MONDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 84, Eastern Illinois 58
@Belmont 72, Austin Peay 58
Southeast Missouri 76, @SIUE 47
TENNESSEE TECH 84, EASTERN ILLINOIS 58
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A collective effort across the board propelled the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to a huge win Monday evening, as the Golden Eagles (6-18, 3-8) rolled to an 84-58 victory over Eastern Illinois (4-19, 2-8) in the comfort of the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tech led wire-to-wire on the night, using a great flow on offense, devasting fast-break attack, and dominant showing on the glass to snap a six-game skid. The Golden Eagles outscored the Panthers 22-0 on the break and earned a whopping 37-23 advantage on the glass.
On top of that, the purple and gold shot 55.4 percent from the floor and a red-hot 50 percent from distance, sinking 14-of-28 tries. Tech also dished out 21 assists on the night, making it five wins in six games this season when doling out at least 20 dimes.
Just two nights after watching the visiting Bruins rally from a 20-point deficit, force overtime with a last-second triple, and pull off an eight-point win, the Golden Eagles were able to put the crushing loss behind them. On Monday, Tech rolled right out of the gate, taking as large of a 31-point lead over Eastern Illinois late in the second half.
Four Golden Eagles scored in double figures during the night, paced by veteran guard Jr. Clay. The Chattanooga native poured in season-high 23 points while tying his career-best mark of six makes from beyond the arc on just eight tries. He also racked up four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Kenny White Jr. rack up a pair of career-highs in the contest as well, sinking 5-of-7 attempts from downtown and dishing out five dimes. He finished with 17 points while corralling a team-high seven rebounds.
Joining Clay and White Jr. in double figures, Mamoudou Diarra contributed 14 points while Keishawn Davidson chipped in 11. Davidson also led the purple and gold with eight assists to just a single turnover, making it 19 for the Golden Eagle in the past two games.
BELMONT 72, AUSTIN PEAY 58
NASHVILLE - Behind 23 points and six rebounds from Ben Sheppard, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Austin Peay, 72-58, Monday from the Curb Event Center.
Sheppard, following his career-high 41-point performance Saturday, went 8-of-12 from the field. Nick Muszynski added 16 second-half points as Belmont overcame a 31-24 halftime deficit.
A Grayson Murphy steal and score gave Belmont a 34-33 lead with 15:58 left.
Belmont (20-5, 10-2 OVC) got strong bench contributions from Tate Pierson, as his outside shooting and an inside score from Even Brauns highlighted a 9-0 run to make the score 49-39 with 10:57 to go.
Austin Peay got within seven points on four separate occasions, before a Pierson 3-pointer and five Sheppard points gave Belmont a 15-point lead with 4:08 remaining.
Belmont made 16 of its first 19 field goal attempts in the second half, shooting 71 percent from the field in the second 20 minutes. Murphy had 11 points.
Caleb Stone-Carrawell led Austin Peay (7-14, 3-8 OVC) with 16 points.
Belmont becomes the first program in America to secure 20 or more victories in 12 consecutive seasons; Gonzaga, Kansas and Oregon have the opportunity to reach the standard.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 76, SIUE 47
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Redshirt-freshman point guard Phillip Russell finished with a career-high 35 points and 10 rebounds to lead short-handed Southeast Missouri (11-13, 6-5) to a nice 76-47 road win over SIU Edwardsville (7-17, 1-10) Monday night at First Community Arena.
Adversity struck SEMO just hours before it left for Edwardsville.
Four of the Redhawks top six scorers -- Eric Reed, Jr., Chris Harris, DQ Nicholas, Nana Akenten -- were ruled out due to COVID protocols leaving SEMO with only seven available players.
That didn't faze Russell a bit, as he put together his best game to date.
Russell, who hails from St. Louis, put on a show scoring his first 20 points on 6-of-11 field goals and a near-perfect 6-of-7 free throws in the opening period alone. He scored seven points in a quick 1:29 to give the Redhawks a 16-15 edge with 8:47 remaining.
Tied, 18-18, after Russell buried a jumper off a turnover, SEMO outscored SIUE, 22-6, in the final 7:54 to pull ahead, 40-24, at the intermission.
Nygal Russell, who added 10 points of his own, drained the second of his two first-half 3-pointers at the buzzer capping SEMO's 16-point advantage.
Defensively, SEMO held its opponent to 24 or less points in the first half for the second-straight game. The Redhawks pressured the Cougars into committing 12 turnovers and scored 17 of their 20 points off turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
The Redhawks continued to pour it on in the second half and took their largest lead when P. Russell made four-straight free throws following a SIUE personal and technical foul to make it a 74-43 ballgame with 2:08 to go.
SEMO's numbers shrunk to six players after Sam Thompson fouled out with 5:48 left to play. By the end of the game, the Redhawks had three players with four fouls and two with three.
Russell fell just three points shy of breaking the single-game scoring record during the Redhawks NCAA Division I era. That mark is presently held by both Tyler Stone (37 points at SIUE, Feb. 6, 2014) and Dainmon Gonner (37 points at Tennessee State, Jan. 13, 2005).
He went 9-of-20 from the field, knocked down three 3-pointers and made 14-of-15 free throws to go along with five steals and four assists in 39 minutes. The double-double was the first of Russell's career, as well.
Freshman Chase Thompson, who made his first career start, added 10 points and five rebounds, while N. Russell narrowly missed a double-double with 12 points and nine boards.
Parker Long and Manny Patterson contributed seven points apiece.
SEMO outrebounded SIUE, 43-34, and sunk 26-of-29 free throws at a season-high 89.7 percent clip. Defensively, the Redhawks limited the Cougars to a season-low 47 points.
The Redhawks polished off their second sweep of an Ohio Valley Conference foe this season and improved to 25-12 all-time against SIUE. SEMO swept the Cougars in a season for the sixth time in program history. The Redhawks also handed SIUE its ninth-straight defeat and 10th conference loss.