SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 87, UT Martin 58
@Eastern Illinois 62, Tennessee State 57
@Murray State 77, Morehead State 66
@Southeast Missouri 85, SIUE 77
Austin Peay 58, @Tennessee Tech 55
BELMONT 87, UT MARTIN 58
NASHVILLE - Behind 18 points and six steals from JaCobi Wood, Belmont University men's basketball defeated UT Martin, 87-58, Saturday.
Wood went 6-of-9 from the field to lead five Belmont players in double figures.
Will Richard capped a 12-2 run to give Belmont a 26-15 lead midway through the first half.
UT Martin was held without a field goal the final 5:12 of the first half, as a Richard 3-pointer gave Belmont a 47-27 halftime lead.
Belmont (17-5, 7-2 OVC) shot 50 percent (16-of-32) from the field in the opening 20 minutes - including 8-of-16 from 3-point distance. Belmont forced 10 first-half turnovers.
Interior scores from Murphy, Nick Muszynski and Ben Sheppard opened the second half, as Belmont increased its lead to 58-33 with 16:51 remaining on a Luke Smith 3-pointer. A burst of Wood scoring and an EJ Bellinger 3-pointer made the score 74-39 with 9:13 left.
All told, Belmont shot 50 percent (30-of-60) from the field - including 14 3-point field goals. Belmont had 15 steals and outscored UT Martin in bench points, 44-17.
Muszynski had 14 points, while Richard and Sheppard each scored 12. Pierson scored a season-high 10. Murphy recorded his 18th career double-double with 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
KJ Simon led UT Martin (7-15, 3-7 OVC) with 17 points.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 62, TENNESSEE STATE 57
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois scored its final nine points of the game at the free throw line on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers won their second straight with a 62-57 win over Tennessee State at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena.
EIU improved to 4-17 overall, 2-6 in the OVC. TSU fell to 9-13 overall, 4-6 in the OVC.
TSU led 52-48 with 4:26 left in the contest following a pair of free throws by Carlos Marshall Jr. He would carry the Tigers offense on the day scoring 25 points, the only TSU player in double figures.
EIU trimmed the lead to 52-51 with a Dan Luers 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:35 to play. Paul Bizimana scored and was fouled with 3:01 left in the game. His free throw put EIU up 54-52 and began the string of EIU free throws to close out the game. Bizimana led EIU with 20 points, his second 20 point effort this week.
EIU would get free throws from Sammy Friday IV, Micah Schnyders, Luers, Kejuan Clements and Bizimana down the stretch. Luers free throws with 42 seconds left in the game gave EIU a five point lead.
Kenny Cooper drained a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the game to bring TSU to back within one possession at 59-57. EIU would make three of four free throws in the final 30 seconds and draw an offensive foul to close out the contest.
EIU led 24-23 at the half. The Panthers defense limited TSU to 34 percent shooting in the game including 25 percent from 3-point range (6-of-24).
Schnyders has 12 points off the bench for EIU. EIU finished the game 22-of-30 from the foul line.
Kassim Nicholson pulled down ten rebounds for TSU.
MURRAY STATE 77, MOREHEAD STATE 66
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers kept their undefeated run going in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 77-66 win over the Morehead State Eagles. The Racers pushed their overall win streak to 10 and have a streak of 13-straight wins at home in the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The win made the Racers (20-2) one of only two 20-win teams in NCAA D-I, along with No. 1 Auburn.
Murray State is now the solo leader in the OVC at 10-0, while the Eagles (16-6) fell to 8-1 and snapped a 10-game win streak of their own. The Racers return the game to Morehead, Ky., on Feb. 12.
Needing three 3-point baskets to break the OVC career record, the drama built until there was 4:14 remaining in the first half. Brown’s wing three gave him 320 as he surpassed Joe Sibbitt’s mark of 319 set at Austin Peay from 1994-98. Brown finished the day 3-of-9 from long distance and 16 points. KJ Williams was one rebound from his fourth-straight double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds. Justice Hill scored 19 points and distributed five assists for the Racers. Trae Hannibal and Jordan Skipper gave the Racers only five who scored with 14 and seven points respectively.
A tight game from the start, the Eagles led once by six points, but the Racers finished the half with a 7-2 run in the final 2:38 left to have a 33-28 lead at the halftime intermission.
