THURSDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 81, Tennessee State 72
@Morehead State 84, Southern Indiana 80
@UT Martin 87, Southeast Missouri 82
@Tennessee Tech 70, Eastern Illinois 49
SIUE 81, TENNESSEE STATE 72
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball opened on a 9-0 run Thursday and never trailed on its way to an 81-72 win over Tennessee State at First Community Arena.
Damarco Minor and DeeJuan Pruitt both recorded doubles to lead SIUE to an 11-5 overall record. The Cougars improved to 2-1 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The 11 wins are the most in a season under Head Coach Brian Barone, whose team also won 11 games last season.
Minor led the Cougars with 18 points, while grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds. Pruitt scored 16 points and hauled in a season-high 13 rebounds. It is the second time this year that Minor and Pruitt have picked up double-doubles in the same game.
Lamar Wright score 13 points and Shamar Wright scored 10 points. Shamar Wright moved to 20th in career scoring at SIUE with 921 career points. Ray'Sean Taylor and Terrance Thompson each scored nine points.
Tennessee State got as close as two in the first half at 25-23, but SIUE scored 11 of the next 12 points to lead 36-24 with 5:43 left before half. The Cougars led 40-34 at the break.
Like the first half, the second half saw SIUE push its lead to 12 following a three-pointer from Jalen Hodge with 9:48 left. The Tigers again cut the lead to two using a 7-0 run which began with just under six minutes to play. Tennessee State had the chance to tie or take the lead but an offensive foul turned the ball back to SIUE and Lamar Wright put SIUE up four and TSU never got any closer.
The Cougars sealed the win by knocking down 13 of 14 free throw attempts in the game's final 90 seconds. For the game, SIUE knocked down 30 of 41 free throws. The 41 attempts were the most for Cougars since December 2018. The 30 free throws made matched a season high.
SIUE outrebounded Tennessee State 45-34, hauling in the second-most rebounds in a game this season.
Tennessee State was led by Jr. Clay and Mark Fitzgerald who scored 22 and 21 points, respectively. Dedric Boyd added 15 points and Adong Makuoi scored 11.
MOREHEAD STATE 84, SOUTHERN INDIANA 80
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Mark Freeman hit a dagger jumper with 57 seconds left in the game to put Morehead State ahead 79-71, and the men's basketball squad secured an 84-80 win over the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles on FamilyLeisure.com Court Thursday as Freeman (24 points) and Jake Wolfe (career high 22 points) both went above the 20-point mark.
The Eagles (9-7, 2-1 OVC) had four players score in double figures, led by Freeman, who also had four assists. Wolfe tacked on the 22 points, four assists and two steals while going 4-of-7 from three-point range. Alex Gross helped out with 13 points and two blocks, and Drew Thelwell tacked on 11 points.
Morehead State took advantage of great ball movement in Thursday's game, piling up 18 assists on 26 made field goals. Individually, Branden Maughmer dished out the most for the Eagles with five assists.
Morehead State did a great job disrupting Southern Indiana shots in the contest, coming away with five blocks. Gross led the way individually for the Eagles with two rejections.
After falling behind 29-22, Morehead State went on a 7-0 run with 6:27 left in the first half to tie the game at 29. Southern Indiana then pulled ahead, sending the Eagles into halftime down 37-36.
After intermission, Morehead State managed to gain control and had a 57-54 lead before going on a 10-0 run to grow the lead to 67-54 with 7:36 to go in the contest. The Screaming Eagles narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Eagles still held on for the 84-80 win. Morehead State got out on the break in the period, scoring 10 fast break points.
UT MARTIN 87, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 82
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin's home winning streak reached nine games after the Skyhawks earned an 87-82 victory over Southeast Missouri in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball action.
UT Martin (10-6, 2-1 OVC) never trailed and led by as many as 19 points with under nine minutes to play but were forced to withstand a Redhawk rally. Southeast Missouri pulled within a single possession (84-82) with 45 seconds to go before Koby Jeffries and Parker Stewart combined to swish three free throws inside the final 23 seconds to officially seal the win.
Stewart (25 points, five rebounds and game-high four assists) and KK Curry (15 points, game-high 13 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double) paved the way for the Skyhawks this evening. KJ Simon added 11 points while Jeffries tied a season-high with 11 points thanks to a 9-of-10 effort from the free throw line. Jordan Sears provided 10 points while Chris Nix (nine points, eight rebounds, career-high three steals) and Desmond Williams (six points, three assists) completed the scoring for UT Martin.
