THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 94, Lindenwood 71
SIUE 80, @Eastern Illinois 62
@Tennessee Tech 79, Morehead State 62
UT Martin 77, @Tennessee State 66
@Southern Indiana 74, Little Rock 67
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 94, LINDENWOOD 71
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Israel Barnes scored 20 points to lead Southeast Missouri (8-10, 3-2) to an 94-71 drubbing of first-year Ohio Valley Conference member Lindenwood (7-11, 2-3) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
In the first meeting between the teams, SEMO picked up its second-straight win and improved to 4-2 at home this season. The Redhawks earned their largest win of the season against a Division I opponent, as well.
SEMO shot an OVC single-game high 63 percent and led for all but 3:51 of the contest.
SEMO started red-hot shooting 63 percent from the field and burying seven 3-pointers in the first half alone.
The Redhawks made nine of their first 15 shots and rallied behind Barnes who came off the bench to drop in 13 points in 16 minutes.
Ahead, 10-7, Barnes nailed a 3-pointer to start a 10-2 run and help grab the Redhawks a double-digit lead. He later scored a layup before Adam Larson knocked down a trey to widen the Redhawks margin to 20-9 with 11:20 remaining in the first half.
Up 11 (24-13), Larson buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to stretch SEMO's lead to 30-13 with a little under nine minutes to go.
Phillip Russell's 3-pointer gave SEMO its largest lead of the half (38-17) with 5:52 left. After a Chris Harris three game the Redhawks their second 21-point advantage, SEMO headed into the locker room with a 45-28 lead.
SEMO registered its best first-half field goal percentage of the season.
Russell hit a 3-pointer on two-straight possessions to give the Redhawks their biggest lead of the night at 73-48 with 8:41 left to play.
After that, the closest LU would get was within 16 (82-66) at the 4:04 mark.
The Redhawks won consecutive games for the second time this season and first since late November.
SEMO's 94 points marked a season-high as Barnes led four Redhawks in double figures. Barnes, who scored 20 points for the fourth time, shot 9-of-12 from the field.
Russell followed with 16 points, while Harris added 13 and Larson chipped in 11.
The Redhawks finished with 12 threes getting 10 or more treys in a game for the sixth time in 2022-23.
SIUE 80, EASTERN ILLINOIS 62
CHARLESTON, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball now has more wins in a season than it ever has at the Division I level. The Cougars rolled over Eastern Illinois Thursday 80-62 for its 13th win this season.
The Cougars have won now won three consecutive games and six of their last seven to improve to 13-5. SIUE has won three straight games over Eastern Illinois and three straight road games in the series.
The Cougars are in sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference at 4-1.
DeeJuan Pruitt picked up his sixth career double-double to lead the Cougars. He poured in a career-high 24 points while grabbing tying his season-best with 13 rebounds. Pruitt was 7-8 from the field, including going 3-3 from three-point range.
Both teams led in a back-and-forth first half. The Panthers jumped out to an 8-2 lead just two minutes into the game. A 10-2 run SIUE run put the Cougars on top for the first time.
Damarco Minor earned a trip to the free throw line with 4:23 left and buried the first of two shots, making his 47th consecutive free throw to set a new OVC record. Minor missed his second shot, marking his first missed free throw since the fourth game of the season.
Eastern Illinois led 31-30 with 1:55 to play, but the Cougars ran off the final five points to take a 36-31 advantage into the break.
The Cougars used six first-half three-pointers to help them to the halftime advantage.
SIUE built its first double-digit lead early in the second half when three-pointers on consecutive possessions from Shamar Wright made it 48-37 with 14:48 to play. The Cougars maintained the double-digit lead from that point forward.
Shamar Wright scored 14 points. He was 5-11 overall and 4-5 from long distance.
Eastern Illinois had pulled within 11 when Minor was fouled with 9:34 to play. EIU Head Coach Marty Simmons argued to the official and was given a technical foul. Minor proceeded to hit all four free throws to push the Cougar lead to 61-46. Minor finished the game with 12 points and was 7-8 at the free throw line.
The Cougars lead swelled to as many as 20 (80-60) following another three-pointer from Shamar Wright with 1:55 to play.
Ray'Sean Taylor scored 11 points for the Cougars while adding a game-high and season-best six assists.
Kinyon Hodges scored 19 points to lead Eastern Illinois. Caleb Donaldson added 11 points for the Panthers who fell to 6-12 overall and 2-3 in the OVC.
