SATURDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 91, @Morehead State 86
@Tennessee Tech 71, Tennessee State 63
@Eastern Illinois 70, Little Rock 63
@SIUE 68, Lindenwood 58
@Southern Indiana 80, UT Martin 66
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91, MOREHEAD STATE 86
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Phillip Russell tied the Southeast Missouri (9-10, 4-2) NCAA Division I single-game scoring record with 37 points to fuel a high-scoring 91-86 comeback win over Ohio Valley Conference preseason favorite Morehead State (10-9, 3-3) Saturday.
Russell scored 22 points in the first half and another 15 in the second to send SEMO to its third-straight victory. The Redhawks, who matched their season-long three-game winning streak, posted back-to-back wins in Morehead for the first time since 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
SEMO battled back from an 11-point deficit to tie the game at 83-83 on a 3-pointer by Russell with 1:55 to go. Russell's fifth 3-pointer of the game gave the momentum to the Redhawks who then scored eight of the final 11 points to take down the Eagles.
After MSU took a 86-85 lead on two free throws by Mark Freeman with less than a minute, Chris Harris nailed a huge 3-pointer and SEMO didn't look back. Harris' 3-pointer came after Israel Barnes rebounded a missed jumper by Russell.
Russell (1) and Harris (2) combined for three free throws the rest of the way to put the finishing touches on the nice road win.
SEMO withstood a 17-4 MSU run early in the second half.
Russell's huge first half saw him miss only once during his opening 18 minutes on the court. He made 8-of-9 field goals and sunk a perfect 4-of-4 threes SEMO fell behind by nine points (36-27) with 5:10 remaining and made it a two-possession game when Dylan Branson scored, was fouled and converted a 3-point play. Harris later made two free throws to get the Redhawks within three before Russell made a jumper to cut MSU's lead to three again, 44-41, at the 1:57 mark.
Russell scored a layup with 15 seconds on the clock to close MSU's lead to 49-47 at halftime. Both teams were on fire in the first half. SEMO shot a blistering 63 percent (17-of-27) from the field, while MSU hit 58.6 percent (17-of-29) of its shots in the opening 20 minutes.
For the game, SEMO shot 58 percent (31-of-53), its best field goal percentage on the road this year.
Russell, who surpassed 30 points in a game for the second time in his career, shot 11-of-20 from the field, 5-of-9 from downtown and a near-perfect 10-of-11 at the free throw line. His 37 points tied Tyler Stone (37, at SIUE, Feb. 6, 2014) for the program's NCAA Division I single-game record. Russell had six assists, as well.
Harris matched his career-high of 23 points, while Nate Johnson added 10 points.
MSU was led by Freeman's 26 points. The Eagles did not make a field goal for the last 3:34 of the game.
TENNESSEE TECH 71, TENNESSEE STATE 63
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - For the second game in a row, grit and determination helped the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team overcome a slow start offensively, as the Golden Eagles took down in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee State in the Hooper Eblen Center Saturday evening, 71-63.
It marked the fourth straight win for the purple and gold, Tech's first four-game winning streak in OVC play since the 2015-16 campaign. The victory also represented the first for the Golden Eagles in the last four meetings with the Tigers.
Tech (8-11, 4-2) struggled to find its footing on the offensive end early in the ball game, missing its first seven shots and trailing 10-4 a full six-and-a-half minutes in. After the home squad squared the contest at 10-10, Tennessee State (10-9, 2-4) delivered its longest run of the night to pull ahead 20-10, its largest lead of the contest.
Never deterred, the Golden Eagles scrapped their way to within a pair at the break, riding a surge from graduate guard Ty Perry. The Apopka, Fla. native scored the team's final 11 points of the half, sinking three triples in a row and finishing with a nifty finish in the paint to close the opening stanza.
The Tigers grew their advantage back out to as much as nine at 48-39 with 13:55 to play, as former, four-year Golden Eagle and TSU graduate guard Jr. Clay buried a step-back jumper from beyond the arc. Following a media timeout, Tech went back to work.
The Tech defense dug in and the offense made its possessions count down the stretch, holding Tennessee State scoreless for more than five minutes and using a 23-5 run to flip the script and take its own nine-point advantage with just over three minutes on the clock. The visitors tried to crawl back into the game by sending the Golden Eagles to the foul line, but Tech made the most of its opportunities, converting 9-of-12 over the final three minutes.
On the night, the Golden Eagles forced 18 turnovers by the Tigers while making just nine of their own. Tech also shot 73.9 percent from the charity stripe, sinking 17-of-23 attempts at the line while TSU made just 8-of-14 tries.
Perry paced a group effort for the purple and gold that saw four players in double figures, producing a team-high 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting. He added four rebounds and team-highs of three assists and three steals to the mix.
Junior guard Jayvis Harvey racked up 14 points and four boards while Jaylen Sebree accounted for 11 points and a team-high six rebounds. Rounding out the double-figure scoring for the Golden Eagles was junior guard Brett Thompson, chipping in 10 points, four rebounds, and three dimes off the bench.