The Skyhawks shot an even 50 percent (26-of-52) from the floor and made 30 free throws (in 38 tries) for the first time since Jan. 24, 2011 at SIUE – a span of 369 games. In the process, UT Martin extended its NCAA Division I record with its ninth straight home win to open the 2022-23 season and owns its longest home winning streak since nine consecutive victories from Dec. 31, 2016 through Nov. 15, 2017.
Phillip Russell generated a game-high 28 points with four assists, four steals and three rebounds to navigate the Redhawks. Israel Barnes (14 points) and Chris Harris (12 points) also produced notable scoring efforts for Southeast Missouri (6-10, 1-2 OVC), who made 13 three-pointers but were held to 39.5 percent shooting (30-of-76) overall.
An early 9-0 UT Martin run gave the Skyhawks a 14-5 advantage, capped off with a Curry layup at the 14:44 mark of the first half. Another layup from Curry kept UT Martin's lead at eight points (21-13) with 10:47 to go in the opening half but the Redhawks responded with eight unanswered points to even the score at 21-all.
The Skyhawks scored 18 of the next 24 points over a stretch of 3:58. That surge was completed when Stewart flushed a two-handed fast break dunk to increase UT Martin's lead out to 39-27 with 4:43 remaining before the halftime break.
After Southeast Missouri got back within four points, a Curry dunk and two Stewart free throws made the score 44-36 in favor of the Skyhawks at the intermission.
Stewart was responsible for a game-high 13 points in the first half while Barnes' 10 points off the bench guided the Redhawks.
Early in the second half, UT Martin went on a 14-2 run to open up a 60-42 advantage with 13:43 left to play. Nix (five) and Simon (four) joined forces for nine points during an extended run that lasted 3:51.
Stewart posted nine straight Skyhawk points before a Williams triple gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the night (72-53) with 8:51 to go.
Southeast Missouri managed a 29-12 run to trim its deficit down to 84-82 with 45 seconds left to play. That would be the Redhawks' final points of the contest as Jeffries calmly buried a pair of free throws and Stewart added another successful attempt from the charity stripe to ice the victory.
TENNESSEE TECH 70, EASTERN ILLINOIS 49
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Spectacular ball movement and tenacious defense propelled the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to its first Ohio Valley Conference victory of the season Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles rolled to a 70-49 victory over Eastern Illinois in the Hooper Eblen Center.
The purple and gold led wire-to-wire in a contest that was never really close, using a dominant display on defense to hold the visiting Panthers to just 36.5 percent shooting and force 17 turnovers. On the flip side, Tech (5-11, 1-2) used great ball distribution to the tune of 19 assists to fire at a 50 percent clip from the floor.
After jumping out front by double digits less than six minutes into the game, the Golden Eagles never looked back, allowing Eastern Illinois (6-10, 2-1) back within single digits just once the rest of the game. The Golden Eagles used a 14-0 run to move out front by 16 in the opening stanza, leading 21-5.
The Panthers produced an 8-0 run towards the end of the half to pull within eight, but the Cookeville crew moved back out front by double figures to end the half up 37-26. Another 16-2 run in the second half propelled the Tech advantage all the way to 27 with just over five minutes to play, all but securing the team's first league win of the year over the final unbeaten OVC squad.
Nine different Golden Eagles scored on the night, with eight posting at least five points. On the flip side, the Tech defense held the Panthers without a double-digit scorer, the first time the purple and gold held a Division I opponent without a double-figure producer in more than 20 years.
Tech's defense holding Eastern Illinois to just 49 points also marked the lowest scoring output by an OVC opponent since the Golden Eagles collected a 63-40 win against Morehead State during the 2004-05 campaign.
Leading the way offensively for the purple and gold was graduate forward Jaylen Sebree, boasting a game-high 15 points with four rebounds, and three assists. Junior guard Brett Thompson also turned in double figures, finishing 4-for-6 with 11 points and a team-high tying four assists.
Junior guard Diante Wood stuffed the stat sheet with eight points, a team-high tying six boards, four assists, and a block. Graduate guard Ty Perry delivered nine points, five rebounds, and three dimes while junior guard Jayvis Harvey contributed five points, six boards, and three assists.
Rookie Grant Strong tossed in seven points and a team-high three steals as well, making his third straight start. Fellow Upper Cumberland native Grant Slatten also put forth seven points, finishing 3-for-3 from the field with three boards in just 11 minutes off the bench.