SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 82, SIUE 73
@Lindenwood 82, Tennessee Tech 64
@Tennessee State 94, Little Rock 69
@Eastern Illinois 91, Southern Indiana 80
@UT Martin 64, Morehead State 57
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 82, SIUE 73
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Phillip Russell scored 19 points and Dylan Branson added a career-high 14 to lead Southeast Missouri (6-9, 1-1) to an 82-73 win over Ohio Valley Conference leader SIU Edwardsville (10-5, 1-1) Saturday in a New Year's Eve matchup at the Show Me Center.
SEMO, which led the entire 40 minutes, snapped an eight-game losing streak and picked up its first December win on the final day of 2022.
Nate Johnson gave SEMO a nice boost early as the Redhawks built a seven-point lead in the first 8:36 of the contest. Johnson scored the first points on a layup and followed that up with another layup and a one-handed dunk.
Ahead 9-7 after Johnson's dunk, the Redhawks scored the next five points capped by a Phillip Russell 3-pointer to widen their lead to 14-7 with 13:36 remaining.
After Israel Barnes' free throw gave SEMO a 21-14 advantage, SIUE scored seven of the next nine points to pull within two.
Ray'sean Taylor's 3-pointer followed by a pair of Lamar Wright free throws capped the Cougars' seven-point stretch that made it a 23-21 game with 6:23 to go.
A fastbreak layup by Dylan Branson and 3-pointer by Adam Larson with the shot clock expiring gave SEMO a six-point lead on both occasions.
Larson later drained his second 3-pointer before Johnson added a free throw to give SEMO a 34-26 lead, its biggest of the first half.
SIUE quickly countered with back-to-back 3-pointers, including one by Shamar Wright and one by Taylor to close SEMO's lead to 34-32.
SEMO then headed into the intermission with a 37-32 advantage.
SEMO continued to go at the Cougars in the second half and pushed its lead to double figures for the first time when Chris Harris splashed in a 3-pointer. Harris' three gave the Redhawks a 44-34 lead with 17:49 to go.
SIUE managed to narrow SEMO's margin to 48-44, however, the Redhawks used a 10-4 run to regain a double-digit lead. Larson threw down a dunk off a Cougar turnover to finish off the jaunt as SEMO upped its lead to 58-48.
Once Branson drained a 3-pointer to put SEMO ahead, 65-55, SIUE didn't get any closer than four the rest of the way.
SEMO played just its second game with all 13 of its available players. Prior to Thursday, the Redhawks did not have a full roster for their first 12 contests.
Russell, who was limited to just six points two days ago at Southern Indiana, bounced back to score a team-high 19 against the Cougars. He shot 6-of-15 from the field and made a perfect 6-of-6 free throws.
Branson and Harris followed with 14 points apiece and Josh Earley contributed 12 off the bench. Kobe Clark paved the way with 10 rebounds, his fifth double-digit rebound game this season.
All nine Redhawks who played got in the scoring column in SEMO's balanced effort.
SEMO shot 48.2 percent (27-of-56) from the field and turned the ball over just eight times. The Redhawks finished with six steals, three of which were on SIUE's final possessions of the game.
Taylor topped SIUE with a game-high 23 points.
SEMO beat SIUE for the sixth-straight time in the overall series between the teams.
LINDENWOOD 82, TENNESSEE TECH 64
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (6-9, 1-1 OVC) earned its first conference victory of the season with an 82-64 win over Tennessee Tech (4-11, 0-2 OVC) on Saturday afternoon inside Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.
The Lions fell behind early, as the Golden Eagles held a 9-4 advantage in the first five minutes of the game. Cam Burrell flipped the momentum on a put-back dunk to make it a three-point spread. A minute later, Keenon Cole drained a three-point bucket to give the Lions their first lead of the game at 10-9. At the 7:20 mark, Cole hit another deep shot to give Lindenwood a 23-18 lead. Cole went on to make a three pointer on the next two possessions as he was hot shooting the ball.
Inside the two-minute mark of the opening half, Chris Childs made a layup to put the Lions in front by double-digits. Lindenwood led by a margin of 45-34 to close out the opening 20 minutes of play. Cole was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, including 4-of-4 from behind the arc.
In the early part of the second half, Burrell hit a shot from three-point range to keep the momentum rolling. Burrell put the Lions up 59-49 near the 13-minute mark to keep the margin manageable. Jacob Tracey gave Lindenwood a substantial lead with a three pointer, making it a 77-59 lead. The Lions rolled to their first OVC victory on Saturday by a final of 82-64 over Tennessee Tech.
TENNESSEE STATE 94, LITTLE ROCK 69
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team shot 56 percent from deep on the way to a 94-69 victory against the Little Rock Trojans at home Saturday.
The Tigers (9-6, 1-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Marcus Fitzgerald Jr., who had 27 points and seven rebounds. Jr. Clay added 21 points, eight assists and three steals and Dedric Boyd helped out with 14 points.
Tennessee State utilized great ball movement in Saturday's game, piling up 16 assists on 33 made field goals. Clay's eight assists led the distribution list for the Tigers.
The Tennessee State defense caused its share of mistakes in Saturday's game, forcing 14 Little Rock turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 10 points on the offensive end of the floor. Clay's three steals led the way individually for the Tigers.
After jumping out to a 15-7 advantage, Tennessee State went on an 11-0 run with 11:46 left in the first half to increase its lead to 26-7. The Tigers then maintained that lead and entered halftime with a 45-26 advantage. Tennessee State relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down seven shots to account for 21 of its 45 points.