With 7:46 left in the game, the score was tied for the 10 time of the day at 48-48 when the Racers made a move to gain space on the scoreboard. Williams scored eight-straight points and the Racers were in front 56-48 with 5:46 left. Morehead State cut the MSU lead to six points, but Hill’s drive put the Racers in front again with 2:21 left. The Racers sealed the win by making 9-of-12 from the free throw line.
The Racers won the battle of the boards 38-33 and had a 12-8 advantage on the offensive boards. MSU also forced the Eagles into 15 turnovers and scored 20 points from those mistakes. The Racers outscored the Eagles 17-8 from the free throw line.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 85, SIUE 77
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Eric Reed, Jr. and DQ Nicholas each scored 18 points to lead Southeast Missouri (9-12, 4-4) to an 85-77 victory over SIU Edwardsville (7-14, 1-7) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
SEMO won its fourth-straight game over SIUE in the series between the teams and improved to 15-4 against the Cougars in Cape Girardeau. The Redhawks also handed SIUE its sixth-consecutive loss.
SIUE, after trailing 35-31 at the half, tied the game at 35-35 on a field goal by Ray'Sean Taylor early in the second half, SEMO didn't allow them to take a lead the remainder of the contest.
SEMO led for a period of 31:20 and took its largest lead when Nygal Russell's free throw made it a 10-point game (77-67) with 1:16 left to play.
Neither team led by more than seven points in a tightly contested first half.
SEMO opened the game with a 10-3 run with Russell and Chris Harris burying threes along the way. Sam Thompson's layup later capped the early jaunt with 15:29 to go.
DeeJuan Pruitt's layup put SIUE ahead for the first time at 23-22 with 7:52 to go and Shaun Doss, Jr. made two free throws to extend the Cougars lead to five (30-25) 3:12 later.
Harris knocked down a free throw and nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to regain a 35-31 advantage for SEMO at the half.
Harris and Nana Akenten paced the Redhawks with 10 points apiece in the opening stanza which featured four ties and four lead changes.
SEMO got a huge lift from its bench, which dominated the game outscoring SIUE by a count of 35-6.
Reed, Jr. and Nicholas paved the way for four Redhawks with double figures in the scoring column. Reed, Jr. added 10-of-12 free throws as SEMO outscored the Cougars, 28-14, at the charity stripe.
N. Russell narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds, while Harris and Akenten pitched in 17 and 11 points, respectively. Harris dished out six assists and made nine free throws, as well.
In the second half alone, SEMO knocked down 23-of-29 free throws for 79.3 percent.
For the game, the Redhawks shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) from the field and outrebounded the Cougars, 38-30. SEMO connected on 50 percent (13-of-26) of its shots in the game's final 20 minutes. Additionally, the Redhawks scored 80 or more points for the sixth time in eight conference games.
Taylor led all scorers with a game-high 25 points to lead four SIUE starters in double-digits.
SEMO played its second game without starting point guard Phillip Russell who was out due to COVID protocols.
AUSTIN PEAY 58, TENNESSEE TECH 55
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Austin Peay men's basketball team earned its second straight Ohio Valley Conference road victory on Saturday night, defeating Tennessee Tech in a defensive battle 58-55 inside the Eblen Center.
Offensively the Govs were paced by freshman Elijah Hutchins-Everett with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Hutchins-Everett was two rebounds shy of his second straight double-double with a team-high eight rebounds. The Orange, N.J., native was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line against the Golden Eagles to go along with one assist and one block.
Off the bench, junior Cameron Copeland had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field with five rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Copeland was 3-of-5 from long distance and shot 50 percent from the charity stripe. It was Copeland's first double-digit performance since Jan. 1 against Southeast Missouri State.
Senior Elton Walker registered eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field followed by redshirt senior Tariq Silver off the bench with five points, four rebounds, and three assists. Junior Alec Woodard continued his stellar play with three points along with six rebounds and a career-high six assists. The quartet of Carlos Paez, Drew Calderon, Jalen Ware, and DJ Peavy rounded out the scoring with two points each.
As a team, the Govs shot 45.3 percent from the field and was 5-of-19 from behind the three-point line. Austin Peay registered 19 assists on 24 made field goals while outrebounding Tennessee Tech, 37-19. APSU played 40 minutes of stifling defense against TTU, forcing 13 turnovers, scoring 18 points off of TTU mistakes.