SATURDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 92, @Morehead State 84
@Tennessee State 63, Eastern Illinois 49
#21 Murray State 62, @UT Martin 60
Tennessee Tech 73, @Austin Peay 69
@Belmont 73, SIUE 62
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 92, MOREHEAD STATE 84
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Eric Reed, Jr. scored a game-high 28 points and Southeast Missouri (12-16, 7-8) drained 15 three-pointers in a 92-84 road win over Morehead State (20-9, 12-4) Saturday at Johnson Arena.
SEMO put together its best road win of the season en route to dealing MSU only its second home loss.
The Redhawks led for all but 9:20 of the contest.
SEMO started strong out of the gate again, this time heating up to shoot 53.8 percent from 3-point range in the game's opening 20 minutes.
For the second time during this road swing, the Redhawks knocked down seven 3-pointers in the first half. SEMO also had nine different players get in the scoring column during its balanced opening stanza.
SEMO scored the first nine points of the game with Phillip Russell and Nygal Russell each burying a 3-pointer to key the surge.
The Redhawks led the entire first half and went ahead by double figures when Chris Harris' trey stretched the margin to 38-28 with just under four minutes remaining.
MSU answered with an 11-3 run to trim SEMO's lead to 41-39 at the intermission.
The Eagles managed to get a five-point lead (54-49) on a jumper by Johni Broome with 14:57 to go.
However, SEMO continued to go after MSU and used a 9-1 run to take its largest lead of the contest. N. Russell sunk a 3-pointer to give the Redhawks a 77-65 advantage with 5:45 left.
The Redhawks remained composed down the stretch and made six free throws in the last 52 seconds to close out their 12th victory of the season.
SEMO surpassed its wins from a year ago with its nice complete effort against the Eagles.
Reed, Jr. shot 7-of-15 from the field and made 50 percent (4-of-8) of his threes. He also hit 10-of-11 free throws, dished out three assists and had two steals. Reed, Jr. averaged 31.5 points over SEMO's final two road games this week.
P. Russell followed with 15 points, while N. Russell added 12 points and seven rebounds. Harris also scored 12 on four 3-pointers and Nana Akenten contributed seven points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
As a team, SEMO shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from downtown with five players burying at least two. The Redhawks assisted 20 of their made 31 field goals, as well.
Jaylon Hall pitched in 21 points to lead MSU. Broome turned in a double-double 15 points and 12 boards.
SEMO snapped a three-game losing streak and ended a six-game skid in its all-time series against the Eagles. The Redhawks last win in Morehead came on Feb. 8, 2018 (78-62).
TENNESSEE STATE 63, EASTERN ILLINOIS 49
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team secured the victory on Senior Day against Eastern Illinois, 63-49.
Graduate transfer, Kassim Nicholson, recorded the first basket of the game. EIU scored ten unanswered points to take a 12-6 lead. Tennessee State went on a six point run to close the gap at 17-14. The Panthers rattled off five points to increase the lead, 22-14, following a C.J. Lane three-pointer. Dedric Boyd heated up at the end of the half, as he scored seven straight points to trim the deficit to one possession. The teams exchanged baskets in the final minute as EIU took a lead into the break
EIU's Sammy Friday IV tallied a layup to open the half. Following Friday IV's bucket, the Tigers went on a 12-0 scoring stretch to regain the lead, 35-28. Eastern Illinois cut the margin to three, 39-36, with about ten minutes remaining. Tennessee State extended the lead to double-digits, 49-38, after a 10-2 stretch. With 6:41 to go, Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. tallied eight consecutive TSU points to grab a firm hold on the contest. In the closing minutes, TSU cashed in free-throws to seal the game.
#21 MURRAY STATE 62, UT MARTIN 60
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Murray State Racers clinched a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship Thursday with a come-from-behind victory at UT Martin 62-60 at the Elam Center in Martin, Tenn. The 21st ranked Racers (26-2) are 16-0 in the OVC and two wins from becoming the sixth team in league history to go undefeated.
Tevin Brown hit five 3-pointers on the day and scored 18 points, while KJ Williams scored 16 and grabbed nine rebounds and Justice Hill added 10 points and five assists.
Trailing the Skyhawks by five points with 3:18 remaining, the Racers overcame a late run by UTM to score the winning basket by Williams on a bullet pass from Brown from the wing with 10 seconds remaining. Williams was fouled and made the free throw for a 3-point play. But still, the Racers had to defend a last second 3-point try by KJ Simon and the upset win, but it hit the rim and fell off.
