FRIDAY'S SCORES
Lamar 73,
Lindenwood 71 (Lake Charles, La.)
@Vanderbilt 76,
Morehead State 43
@Southern Indiana 87, Loras College 55
@Ole Miss 72,
UT Martin 68
SIUE 79, Fairleigh Dickinson 78 (Farmville, Va.)
LAMAR 73, LINDENWOOD 71
LAKE CHARLES, La. - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (1-3) lost to Lamar (3-1) on Friday afternoon by a final of 73-71 in Lake Charles, La.
Lindenwood was hot from behind the arc to start the weekend, as the Lions jumped out to an 11-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Kevin Caldwell Jr. made it a 13-point game at the 13:53 mark after knocking down a jumper off a turnover. Cam Burrell put the Lions ahead 24-10 near the halfway point, but Lamar began to chip away at the lead.
The Lindenwood offense went scoreless for a four-minute stretch, and the Cardinals tied the game at 33-33 with just 1:38 remaining in the opening frame. The Lions were able to close out the half on a high note, as a layup by Keenon Cole put the Lions back up by six after 20 minutes of play.
Lamar made adjustments at the break, and took a 42-41 lead by the 18:06 mark after knocking down a long-range shot. Nearly three minutes later, Chris Childs hit a three pointer on the fast break to make it a 51-46 lead for the Lions. Brandon Trimble later extended the lead to eight points with 10:22 remaining.
Similar to the first half, the Cardinals slowly cut into the Lindenwood lead, and took a lead of their own at the 2:50 mark after hitting a pair of free throws. Lamar carried momentum late into the game, and held on to its slim lead for the win over the Lions.
VANDERBILT 76, MOREHEAD STATE 43
NASHVILLE - Junior guard Drew Thelwell registered his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, but the Morehead State men's basketball team fell to the Van-derbilt Commodores 76-43 on the road Friday at Memorial Gym.
The Eagles (2-3) had two players score in double figures, led by graduate forward Alex Gross, who had 14 points. Thelwell tacked on the double-double, and senior transfer Branden Maughmer added three steals.
The Morehead State defense was effective at taking away the basketball in Friday's game, forcing 13 Vanderbilt turnovers while committing just eight. But, the Eagles only managed to shoot 17-of-63, including 3-of-27 from three-point range.
Morehead State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 38-13 heading into halftime.
Vanderbilt kept widening its lead after intermission, construct-ing a 67-31 advantage before Morehead State went on a 6-0 run to shrink the deficit to 67-37 with 4:46 to go in the contest. Vanderbilt responded and outscored the Eagles the rest of the way, ending the game with a final score of 76-43. Morehead State got a boost from its bench in the second period, as non-starters accounted for 10 of its 30 total points.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 87, LORAS COLLEGE 55
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball got back on track with a dominating, 32-point win over Loras College, 87-55, Friday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles are 2-2 after tonight's action.
The Eagles traded buckets with the DuHawks through the first five minutes before exploding on a 19-0 run to take command of the contest, 26-9. USI was eight-of-10 from the field during the run with senior forward Jacob Polakovich and junior guard Tyler Henry combining for 12 of the 19 points with six each.
USI and Loras would trade buckets for the remainder of the first half, allowing the Eagles to take a 17-point, 37-20 lead into the intermission. Senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) had the big first half for the Eagles with 14 of the 37 points.
In the second half, Loras' offense start to put some pressure on the USI defense with an 8-0 run to cut the Eagles' advantage to 11 points, 52-41, with 11:43 left to play. The Eagles quickly re-established command with an 18-8 run to push the lead back to 21 points, 70-49, when sophomore forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Illinois) hit his second three-point bomb of the run with 7:24 remaining.
The Eagles continued to extend the advantage until they reached a game-high 32 points in the final score of 87-55.
Simmons had the hot hand for the Eagles in the win with a game-high 21 points. The senior guard was nine-of-12 from the field, three-of-six from long range. He also dished out three assists.
Henry followed and rounded out the double-digit scorers with a season-high 19 points. The junior was six-of-nine from the field, all three-pointers, and one-of-one from the stripe.
In the season-high column, freshman guard Jack Campion (Milton, Wisconsin) had a game-high seven assists, while freshman center Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) blocked six shots.
OLE MISS 72, UT MARTIN 68
OXFORD, Miss. - Recap coming soon.
SIUE 79, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON 78
FARMVILLE, Va. - – Lamar Wright's 10-foot turnaround-jumper with 6.5 seconds to play put SIUE over the top Friday as the Cougars edged Fairleigh Dickinson 79-78 in the opening game at Longwood's JK54 Classic.
The play came out of a timeout, with brother Shamar inbounding the ball from the baseline. Lamar caught the ball with his back to the basket, spun to his left and connected and was fouled. Wright missed the free throw, and the ball was rebounded by FDU. A last-second attempt by the Knights' Demetre Roberts hit the rim but bounced out.
The Cougars improved to 2-2, winning a game in which neither team led by more than five points. FDU also moved to 2-2.
SIUE extended its lead to five for the first time thanks to a 10-0 run to push its lead to 29-24 with 5:40 to play in the first half. FDU outscored SIUE 12-5 to lead 36-34 at the break.
The Cougars used a 7-0 run after the break to build a 45-40 lead at the first media time out in the second half at 15:23. FDU followed with an 8-0 run of its own to lead 48-45 with 12:50 left.
Ray'Sean Taylor ended the Knights' run with a driving layup to make it 48-47 and continue the back-and-forth play. A three-point play by Damarco Minor put SIUE up 68-67 briefly. FDU went up 71-69 before the Cougars went on another 7-0 run to again lead by five at 76-71 with 2:19 left. Two free throws from Roberts and a three in transition by Ansley Almonor tied the game at 76 with 1:56 left.
Roberts put FDU up 78-77with 56 seconds to play when SIUE got the ball back. Lamar Wright was called for a charge and the Cougars turned the ball over back to Fairleigh Dickinson. When Sean Moore missed a jumper from the lane, DeeJuan Pruitt rebounded for SIUE and aired out a long pass to Shamar Wright. Wright put up an uncontested three from the left wing which missed. Ray'Sean Taylor was able to grab the rebound in the corner, when SIUE called the timeout to set up the winning shot.
Lamar Wright finished with seven points. Minor led SIUE with a career-best 22 points. Jonathan Kurtas collected his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, setting career highs in both. He also finished with a career-best three blocks.
Pruitt and Shamar Wright each scored 13 points as well for SIUE. The Cougars shot 47 percent (27-58) from the floor and were 23-34 from the free throw line.
Roberts scored 22 to lead Fairleigh Dickinson. Almonor scored 15 points for the Knights.