SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Southern Indiana 88, Indiana State 85 (OT)
@Morehead State 61, East Tennessee State 57
@UT Martin 75, Chicago State 74 (OT)
@Tennessee State 90, Lipscomb 85
SOUTHERN INDIANA 88, INDIANA STATE 85 (OT)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball rallied late in the second half and overtime to defeat Indiana State University in overtime, 88-85, Sunday afternoon at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles, who are 2-0 against Missouri Valley Conference opponents this season, are 5-5 after today's action, while the Sycamores are 9-2.
The first five minutes of the saw the Eagles and the Sycamores trade runs, looking for control. USI started the game with a 5-0 sprint before Indiana State used a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 9-5. The teams would continue to trade buckets until 8:55 with the contest tied, 21-21.
The Eagles surged with a13-7 to post their largest lead of the game, 34-28, on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana). USI was five-of-nine during the run, including three-of-four from beyond the arc.
The Sycamores would climb back into the contest with an 8-0 run to regain the lead, 36-34, with 1:57 left before the Eagles scored the final six points of the half. Swope, who had 12 first half points, sent the Eagles into the locker room with a 40-36 advantage on back-to-back three-point field goals in the final 90 seconds before halftime. The first half featured eight lead changes and five ties.
The second half did not start in favor of the Eagles as the Sycamores scored nine of the first 11 points to regain the advantage, 44-42. Indiana State's second half surge would extend the lead to 10 points, 57-47, with 11:32 remaining.
Indiana State would hold onto the double-digit lead until the final six minutes of regulation when USI, trailing by 11 points (69-58) mounted a19-8 comeback to tie the game at 77-77 when Swope drained a three-point bomb with 35 seconds left. Swope and graduate forward Trevor Lakes (Lebanon, Indiana) led the USI comeback with seven points each as the Eagles were six-of-seven from the field and three-of-four from beyond the arc as a team during the rally.
In overtime, USI scored the first four points to take a quick, 81-77 advantage before the Sycamores railed to regain the lead, 84-82, with 1:30 left. The Eagles would take advantage of trips to the free throw line to jump back into the lead. Senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) tied the game at 84-84 with 1:09 left, while junior guard Tyler Henry (Brooklyn, New York) gave USI the lead for good with a pair of charity shots with 54 ticks left on the clock.
Swope would seal the victory in two more trips to the line. He would make one of two at 33 seconds and eight seconds for the 88-85 victory.
In the scoring column, Swope led five players in double-digits with a career-high 28 points. He was a blistering eight-of-12 from the field, eight-of-nine from downtown, and four-of-eight from the line. The sophomore also had a team-high four assists.
Lakes and junior guard Gary Solomon (Detroit, Michigan) followed Swope in the scoring column with 15 points each. Lakes also completed his first double-double of the year with 12 rebounds.
Polakovich dropped in 14 points and completed his second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds, while Henry rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 61, EAST TENNESSEE STATE 57
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State center Alex Gross hit a put-back layup and free throw with 16.9 seconds remaining, giving the Morehead State men's basketball team its first and only lead of the night, as MSU rallied to defeat ETSU 61-57 on FamilyLeisure.com Court in Johnson Arena Sunday.
The Eagles (5-5) went into the halftime break trailing the Buccaneers, 36-27, but shot 59 percent in the final half and held ETSU to just 31 percent while outscoring the visitors 34-21 in the final half.
Gross led the Eagles with 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Trent Scott added seven points and seven rebounds off of the bench and Mark Freeman helped out with nine points and five assists.
Led by Gross' four offensive rebounds, Morehead State did a great job crashing the offensive glass, pulling down 10 boards that resulted in 19 second-chance points.
Morehead State did a great job disrupting East Tennessee State shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks.
After falling behind 17-9, Morehead State went on an 8-0 run with 11:47 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from LJ Bryan, to tie the game at 17. East Tennessee State then pulled ahead, sending the Eagles into halftime down 36-27.
Morehead State narrowed its deficit to 57-53 before going on an 8-0 run, finished off by Drew Thelwell's layup, to seize a 61-57 lead with two seconds to go in the contest. Jake Wolfe buried a three-pointer with 1:50 left that pulled the Eagles to within 57-56. Thelwell had a chance to put his team on top with a pair of free throws with 1:05 left but missed both. On the other end Kalil Thomas blocked an end-of-the-shot-clock three-point attempt. Thelwell drove to the bucket but missed a layup when Thomas skied for a second-chance putback. He missed but Gross was there for the rebound and game winner.
ETSU was still on top by nine with 10:11 to play.