TENNESSEE TECH 79, MOREHEAD STATE 62
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Inspired performances on both sides of the ball helped the Tennessee Tech men's basketball overcome an early, double-digit deficit and turn in a lop-sided victory over Morehead State Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles cruised past the visiting Eagles, 79-62, in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Tech (7-11, 3-2) picked up its third straight Ohio Valley Conference win, overcoming a sluggish start on both ends of the floor. Struggling to find a rhythm on offense, the purple and gold watched as Morehead State (10-8, 3-2) made more than 70 percent of its shots from the floor over the opening eight minutes.
Trailing 21-8 with just under 12 minutes to play in the opening stanza, the Golden Eagles went to work, with forward Jaylen Sebree connecting on back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to seven at the next media break. A graduate transfer from Morehead, Sebree turned in a spectacular evening, dropping a team-high 20 points on 6-for-9 shooting against his former team.
Continuing to climb back into the contest, Tech squared the ball game at 29-29 with a little under five on the clock in the first half thanks to another 3-pointer from Sebree. The two sides fought back and forth the rest of the opening stanza, with the Golden Eagles taking a 36-35 advantage into the break thanks to a tip-in layup from junior Diante Wood with just 19 seconds on the clock.
Opening the second half, Morehead jumped back out front with a five-point lead, but the Golden Eagles responded with an 11-0 run to push back ahead by six. The visiting Eagles closed back to as close as three points with nine minutes to play, but an 8-0 run from the purple and gold ended any comeback attempt.
The Golden Eagles patiently pushed the lead to as high as 19, ending the evening on an impressive 22-8 run. Tech's second half along was quite impressive, shooting 56.5 percent from the floor, hitting 5-of-10 attempts from 3-point range, sinking 12-of-14 tries from the charity stripe, and holding Morehead to just 37.0 percent efficiency from the field.
On the night, the purple and gold dished out 19 assists while making just nine turnovers and shot a sizzling 59.1 percent from beyond the arc, converting 13-of-22 treys. Tech saw a balanced attack across the lineup, leading a whopping 31 points off the bench compared to just five for the Eagles.
In addition to Sebree's 20 spot, fellow graduate transfer Ty Perry dropped 14 points with a 4-for-6 showing from deep. Both he and Sebree turned in three assists each, with Sebree also accounting for four rebounds.
Junior forward Jayvis Harvey racked up a team-high six rebounds with nine points, four dimes, and two steals. Junior guard Erik Oliver made the most of his 20 minutes of action off the bench, contributing 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting with four assists and no turnovers.
Local Sparta product Grant Slatten was a huge spark off the bench as well, sinking all three of his shots for eight points in 14 minutes, including key, back-to-back makes from downtown in the second half. Center Nolan Causwell rejected two shots while chipping in seven points and five boards while rookie forward Jerome Beya also blocked a pair of attempts by the Eagles.
Morehead's Alex Gross led all scorers with 23 points on 10-for-14 shooting during the night while Kalil Thomas added 12 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Drew Thelwell and Branden Maughmer each produced 10 points for the visitors as well, with Thelwell mixing in seven assists. Just six different Eagles scored on the night.
UT MARTIN 77, TENNESSEE STATE 66
NASHVILLE - Jordan Sears returned from a one-game injury absence to boost the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team this evening as the Skyhawks defeated Tennessee State on its home floor for the second straight season with a 77-66 victory.
Sears scored 15 of his career-best 21 points in the second half tonight, adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals in 29 minutes off the bench for UT Martin (11-7, 3-2 Ohio Valley Conference). Desmond Williams also registered a season-high 16 points while KK Curry (13 points, six rebounds) and Parker Stewart (11 points, six rebounds) each scored in double digits. David Kamwanga also gave the Skyhawks big minutes off the bench, posting team-highs in rebounds (seven) and steals (two) in 18 minutes.
Tennessee State (10-8, 2-3 OVC) was paced by Jr. Clay's 21 points while Adong Makuoi had 13 points to go along with game-highs of eight rebounds and four blocked shots. The Tigers were stifled by UT Martin's defense throughout the contest as Tennessee State shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) and 20.8 percent (5-for-24) from behind the three-point arc.
The Tigers began the contest on an 8-0 run but UT Martin soon recovered – piecing together nine unanswered points of its own. Curry scored five straight points – including a highlight-reel fast break dunk at the 16:32 mark – before a Sears reverse layup put the Skyhawks on top for the first time in the contest.
