THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 48, Morehead State 47
@SIUE 71, UT Martin 63
@Austin Peay 74, Southeast Missouri 66
Tennessee Tech 73, @Eastern Illinois 62
#23/24 Murray State 73, @Tennessee State 62
BELMONT 48, MOREHEAD STATE 47
NASHVILLE - Grayson Murphy's basket with 5.0 seconds remaining lifted Belmont University men's basketball to a 48-47 victory over Morehead State Thursday night from the Curb Event Center. Nick Muszynski denied Jake Wolfe at the rim as the horn sounded to give Belmont a seventh consecutive victory.
In a meeting of the last two OVC Tournament Champions and programs entering with a combined conference record of 56-8 over the last two seasons, a fiercely-contested battle was anticipated, and realized.
Morehead State hit its first three shots of the game to take an early five-point lead. After Belmont tied the score at 18 on a Will Richard basket, Morehead State rode the defense of Johni Broome and opportunistic 3-point shooting to lead 29-22 at halftime.
Belmont, which entered play eighth nationally in scoring offense and fourth in field goal percentage, shouldered an uncharacteristic first half, shooting 7-of-32 from the field and 2-of-13 from 3-point distance.
A Ben Sheppard dunk and a Nick Muszynski basket got Belmont within 29-26 with 18:37 remaining before consecutive 3-pointers from Tray Hollowell and Wolfe pushed the margin back to nine. Muszynski would make a second 3-pointer but a Broome basket gave Morehead State a 39-29 lead with 14:50 remaining. From there, the Bruins delivered a stretch of their most inspired defense and rebounding in recent program history; holding the visitors to two made field goals the final 14:49 of the game.
Six straight Richard points and a Tate Pierson 3-pointer trimmed the margin to three, 41-38, with 8:09 left. But each time Belmont appeared poised to send the boisterous and supportive student section into a frenzy, a promising shot attempt would rim off.
Undettered, Belmont strung together defensive stops to push onward. A tough Richard layin out of the under four media timeout got Belmont within one, 45-44, with 3:50 remaining. After three more defensive stops, Muszynski delivered a hook shot in the paint to give Belmont a 46-45 lead with 2:11 left.
Belmont would then steal the ball from Broome and free Sheppard for a wing 3-pointer that rimmed off. Broome would proceed to miss a high-percentage shot on a lob feed, but regather and earn two free throws with 1:05 left. Broome made both free throws to give Morehead State a 47-46 lead.
Following a timeout and strong multiple-effort defensive plays from the visitors, Sheppard missed a contested shot in the paint with 40 seconds left. Morehead State secured the defensive rebound and worked into the frontcourt. Late in the possession, Wolfe attempted a pocket pass to Broome at the free throw line, which Murphy deflected into the lane. Sheppard gathered the loose ball and passed to Richard as the clock wound under 10 seconds.
Richard proceeded to find Murphy in the frontcourt, who attacked the lane against scrambling defense and sank floating 8-foot shot in the lane with 4.9 seconds remaining to give the Bruins a 48-47 lead.
SIUE 71, UT MARTIN 63
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE defeated UT Martin 71-63 Thursday night at First Community Arena, snapping a nine-game losing streak in the process.
The Cougars improved to 8-17 overall and 2-10 in the Ohio Valley Conference. UT Martin fell to 8-17 and 4-9.
The two teams traded scores to open the game and UT Martin led 12-11 with 13:43 to play before halftime. SIUE scored the next 10 points to lead 21-12 with 9:23 to play before the break, and the Cougars never trailed again in the game.
UT Martin's Koby Jeffries hit a running layup as time expired on the first half and SIUE took a 36-30 lead into the break.
The Skyhawks used a 10-4 push in the opening minutes of the second half to pull even with the Cougars at 40 apiece. It was the first of two times UT Martin pulled even. They tied the game again at 49 with 11:39 left. Each time UT Martin made a push, SIUE responded.
Shaun Doss and Desmond Polk each buried big three-pointers in the final minutes to help the Cougars' cause. The Skyhawks had cut the SIUE lead to 57-56 when Lamar Wright forced a turnover and fed Doss on the left wing for a three to put SIUE up 60-56. The Skyhawks cut the lead back to two when Polk pushed it back to five with a three-pointer with 3:25 to play.
After missing 11 free throws in a six-point loss at UT Martin in January, The Cougars cemented their win Thursday with free throws down the stretch. Courtney Carter, Lamar Wright and Polk all hit free throws in the final 30 seconds as SIUE hit 6-8 attempts to seal the win. The Cougars were 15-21 for the game.
SIUE connected on 49 percent (25-51) of its shots, the team's third-best shooting percentage in a game this year.
Doss scored a game-high 16 points to lead three Cougars in double figures Thursday. He was 6-8 from the field and knocked down two triples.
Carter scored 14 points while adding six rebounds, six assists and a steal in 40 minutes. Shamar Wright scored 11 points while Lamar Wright and Polk each added nine points.
UT Martin was led by Bernie Andre, who scored 12 points. Koby Jeffries scored 11.
AUSTIN PEAY 74, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 66
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - It was a return back to the win column for the Austin Peay men’s basketball team Monday night, leading wire-to-wire to defeat Southeast Missouri, 74-66 inside the Winfield Dunn Center.