Following intermission, Tennessee State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 71-47 before going on a 6-0 run to grow the lead to 77-47 with 8:39 to go in the contest. The Trojans narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still cruised the rest of the way for the 94-69 win. Tennessee State shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting seven shots from deep to score 21 of its 49 points.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 91, SOUTHERN INDIANA 80
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A series of runs at different times in the game helped carry Eastern Illinois to a 91-80 win over Southern Indiana on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers sit atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings after the first weekend of league play as the lone 2-0 OVC team.
EIU has won four in a row improving to 6-9 overall, 2-0 in the OVC. USI fell to 8-7 overall, 1-1 in the OVC.
Kyle Carlesimo sparked the final deciding run for the Panthers as they led 65-54 with 8:47 remaining in the game. Carlesimo scored 12 straight points for the Panthers before passing out assists on the final two buckets during an 18-6 run which pushed EIU’s lead out to 23 points with 4:05 left in the game. The final bucket in the run was a 3-pointer by Dan Luers as he had a game-high 20 points.
EIU led 44-33 at the half with Luers scoring 13 points. With the scored tied at 23-23 with 7:05 left in the opening half, Luers drained a 3-pointer from the corner that sparked a 17-2 EIU run over the next five minutes. Luers scored eight points in the run with Nick Ellington scoring the final two buckets in the paint. Jacob Polakovich ended the EIU run with a bucket with 2:15 left in the half. EIU did a good job of containing Polakovich after he had 27 points and 26 rebounds in the OVC opener against Southeast Missouri on Thursday. On Saturday he finished with nine points but did collect ten rebounds including six on the offensive glass.
EIU shot 66 percent in the opening half and finished game shooting 60 percent from the floor. The Panthers were 9-of-18 from 3-point range. Luers had four 3-pointers with Yaakema Rose Jr., sinking two. Rose had 12 points joining Luers, Carlesimo (12 pts), Kyle Thomas (11 pts) and Kinyon Hodges (10 pts) in double figures.
USI did trim the EIU lead down to six points with 14:52 to play on a jumper by Gary Solomon. He would tie as the Screaming Eagles leading scorer with 16 points off the bench. Trevor Lakes added 16 points going 4-of-10 from 3-point range as USI ended the game 9-of-27 from behind the arc.
EIU answered that threat with a Thomas 3-pointer opening a 13-3 EIU run. Thomas had seven points during that Panthers run.
Isaiah Swope (14 pts) and Tyler Henry (12 pts) rounded out the double figure scorers for USI.
UT MARTIN 64, MOREHEAD STATE 57
MARTIN, Tenn. - Jordan Sears and KK Curry each had huge performances today to lift the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad to an exciting 64-57 victory against Ohio Valley Conference rival Morehead State.
The Skyhawks trailed by seven points with under five minutes remaining but closed out the contest on an 18-4 run to defeat the Eagles for the first time in exactly six years. The trio of Sears, Curry and KJ Simon tallied 31 of UT Martin’s 33 second-half points as the duo of Sears and Curry combined to score 10 of the Skyhawks’ last 12 points.
Sears tied season-highs with 18 points and a game-best five assists, converting eight of his 14 field goal attempts. Curry accumulated his second double-double of the season with 14 points and a career-high 16 rebounds – eclipsing his previous high by five boards. Simon added 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals for UT Martin (9-6, 1-1 OVC), who passed last season’s victory total while winning its eighth consecutive decision inside the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Morehead State (8-7, 1-1 OVC) placed a pair of players in double digits in the scoring column as Mark Freeman posted 18 points and Drew Thelwell provided 10 points. The Eagles were held to 19.2 percent (5-of-26) shooting in the second half and 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) from three-point range for the game.
“That was a heck of a win against a really good basketball team – there’s a reason why Morehead State has had continuous success in our league,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “Guys were ready when their number was called. Jordan and KK will get all of the headlines – deservedly so – but guys like Josh Endicott giving us 12 big minutes and Koby Jeffries making a defensive stop towards the end – we just had a collective effort and our group wanted to win the basketball game.”
Curry registered the first made bucket of the contest, sticking in a second-chance layup on the game’s opening possession. That began a unique stretch of balanced scoring as eight different players (Curry, Parker Stewart, Sears, David Kamwanga, Jalen Myers, Simon, Jeffries, Endicott) were responsible for UT Martin’s first 18 points.
Morehead State went on a 15-6 run to take its biggest lead of the day (23-14) with 5:11 remaining before the halftime break. The Skyhawks shaved their deficit down to two points at the half thanks to a Jeffries trifecta from the right corner that made the score 33-31.
Sears and Stewart shared the team lead in scoring in the first half, each scoring six points apiece. The Eagles were a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes as Freeman’s nine points led the way.
UT Martin pounded the ball inside during the second half, outscoring the visitors by a 16-4 margin in the paint. After Morehead State scored nine of the first 13 points after the halftime intermission, the Skyhawks went on a 7-0 run. Simon had five points during that stretch, including a turnaround jumper at the 13:06 mark that knotted the score at 42-all.
The Eagles answered with the next seven points of the game before a pair of Sears free throws with 5:44 remaining ended UT Martin’s scoring drought. The Skyhawks were behind by a 53-46 margin with 4:43 to go before they made their final push – clamping down defensively while coming up with numerous clutch plays down the stretch.
Curry rose up for a block on the defensive end and sprinted downcourt to convert a fast break layup off a feed from Sears five seconds later. That flurry of events made the score 56-55 in favor of UT Martin, resulting in the Skyhawks’ first lead since the 17:25 mark of the first half.
After a Sears driving layup with 49 seconds remaining, Morehead State responded with a Freeman 15-foot jumper on the ensuing trip down the floor. However, that would be the last points of the afternoon for the Eagles as Curry (4-for-4) and Stewart (2-of-2) combined to go a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe over the final 26 seconds of the game.