Stewart was responsible for five of UT Martin's next six points before a Sears stepback triple nudged the Skyhawks ahead by an 18-12 margin with 11:37 remaining in the opening half.
UT Martin then muscled up for 10 consecutive points in the paint as Josh Endicott (four points), Jalen Myers (two), Kamwanga (two) and Curry (two) accounted for those buckets. Curry's free throw at the 6:51 mark ended the streak as it was the backend of an old-fashioned three-point play.
A 10-0 run stretched the Skyhawk advantage out to 13 points with 4:46 left to play before the halftime break. Williams splashed a fast break three-pointer on the left wing before knocking down a pair of free throws to push UT Martin's lead out to 34-21.
Williams connected on another trifecta at the 1:40 mark to keep the advantage at 13 points before the Skyhawks settled for a 38-29 lead at the halftime break.
Curry compiled game-highs of nine points and five rebounds while Williams followed closely behind with eight points. Tennessee State was held to 30 percent shooting (9-of-30) in the opening half as Clay and Zion Griffin shared the team lead with five points apiece.
Koby Jeffries scored on a strong take to the hoop for UT Martin's first field goal of the second half and 36 seconds later, Williams swished yet another three-pointer to extend the Skyhawk lead out to 43-31.
The Tigers responded with six points in a row to close within six points with 17 minutes remaining but that was ultimately as close as the host team would get the rest of the way.
Sears put on a dazzling display – dialing up 11 points over a stretch of 7:15 immediately after the UT Martin lead was trimmed to six. The sophomore out of Daytona Beach, Fla. closed out an 11-3 run with a strong driving layup at the 8:35 mark to make the score 61-43. Moments later, Sears beat the shot clock with another bucket to provide the Skyhawks with their biggest lead of the night (66-47) with 6:24 remaining.
Curry, Stewart, Sears and Williams combined to go 9-for-10 from the free throw line in the final 3:34 while Chris Nix chipped in a layup down the stretch as UT Martin coasted to the finish line.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 74, LITTLE ROCK 67
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball won its national television debut with a 74-67 victory over the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Thursday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles go to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in the OVC, while Trojans are 5-13, 1-4 OVC.
The game was televised on ESPNU and in front of an announced crowd of 2296. USI soared out of the gate to start the game, building a 10-3 lead before three minutes were gone in the game. Sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana) led the charge with eight points on three-of-four, including a pair from downtown.
The Trojans would overcome a slow start and rally to take a 23-19 lead on a 14-3 run. Little Rock was able to shut down the USI offense for over four minutes and held the Eagles to one-of- seven during the drought.
After falling behind 25-20, the Eagles exploded on a 17-4 surge to regain the lead, 37-29, when senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) slammed the ball home for his ninth point of the run. USI reversed its fortunes from the outside during the five-minute surge with seven-of-nine from the outside.
The Eagles and the Trojans would trade buckets and free throws in the final minutes of the opening half as USI took a 40-36 lead into the intermission. Swope and Polakovich led the first half action for the Eagles with 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
Following a Little Rock sprint to regain the lead, USI graduate forward Trevor Lakes (Lebanon, Indiana) outscored the Trojans, 9-2, on a trio of three-point bombs to put the Eagles up, 54-48, with 14:00 to play. Little Rock would rally to knot the game at 59-59 with 7:07 to play on a 9-1 wave of points.
USI responded with 10-4 dash to regain the momentum, 69-63 with 3:19 left on the clock. The Trojans tried to come back, 70-67, but Swope would put a dagger through the hoop from 25 feet and no time on the shot clock to put the lead back to six, 73-67, and sealed the victory, 74-67, with a free throw 31 ticks left on the clock.
In the scoring column, Lakes scored 17 points in the second half and finished with a game-high 22 points. He was six-of-eight from the field in the final 20 minutes, five-of-seven from beyond the arc.
Polakovich finished with 16 points on a blistering seven-of-10 from the field and a pair of free throws, while Swope had 19 points on five-of-13 from the field, four-of-seven from long range, and five-of-seven from the stripe.
The Eagles won the game on the glass, outrebounding the Trojans, 46-34, with Polakovich (14) and Lakes (10) combining for 24 of the boards. The double-double was Polakovich's sixth and Lakes third of the season.