Clay led the TSU effort, scoring a game-high 22 points with seven rebounds. Center Adong Makuoi turned in a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Zion Griffin added 14 points and six boards.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 70, LITTLE ROCK 63
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A late run by Eastern Illinois in the final four minutes of the game on Saturday afternoon lifted the Panthers to a 70-63 win over Little Rock.
EIU moved back to .500 in the league at 3-3 with a 7-12 overall record. Little Rock fell to 5-14 overall, 1-5 in the OVC.
Myron Gardner sank a 3-pointer with 5:22 left in the game to give the Trojans a 55-54 lead in what was the tenth lead change of the game between the schools.
Yaakema Rose Jr., would knot the game at 55-55 going one of two at the foul line with 4:48 left. EIU then went on a 10-2 run to take control of the game in the final minutes.
The run was sparked by both offensive and defensive plays as Nick Ellington had two of his five blocks in the game during the run, each block triggering a fast break by the Panthers. Ellington, Kinyon Hodges and Caleb Donaldson all finished with dunks for the Panthers in the run.
Ellington scored all 13 of his points off the bench in the second half adding nine rebounds, five blocks and two steals to his stat line.
Hodges led all players with 23 points while Rose contributed 15 points with eight assists.
EIU shot 56 percent in the second half and finished shooting 47 percent for the game.
The Panthers defense held Little Rock to 38 percent shooting for the game. Gardner just missed a double-double for the Trojans with ten points and nine rebounds. Jordan Jefferson led Little Rock in scoring with 13 points.
SIUE 68, LINDNEWOOD 58
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE and Lindenwood met for the first time as Ohio Valley Conference opponents, Saturday, with the Cougars coming away with a 68-58 win in front of 1,839 at First Community Arena. SIUE was won four straight and seven of its last eight games.
The Cougars improved to 14-5 overall, extending the program high for wins at the Division I level. SIUE moved to 5-1 in OVC play to maintain a one-game lead in the league.
The Cougars never trailed in the game, but also never put the game out of reach.
SIUE ran out to a 13-5 lead following a Terrance Thompson layup with 13:23 to go in the half before Lindenwood got back to within two at 15-13.
An 11-2 run gave the Cougars their largest lead in the first half (26-15) following a Lamar Wright three-pointer with 5:03 to play before the break. The Lions got back within six at halftime.
After the Lions got within three early in the second half, SIUE used a 15-4 advantage to push its lead to 14 after a baseline dunk from DeeJuan Pruitt with 14:35 left. Lindenwood trimmed the lead to six points on several more occasions. It was 64-58 after a pair of free throws from Kevin Caldwell with 47 seconds left. Ray'Sean Taylor and Damarco Minor each hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Taylor led all scorers with 18 points. Minor scored 16 points and added nine rebounds.
Taylor had a game-high five assists as well.
Minor was 6-7 at the free throw line as well.
Shamar Wright scored 11 points and DeeJuan Pruitt scored five to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds for the second straight game.
SIUE shot 46 percent (23-50) for the game. Lindenwood (7-12, 2-4) connected on 36 percent (21-59) of its shots. The Lions were led by Keenon Cole and Brandon Trimble who each scored 12 points.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 80, UT MARTIN 66
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball capped off a successful homestand with an 80-66 win over the University of Tennessee at Martin Saturday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles, who were 2-1 on the homestand, go to 10-9 overall and 3-3 in the OVC, while Skyhawks are 11-8, 3-3 OVC.
USI took command in the first six minutes with a trio of eight-point leads, including an 8-0 explosion to open the game. UT Martin would put together a string of buckets to close the gap to one point at 14-13 and 17-16.
The Eagles took back the momentum with a 14-2 run after the 10 minute mark, hitting five-of-seven from the field to lead 31-18 with 6:56 left in the half. USI's defense also played a big part of the run, holding UT Martin without a field goal for five minutes.
USI, whose largest lead of the half was 14 points (35-21), had to settle for a 39-29 margin at the break. Senior forward Jacob Polakovich (Grand Rapids, Michigan) paced the Eagles in the opening 20 minutes with 16 points on eight-of-10 from the field.
While the first half belonged to Polakovich, USI sophomore guard Isaiah Swope (Newburgh, Indiana) dominated the second. Swope dropped in 14 points second half points on four-of-five from the field, two-of-three from long range, and was near perfect at the line, going four-of-five.
Swope's second half production would help USI maintain the double-digit lead throughout the final 20 minutes, increasing it to as many as 18 points, 80-62, with 1:13 to play. UT Martin would get the final four points of the game before USI closed out the 80-66 final.
As a team, USI dominated the boards for the second-straight game, outrebounding UT Martin, 43-33 overall and 31-10 on the defensive glass.
The Eagles had three players in double-digits on the scoreboard, led by the 21-point effort by Swope. Swope was seven-of-11 for the game from the field, three-of-six from beyond the arc, and four-of-five from the line. He also tied for the team-high with four assists.
Polakovich added three second half points and finished with 19 points in addition to completing his seventh double-double of the year with a game-high 12 rebounds. Senior guard Jelani Simmons (Columbus, Ohio) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points, scoring nine in the second half.