UT MARTIN 75, CHICAGO STATE 74
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team built a large halftime lead before staving off a furious Chicago State rally, holding on for a 75-74 overtime triumph this afternoon at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Chris Nix delivered the Skyhawks’ first double-double of the season today as the junior from Bellevue, Tenn. posted 13 points, 10 rebounds and a career-best four assists. He was 5-of-9 from the floor while nabbing five offensive rebounds to go along with a blocked shot in a career-high 37 minutes, earning the second double-double of his UT Martin career.
Parker Stewart rattled off a team-best 22 points – including seven of the Skyhawks’ nine points in overtime – to go along with five rebounds and three assists. KJ Simon added 13 points while Desmond Williams recorded 12 points, three assists and a career-best five steals for UT Martin (5-5), who led for 41:16 of clock time on the way to its fifth straight home victory.
Chicago State (3-8) was led by Wesley Cardet, Jr.’s game-high 25 points while Jahsean Corbett hauled in 23 points and 10 rebounds. Brent Davis additionally scored 12 points for the Cougars, who were forced into 16 turnovers and were held to 27.6 percent shooting (8-of-29) from three-point range.
UT Martin coasted to a 47-25 halftime advantage after connecting on 54.5 percent (18-for-33) of its field goal tries in the opening 20 minutes. Buckets by KK Curry (layup), Simon (three-pointer) and Nix (jumper in the paint) allowed the Skyhawks to take a 7-2 lead in the first 94 seconds of the contest.
The Cougars briefly took a one-point advantage before a 9-3 UT Martin run, capped off with a Jordan Sears floater at the 13:23 mark.
Soon thereafter, the Skyhawks used a 25-5 run to create some separation. Stewart began the surge with five consecutive points before Simon scored six points during a 13-0 run. Williams then pumped in five straight points for UT Martin as it opened up a 41-20 lead with 3:28 remaining in the first half.
A layup by Nix with six seconds to go before the halftime break gave the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the day at 47-25. Stewart (12 points) and Simon (11) were already in double figures in the scoring column at the half with Nix (nine points) trailing closely behind. Cardet, Jr. had 13 first-half points to pace Chicago State.
The Cougars began the second half on an 11-3 run before a stepback trey from Williams made the score 53-36 in favor of UT Martin with 15:11 left in regulation.
Nix converted a tough layup in traffic at the 13:40 mark to keep the Skyhawk advantage at 17 points. However, Chicago State accounted for 17 of the next 19 points – closing to within a single possession (59-57) with 7:32 remaining in the second half.
Koby Jeffries buried a big three-pointer from the left corner on UT Martin’s next trip down the floor before Williams’ third trifecta of the day nudged the Skyhawks ahead by a 65-59 margin with five minutes to go in regulation.
The Cougars ended the second half on a 7-1 run, tying the game at the 1:06 mark to send the game into overtime – the first such contest in Ridder’s two seasons as UT Martin head coach.
Stewart swished a contested three-pointer 40 seconds into the overtime period. The graduate guard out of Union City, Tenn. broke a 71-71 tie with a floater at the 2:56 mark and a pull-up jumper with 2:16 remaining to give the Skyhawks a 75-71 edge.
UT Martin held Chicago State to 1-of-3 shooting while forcing a turnover from that point forward – thwarting the potential go-ahead shot in the waning seconds.
TENNESSEE STATE 90, LIPSCOMB 85
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team went into the halftime break trailing Lipscomb 40-33, but rallied from the deficit to take down the Bisons 90-85 at home on Sunday at the Gentry Center.
The Tigers (6-4) had four players score in double figures, led by Jr. Clay, who had 19 points, five assists, and three steals. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. added 18 points and two steals and Christian Brown helped out with 16 points.
The Tennessee State offense was very productive from three-point land, making 10 threes on 19 attempts. Clay was the most prolific shooter for the Tigers, draining three treys in the contest.
Tennessee State forced 25 Lipscomb turnovers while committing 15 themselves in Sunday's game. The Tigers turned those takeaways into 34 points on the other end of the floor. Clay's three steals led the way for Tennessee State.
After falling behind 6-5, Tennessee State went on a 9-0 run with 17:48 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Dedric Boyd, to take a 14-6 lead. The Tigers then surrendered that lead and entered halftime down 40-33.
Tennessee State narrowed its deficit to 73-71 before going on a 6-0 run, finished off by Fitzgerald Jr.'s layup, to seize a 77-73 lead with 4:01 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 90-85 win. Tennessee State capitalized on 12 Lipscomb turnovers in the period, collecting 15 points off those turnovers.