Trailing 33-27 at halftime, the Racers started the second half with a 15-5 run powered by three-point baskets by Hill and Brown. The two combined to hit seven of the Racers’ 10 threes in the game, for a 42-38 MSU lead at 14:25. MSU’s first lead of the day came at the 16:36 mark.
In the first half, the Racers were down 7-0 when a 4-point play by Tevin Brown cut the UTM lead to 10-9 at 14:47. It was his 3rd such play this season. Brown hit another three at the 12:48 mark, but the Skyhawks still had the lead at 14-12. At the 6:53 mark, MSU’s Carter Collins cut it to 21-19 UTM lead on one of MSU’s six first half threes, but the Racers still trailed 33-27 at the halftime intermission.
The Racers have found a way to win on the road in conference play in three-straight games in which they trailed at the half. MSU ended the day shooting 34 percent (20-of-59) while UTM hit 22-of-51 for 43 percent. The Racers hit 10 3-pointers and made 12-of-15 from the free throw line.
TENNESSEE TECH 73, AUSTIN PEAY 69
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - It came down to the wire, but the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team made it four wins in five games Saturday evening, edging in-state rival Austin Peay in Clarksville by a final score of 73-69 for another critical victory in Ohio Valley Conference play.
The Golden Eagles (9-19, 6-9) came out the gate firing on cylinders, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor and taking as much as a 16-point lead with just over four minutes to play in the first half. The Govs (10-16, 6-10) rallied a bit to close the opening stanza, but Tech took a 39-31 lead into the locker room.
Austin Peay erupted offensively to open the second half, using a 13-3 run over the first three minutes to jump on top at 44-42. Veteran Jr. Clay responded with four straight points, however, putting Tech back on top for much of the rest of the period.
Tech expanded that advantage out to nine midway through the period, but another late surge from Peay saw the Clarksville squad take a 67-66 lead with just over two minutes to play. Graduate transfer John Pettway flipped the script for the Golden Eagles, working his way into the paint and converting an old-fashioned three-point play to put Tech back on top for good.
Pettway, who continued his incredible play of late by dropping a season and game-high 22 points, scored each of Tech's final seven points down the stretch, hitting clutch free throws to seal the deal. He hit 7-of-8 shots from the floor and 7-of-9 attempts at the charity stripe while tying for the team lead with seven rebounds.
Clay enjoyed another big performance off the bench as well, contributing 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting while playing a game-high 36 minutes. Kenny White Jr. also finished in double figures, producing 10 points with seven boards and three steals. Keishawn Davidson led the game with seven assists.
Tech won the battle on the glass, owning a 39-32 advantage while holding the Govs to just 33.3 percent shooting in the ball game. The Golden Eagles also converted 17-of-23 tries from the free-throw line, shooting 73.9 percent.
With the win, the purple and gold climbed up to sixth in the OVC standings and clinched its first berth to the league's postseason tournament in Evansville, Ind. since the 2017-18 campaign.
BELMONT 73, SIUE 62
NASHVILLE - Behind 20 points from Ben Sheppard, Belmont University men's basketball defeated SIUE, 73-62, Saturday from the Curb Event Center.
Sheppard added five of Belmont's season-high 20 steals as Belmont led virtually wire-to-wire.
Belmont has won 10 consecutive games, 19 of its last 21 overall, and improves to 80-5 all-time in Ohio Valley Conference home games.
A Sheppard steal and acrobatic assist to Will Richard for an emphatic dunk capped an 8-0 run and gave Belmont a 21-8 lead less than eight minutes in. Consecutive baskets from Grayson Murphy and Richard extended the margin to 14, 34-20, with 3:48 left in the first half.
SIUE, which entered play 346th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage and 317th in 3-point reliance, got back-to-back 3-pointers from DeeJuan Pruitt and Courtney Carter, the latter of which was an off-balanced, banked buzzer beater to get SIUE within 37-32 at halftime.
Belmont got 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field in the opening 20 minutes and forced 12 turnovers. Both teams battled foul trouble throughout the game, as five Nick Muszynski points and a Sheppard conventional 3-point play gave Belmont a 57-46 lead with 9:38 remaining. As Belmont labored to find its traditional 3-point shooting range, SIUE continued to go off script from long distance as a contested Shaun Doss Jr. 3-pointer sparked another response.
However a Luke Smith triple, a Richard fast break basket and one Frank Jakubicek free throw gave the Bruins a 66-59 lead with 3:03 left.
Richard and Sheppard added open court scores as Belmont limited SIUE to one field goal over the final 5:39. All told, Belmont shot 44 percent (25-of-57) from the field.
Muszynski scored 18 points, while Richard had 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Murphy had eight points, six rebounds and six steals.
Doss Jr. led SIUE (9-18, 3-12 OVC) with 16 points.