2022 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Semifinals

3/4/2022 9:17:42 AM

#1 MURRAY STATE 88, #4 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - KJ Williams had 29 points and 10 rebounds and No. 19 Murray State advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, beating Southeast Missouri State 88-74 on Friday night for its 19th straight victory.

Murray State (29-2) will play the Belmont-Morehead State winner in the title game Saturday night.

Tevin Brown added 26 points for Murray State. The Racers sped to a 17-1 lead, with Nana Akenten hitting a 3-pointer 4:32 into the game for Southeast Missouri State's first basket.

DQ Nicholas led the Redhawks (14-18) with 20 points.

Murray State shot 65.5% from the field in the first half, with Brown going 8 of 10 in the half.

#3 MOREHEAD STATE 53, #2 BELMONT 51
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -
In a contest that felt more like a heavyweight fight than a basketball game, Morehead State's men's basketball team landed the final blow and defeated Belmont 53-51 in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament Friday night.

The Eagles improved to 23-10 overall as it was Belmont's final game as an OVC member.

The final 1:20 of the game belonged to Eagle big man Johni Broome. His last bucket, a fadeaway jumper with 1:18 left, put the Eagles in front of the Bruins for good, but that wasn't his last highlight of the night. With mere seconds left on the clock, the OVC Defensive Player of the Year and leading shot blocker earned that honor in the biggest moment, blocking a Nick Muszynski three as time expired to propel Morehead State to victory. Broome finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocked shots in his 23rd double-double of the season.

Tray Hollowell, who scored 10 points, hit a huge three-pointer that gave Morehead State a 49-46 advantage with 4:42 to go, before Muszynski converted an and-one to tie the game back up. MSU point guard Ta'Lon Cooper then hit a running layup to put the Eagles back up by two, but the Bruins wouldn't go away, tying the game again at 51.

But just before Ben Sheppard actually hit what could have been the go-ahead three-pointer, Belmont called timeout with 7.5 seconds left to set up a play. The Eagle defense disrupted the Bruins' plan, where the Belmont big man ended up heaving a desperation triple that Broome smacked high into the air.

The game was scoreless for the first three minutes, setting the tone for what was a defensive battle for 40 minutes, before Morehead State took a lead they didn't surrender until late in the second half. Morehead State took a nine-point lead into halftime in large part thanks to Skyelar Potter's 10 first-half points, but also thanks to some great team defense that held Belmont to 21 points (0-6 from three-point range) in the first half. Potter finished with 12 points.

For the first 30 minutes, Preston Spradlin's squad dictated the pace of the game and frustrated the Bruins on both ends of the floor, taking an 11-point lead at one point early in the second half. After that, however, Belmont turned up the heat on defense, forcing the Eagles to speed up and turn the ball over, which got the Bruins back into the game. The final five minutes of the night proved to be thrilling despite being low scoring, as only 12 points combined were scored down the stretch.

MSU also held the OVC's all-time assist leader, Belmont's Grayson Murphy, to zero helpers and five floor miscues. Sheppard ended with a team-best 19 points for Belmont.