing. Both each grabbed seven rebounds to pace the team.
Demaree King was the fourth double-digit scorer for JSU, going 5-for-8 from the field with three 3-pointers.
For the Racers, Tevin Brown led Matt McMahon's squad with 22 points. Despite MSU leading the all-time series 24-5, four of the last nine meetings have been in the Gamecocks' favor.
The win secures the No. 4 seed for Jacksonville State in the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championships regardless of the outcome of the season finale Saturday.
TENNESSEE TECH 81, AUSTIN PEAY 76
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Sheer grit, determination and will propelled the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to an 81-76 victory over in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay Thursday night in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Golden Eagles never gave in, taking the lead for good with 10 minutes to play and never looking back. The purple and gold staved off a late push by the Govs, who hit a couple of triples with under 30 seconds to play to make it a one-possession game.
Tech stood strong, hit its free throws down the stretch and collected the most important statistic of them all, a win.
After junior Damaria Franklin buried a triple from the corner with just over a minute to play, Austin Peay had an answer, sinking one of its own. From there, it came down to the charity stripe for the Golden Eagles, as the Govs began their stretch of fouling to create more possessions.
Tech made six of seven tries at the line down the stretch, with sophomore point guard Keishawn Davidson sinking four straight to help keep the team's lead afloat. The visitors from Clarksville kept their attack rolling, making a layup and back-to-back treys to make it a three-point game.
With three seconds left on the clock, junior guard Jr. Clay put things away for good, converting two more attempts from the stripe to clinch the victory. The Chattanooga native turned in a performance for the ages, exploding for a career-high 31 points on the night, including a whopping 25 in the second half alone.
Clay became the first Golden Eagle to score 30 or more points since Corey Tillery set the program record for 3-pointers with 10 against Warren Wilson College on Dec. 6, 2018. His career-high six makes from distance were the most by a Tech player since Tillery had six against Tennessee State on Jan. 17, 2019.
The Tech veteran continued his climb up the program's career charts, passing Hall of Famer Wayne Pack for 20th on the scoring list. His three steals propelled him past Frank Davis to eighth in team history while his six assists allowed him to pass Jimmy Howell, also for eighth on the all-time list.
Davidson also turned in a career-high scoring effort, hitting 8-of-12 tries for 21 points. In addition to his four huge free throws down the stretch, he also dished out six dimes.
Dane Quest produced one of his best all-around games in the purple and gold, contributing eight points, six rebounds and four assists while playing very strong defense. He hauled in three timely offensive boards, keeping possessions alive at critical points in the contest. The Toronto native also turned in a game-high +12 in the plus/minus column.
Damaria Franklin chipped in nine points and team-highs of seven rebounds and four steals while Austin Harvell collected five boards with four points. Harvell, Shandon Goldman and Marcus Hopkins all helped contain Gov senior Terry Taylor on the glass, holding the league's scoring and rebounding leader to just six boards.
Tech dished out 21 assists and totaled 10 steals on the night while shooting 56.4 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles also hit 11-of-22 attempts from downtown on their way to 48 second-half points.