2022 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals

3/3/2022 9:05:48 AM

#4 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI, #5 TENNESSEE STATE 55
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Eric Reed, Jr. scored 22 points and Manny Patterson turned in a double-double 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead #4 Southeast Missouri (14-17) to a 79-55 drubbing of #5 Tennessee State (14-18) Thursday night in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Quarterfinals.

SEMO advances to Friday's semifinals where it will get another crack at #1 Murray State. That game, which tips off at 7 p.m., CT, will air live on ESPNU. The Redhawks dropped a close 70-68 contest in a slugfest with the Racers on the final day of the regular-season in Cape Girardeau.

The Redhawks put together an outstanding effort on both ends of the court en route to posting their largest victory in their 17 trips to the OVC Tournament. SEMO also makes its first OVC Tournament semifinal in 17 years and third in program history.

SEMO immediately took control when it stormed out to a 13-0 lead powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Nygal Russell and one Reed, Jr.

After the hot start, TSU put together a 7-0 surge to get within six, but Patterson later went on a spree where he scored six of eight points to help SEMO regain a double-digit lead.

SEMO went scoreless for a period of 5:45 until Patterson ended the drought with two free throws with 9:41 remaining in the first half. The Redhawks went on to score the final seven points of the first half to take a big 36-20 lead at the intermission.

Patterson nearly reached his second-straight double-double and third in five starts in the first half, which saw him get 12 points and nine boards. Defensively, SEMO limited TSU to only 20 points in the opening 20 minutes, fewest by any opponent in a first half of basketball this year.

SEMO kept the hammer down in the second half and managed to run its lead to 31 when DQ Nicholas hit a floating jump shot to make it a 73-42 game with 6:37 to go. The Redhawks led by more than 20 points for the last 13:12 of the contest.

Reed, Jr., a First-Team All-OVC selection this season, shot 6-of-13 from the field and buried five of SEMO's 11 three-pointers for the night. He also made 5-of-6 free throws and scored 20 or more points for his team-high 11th time in 2021-22. Fourteen of Reed, Jr.'s points came in the second half.

Patterson reached double figures in the scoring column for the fifth time in his last six starts. His 19 points fell three shy of tying his career-high. Nicholas contributed 10 points off the bench.

SEMO outrebounded TSU, 47-32, and notched 14 offensive boards. The Redhawks shot 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field in the second half.

#3 MOREHEAD STATE 73, #7 TENNESSEE TECH 56
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - An 11-0 spurt to the open the game and a 15-4 run in the second half was enough for the Morehead State men's basketball team to knock off seventh-seeded Tennessee Tech 73-56 in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals at the Ford Center Thursday night.

The No. 3-seed Eagles improved to 22-10 with their fourth straight OVC Tournament win and fifth straight overall win over Tech, which finished the season 11-21. MSU won all three matchups with the Golden Eagles this season. The Eagles move on to face No. 2 Belmont Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The teams split this season after also doing the same last year before MSU knocked off the Bruins in the title game in Evansville.

MSU got consecutive three-pointers from Jaylon Hall, Skyelar Potter and Ta'Lon Cooper, another bucket from Hall and two early blocked shots from Johni Broome to start the game 11-0 in the first 2:06.

The Eagles withstood a Tech scoring push throughout the first half as TTU eventually cut it to 29-26 after a Jr. Clay three-ball with 3:54 left in the half. But, Tray Hollowell canned a triple of his own with three seconds left as MSU led 32-26 at the break.

A five-minute span early in the second half saw MSU go on its 15-4 run to push a 35-30 game out to 50-34 with 11 minutes left. MSU never was threatened after that, eventually leading by as much as 22 (67-45) with 3:19 left after another Potter triple.

Four of the five MSU starters finished with double-figure scoring, led by Broome with 15 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked three shots. He now has 126 blocks this year, the third best single-season total in program history. Cooper, Potter and Hall (making his second start) combined to hit 8-of-16 from outside the arc and scored 14 points each. Hollowell drained three triples, giving him 83 for the season. That's also the third-best single-season total in program history.

Morehead State only hit 39 percent for the game, but also only committed seven turnovers and had 17 assists. Cooper dished out seven helpers, giving him 192 for the year and moving him to second place on the program's single-season list. The record is 204.