SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Southern Indiana 71, Southern Illinois 53
@Central Michigan 76,
Eastern Illinois 60
@Missouri 82,
Lindenwood 53
SOUTHERN INDIANA 71, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 53
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball opened the NCAA Division I era at Screaming Eagles Arena with a 71-53 victory Southern Illinois University Sunday afternoon. The Screaming Eagles start the year 1-1, while the Salukis begins 2022-23, 2-1.
The Eagles won the tip and jumped out to quick 6-2 lead in the contest. The Salukis did not let the Eagles get too far out front as the first half would feature 10 lead changes and six ties. USI had the largest lead of the open half with that early 6-2 advantage.
Junior guard Tyler Henry (Brooklyn, New York) led the way with in the first 20 minutes with eight points, including a three-point bomb from the right corner to give the Eagles a 28-26 margin at halftime.
After trading buckets through the first few minutes of the second half, USI exploded on an 18-3 run to post a 16-point, 50-36 lead with 11:46 to play. The Eagles were a blistering seven-of-nine from the field during the run, including a pair of three-point bombs. Senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) and Henry led the way during the run with seven and five points, respectively.
Southern Illinois battled back with an 11-4 run of its own to cut the USI's lead to seven points, 54-47. The Eagles would regain the momentum and re-extended the margin to double-digits, 60-47, with a 6-0 burst that was punctuated by a three-point bomb by Simmons.
USI continued to re-extend the advantage until it reached its largest lead of the game, 18-points, in the 71-53 final. The Eagles, who shot 57.7 percent (15-26) in the final 20 minutes, also won the battle on the glass, 37-29.
Individually, Simmons led four players in double-digits with 18 points. The senior guard was eight-of-12 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers.
Junior guard Gary Solomon (Detroit, Michigan) followed with 16 points on seven-of-11 from the field, while Henry and sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN 76, EASTERN ILLINOIS 60
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Central Michigan broke open a close game with an extended run midway through the opening half as CMU beat Eastern Illinois, 76-60, on Sunday afternoon.
Leading 14-11, Markus Harding opened what would be an extended run by the Chippewas as they hit 6-of-7 shots from the floor to go on a 24-3 run. The last CMU basket in the run was by Kevin Miller with a driving lay-up making it 38-14 with 3:57 left in the half.
Rodolfo Bolis ended the CMU run with a basket for EIU with 2:32 left in the first half as CMU led 42-21 at that break. Miller scored 13 of his 23 points in the opening half.
Kinyon Hodges led EIU with ten points scoring eight in the opening half. EIU shot 23 percent in the opening half including 4-of-15 from the foul line in the first half.
The shooting percentages for EIU improved in the second half shooting 39 percent from the floor in the second half and 14-of-20 from the foul line.
EIU would cut into the CMU lead in the second half with good play from freshmen Sincere Malone and Kyle Thomas. EIU cut the lead to 68-54 with 4:11 left in the game.
Malone and Thomas both finished with eight points. Nick Ellington had a team-high nine rebounds. Cameron Haffner knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the final six minutes of the game.
Harding had 19 points and eight rebounds while Brian Taylor pulled down 13 rebounds.
CMU improved to 1-1 on the year. EIU fell to 0-3.
MISSOURI 82, LINDENWOOD 53
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (1-2) lost to the University of Missouri (3-0) on Sunday evening in Columbia, Mo.
Lindenwood took the first lead of the game, and the two squads were tied 6-6 after three minutes of play. The Tigers took a 14-8 lead at the 14:08 mark, but a three pointer by Keenon Cole brought the deficit to three points. Both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes, as the Tigers were teetering on a double-digit lead until late in the half. Missouri got hot from behind the arc to gain a significant lead, as a bucket by David Ware in the final seconds cut the game to 40-25 after 20 minutes of play.
Lindenwood continued to play hard to start the second half, as a three-point bucket by Chris Childs made it a 10-point game with 16:34 remaining. Less than 30 seconds later, Brandon Trimble knocked down a three pointer to bring the game to 47-38. The Tigers build up another comfortable lead before the Lions clawed back to a 56-46 game on a Kevin Caldwell Jr. three pointer. Missouri again found a string of points, and this time they held on to its lead throughout the remainder of the game.