THURSDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 80, @Tennessee Tech 75
Belmont 75, @Austin Peay 67
Tennessee State 75, @SIUE 70
Eastern Illinois 58, @UT Martin 53
Morehead State 74, @Southeast Missouri 73 (OT)
MURRAY STATE 80, TENNESSEE TECH 75
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Murray State Racers kept their undefeated run going in the Ohio Valley Conference with an 80-75 win against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. The Racers (19-2, 9-0) pushed their overall win streak to nine in a row Thursday night at the Eblen Center in Cookeville.
The Racers got a pair of double-doubles from KJ Williams and Justice Hill. Williams scored his eighth double-double this season and third consecutive on 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Hill scored 20 points with 10 assists. Tevin Brown added 13 points and is three 3-point baskets from setting a new OVC career record. Trae Hannibal added 12 points and six rebounds off the MSU bench.
After trailing by two at the half, the Racers used a stout defensive effort in the second half in outscoring TTU 46-39 to keep their winning ways in 2022.
Daquan Smith’s mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer from Williams keyed an 11-2 run for MSU to build a 60-49 lead with 10:05 left. Hill hit his third three of the game to put the Racers in front 65-55 with 6:41 remaining. Tech cut the MSU lead to five points with 15 seconds left, but the Racers held on for their sixth road win of the season.
BELMONT 75, AUSTIN PEAY 67
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Behind 18 points from Ben Sheppard, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Austin Peay, 75-67, Thursday night.
Sheppard went 7-of-11 from the field and added five rebounds and two steals.
Trailing 14-9, Belmont proceeded to hold Austin Peay without a field goal for nearly 11 minutes in the first half.
A Sheppard 3-pointer gave Belmont a 30-16 lead with 5:29 left in the first half.
The lead grew to 37-22 on a Nick Muszynski basket before Austin Peay closed within 37-28 at halftime.
Belmont shot 54 percent.
TENNESSEE STATE 75, SIUE 70
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Tennessee State men's basketball team secured a road victory at SIUE, 75-70, on Thursday evening.
Carlos Marshall Jr. jumpstarted the game with an attacking layup. The Cougars converted their first 3-of-4 from the field, including two three-pointers to take an early lead, 8-6. The two programs combined to make their first 9-of-13 from the field. Kassim Nicholson logged eight points in the first ten minutes of the contest. It was a competitive first half as the lead flip-flopped throughout.
SIUE's Taylor carried the momentum out of the break, scoring the first basket of the half. The fouls were lop-sided to begin the half as the Cougars entered in the bonus with 15 minutes remaining. Tennessee State went on a 9-2 scoring stretch to secure the lead, 54-49. With five minutes remaining, TSU extended the lead to 67-61 after a pair of free-throws by Shakem Johnson. SIUE cut the deficit to one point, 68-67, with less than two minutes remaining. Kenny Cooper swiped a steal and recorded a fast-break layup to extend the lead to three, 70-67. The Cougars' Deejuan Pruitt converted two free-throws with 58 seconds left. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. cashed in an "and-one" with 25 seconds left to extend the lead to two possessions. Marshall Jr. sealed the game with a pair at the line following a Pruitt free-throw.
Nicholson logged his seventh double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Fitzgerald registered a team-high 18 points on 6-of-13 from the field.
SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor posted a game-high 26 points, while Courtney Carter filled up the stat sheet with four points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 58, UT MARTIN 53
MARTIN, Tenn. - Kejuan Clements took charge for Eastern Illinois men’s basketball down the stretch helping lead the Panthers to a 58-53 win at UT Martin on Thursday night.
The win snapped a ten-game losing skid as the Panthers are now 3-17 overall, 1-6 in the OVC. UT Martin fell to 7-14 overall, 3-6 in the OVC.
EIU led 30-23 at the half after shooting 57 percent from the floor in the opening half. The Panthers extended that lead to eight points on a Sammy Friday IV bucket with 8:45 left in the game. Friday’s basket gave EIU a 42-34 lead as Friday finished with 13 points.
UT Martin would trim the lead to two points with 3:14 left in the contest on a 3-pointer by David Didenko. The Skyhawks ended the night just 3-of-22 from 3-point range.
Following a one-of-two trip to the free throw line by the Panthers, KJ Simon tied the game at 47-47 converting an old fashioned three point play.
Clements then put the Panthers offense on his shoulders hitting a pair of free throws with 1:37 left in the game and a jumper in the lane with 53 seconds left giving the Panthers a 53-49 lead. Clements ended the game with 12 points.
EIU would close out the game with a CJ Lane lay-up with 18 seconds left in the game as they ended the game shooting 54 percent from the floor. All seven players in uniform for EIU would make their way into the score column.
Bernie Andre scored 18 points to lead UT Martin including a jumper with two minutes remaining that tied the score at 49-49. KK Curry had 16 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 74, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 73 (OT)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Morehead State's men's basketball team erased a 14-point first-half deficit at Southeast Missouri Thursday night, and a second-chance made layup by second-year big man Johni Broome proved to the deciding points in overtime, as the Eagles needed the extra five minutes but still kept their winning streak alive with a 74-73 win at the Show Me Center.
The Eagles ran their success streak to 10 games and stayed perfect in the OVC at 8-0. The Redhawks, who led the Eagles for 34 of the 45 minutes, fell to 8-13 and 3-4 in the league. MSU also has now won 12 straight OVC games and 24 of the last 25 conference games.
Broome, who recorded his 14th double-double this season with 21 points and 11 rebounds (after recording no rebounds in the first half), grabbed a miss shot by himself with 15 seconds left in overtime and put it back in for a 74-70 Eagle lead. After SEMO got a three-point play at the other end to cut to 74-73, MSU guard Ta'Lon misfired on two free throws, but Broome tipped the in-bounds pass with three seconds left to trim the clock to 2.2. SEMO got off an off balance long trey but it went awry to seal MSU's triumph.
Grad transfer guard Tray Hollowell sent the game to the extra period by drilling a top-of-the-key triple with 18 seconds left in regulation. Hollowell had just two points at the halfd but finished with 11 and made a three-pointer for the 28th consecutive game.
Junior guard Skyelar Potter also registered his second double-double of the season and sixth of his career with 11 points and 10 rebounds, marking the fourth time in the last two years that Broome and Hollowell had double-doubles in the same game. Despite missing the late overtime free tosses, Cooper nearly accomplished a third double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Morehead State had a tough night shooting the ball, going just 7-of-26 from three-point range, but the Eagles held the hosts (who were averaging 12 made triples in OVC games) to 7-of-26 from that range themselves. SEMO shot only 3-of-10 overall in overtime. Broome finished with five blocks as well.
The Eagles also found the shooting tough in the first half and fell behind 29-15 with 5:44 to play in the half but were able to claw back into it and trim their deficit to 36-29 at the break.
In the second half, much of the same tough going on the shooting occurred but this time the game was much closer. Broome's put-back off a miss finally gave the Eagles a lead at 53-52 with 6:55 remaining but it was short lived. A three-pointer 14 seconds later by Eric Reed, Jr., turned the momentum back to the Redhawks.