It was a total team effort in the victory as all 10 Austin Peay players that saw the court scored, led by redshirt senior Tariq Silver with 18. Off the bench, Silver played 28 minutes, shooting 7-of-18 from the field and knocking down four three-pointers. The Clarksville native also had four rebounds and one steal en route to his first double-digit performance since Jan. 22 at Tennessee State.
Behind Silver in scoring was junior Carlos Paez with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field. Paez was also 2-of-4 from behind the three-point line and a perfect 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. It was Paez first double-digit performance since Jan. 31 against SIUE. Fellow junior DJ Peavy off the bench had nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field with one rebound, three assists and one steal.
Senior Elton Walker nearly registered his first double-double of the season with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Three of Walker’s eight rebounds came on the offensive glass while the senior forward was 3-of-4 from the field. Reigning OVC Freshman of the Week Elijah Hutchins-Everett saw his nine-game double-digit streak come to an end with five points to go along with six rebounds, and two assists.
Rounding out the scoring for the Govs was redshirt freshman Caleb Stone-Carrawell with five, followed by Alec Woodard with four, Cameron Copeland with three and Jalen Ware with two. As a team the Govs shot 45.3 percent from the field and was 12-of-27 from behind the three-point line.
The Govs made the most of their opportunities at the free-throw line, shooting 70 percent compared to SEMO’s 60.7 percent. Austin Peay’s bench sparked the offense, scoring 37 points while the RedHawks bench managed to score just 21 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 73, EASTERN ILLINOIS 62
CHARLESTON, Ill. - For the second straight game, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team earned a wire-to-wire win over Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois, besting the Panthers (4-20, 2-9) in Lantz Arena, 73-62, Thursday evening in a rematch from Monday's tilt in Cookeville.
But unlike Monday's affair in the Hooper Eblen Center, this victory came with significantly more resistance. After cruising to a 26-point at home just three days prior, Tech (7-18, 4-8) looked well on its way to replicating its impressive showing in the first meeting between the two league foes, erupting out of the gates for a 30-7 lead more than halfway through the opening stanza.
Behind a tenacious defense, the Panthers started creating turnovers and finally began to hit on some shot attempts from the floor, inching their way back from the 23-point deficit to make it a 14-point game at the break. Tech led 40-26 behind a 54.8 percent showing from the floor and 4-for-10 performance from distance.
Picking up its intensity on the defensive end of the floor, Eastern Illinois' pressure continued to create problems for the purple and gold, helping the home team creep back closer and make it a six-point ball game at 16:02 mark of the second half. Veteran guard Jr. Clay answered by burying a triple and then driving in for a transitional layup on the ensuing possession, forcing an EIU timeout with the Tech lead back out to 11.
The Golden Eagles extended things back to 16 over the next four minutes, but the Panthers proved their resilience, clawing back all the way to a one-bucket ball game at 58-55 with just under six minutes to play. A quick timeout from Pelphrey gave the Tech squad a quick chance to chat things over and regroup.
Immediately out of the break, Amadou Sylla made a nifty, turnaround jumper in the paint to make it a two-possession lead. He snagged a defensive board and Clay came right back down the court and drilled another trey to move thing back out to eight. Following a layup by the Panthers with under four to play, Shandon Goldman hit a dagger from the corner with three minutes to play, dropping a triple to move the lead out to nine for the Cookeville crew.
Just eight Golden Eagles saw the floor on the night, but each managed to score at least once and haul in at least two rebounds, accounting for another total team effort. Five Tech hoopers notched double-figures in the scoring column, led by Clay for the second night in-a-row.
The Chattanooga native contributed a team-high 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, passing Anthony Avery for eighth on the Golden Eagles' all-time scoring list. He drilled a trio of makes from beyond the arc while adding four assists.
John Pettway, who was instrumental in Tech's initial mammoth lead from the moment the game tipped, poured in 12 points on the night, all in the first half. The graduate transfer also hauled in a game-high nine rebounds and accounted for a pair of steals.
Keishawn Davidson dished out a game-best six assists while chipping 10 points and five boards. Sylla chipped in 10 points off the bench on a perfect 4-for-4 efficiency from the floor and added seven rebounds. Kenny White Jr. put together 10 points with a couple of makes from distance as well.
#23/24 MURRAY STATE 73, TENNESSEE STATE 62
NASHVILLE - Behind 31 second half points from KJ Williams, the Murray State Racers erased a seven point halftime deficit and ran away with a 73-62 win Thursday over the Tennessee State Tigers at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
The win pushed the Racers to 23-2 overall and to 13-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. With a debut of No. 23 this week in the Associated Press Top-25, the Racers have won six consecutive games away from home as they travel to Morehead State Saturday for a 3 p.m. Central Time game.
Williams’ heroics saw him score a career-high 39 points on 15-of-22 shooting with six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. His game was the 11th best scoring game in Murray State history and the best since Ja Morant scored 40 against SIUE in 2019. Williams was MSU’s only double-figure scorer, but there were other supporting players that helped the Racers tough out a road win against the Tigers. DJ Burns scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Justice Hill added nine points and five assists. Tevin Brown scored seven points and had seven rebounds.
A late first half run allowed the Racers to trim their largest deficit of the game when they were down by 13 points with under nine minutes in the half. A 9-5 run to end the half cut the Tigers’ lead to 36-29 at the intermission. The second half was a thing of beauty for the Racers when they hit the Tigers with a 55 percent shooting half on 16-of-29. Williams gave the Racers the lead for good with 12:02 left with a layup that was assisted by Brown. The Racers won the second half 44-26 and remained in first place in the OVC.