MONDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 90, Brescia 72
@Lindenwood 83, Hannibal-LaGrange 52
@Missouri 68,
SIUE 50
UT MARTIN 90, BRESCIA 72
MARTIN, Tenn. - A dominant performance out of junior swingman Jacob Crews helped the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team pull away for a 90-72 triumph over Brescia at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
A Hilliard, Fla. native, Crews went off for career-highs of 24 points and 17 rebounds. The 6-8, 210-pounder made eight of his 12 shot attempts (including four treys) and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in 30 minutes of playing time. In the process, he became the first Skyhawk to register 20-plus points and 15 or more rebounds since Cameron Holden (20 points, 16 rebounds) against Murray State on Jan. 16, 2021.
Crews was joined in double figures scoring by teammates Jordan Sears (19 points on 7-for-12 shooting), KK Curry (13 points aided by a 7-of-9 effort from the free throw line), Justus Jackson (10 points in 17 minutes) and Jalen Myers (10 points, eight rebounds in 21 minutes). UT Martin (2-1) knocked down 85.2 percent (23-for-27) of their attempts from the charity stripe and never trailed in the contest, leading for 39:01 of clock time.
A NAIA school located in Owensboro, Ky., Brescia placed four players in double-digit scoring. Gonzalo Luque managed a team-best 19 points and was followed by Ksuan Casey (16), Taeron Hogg (14) and Camden Pfeister (10). The Bearcats were a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line but shot just 37.5 percent (30-of-80) overall with a 11.8 percent (2-for-17) success rate from three-point land.
UT Martin scored the first six points of the contest and led by a 20-12 margin after Crews pumped in nine points in the first 6:40.
Brescia came back to even the score at 28-all until Sears had the hot hand – accounting for eight of the Skyhawks' next 11 points as UT Martin stretched its lead back out to seven with four minutes remaining in the opening half.
Jackson found Crews in the left corner for a trifecta right before the halftime buzzer to make the score 46-38 in favor of the Skyhawks at the break.
Crews and Sears had 17 and 12 points, respectively, to guide UT Martin in the opening 20 minutes while the Bearcat trio of Luque, Hogg and Casey each had 10 points to combine for 30 of the team's 38 points.
Crews connected on a three-pointer just 86 seconds into the second half to give the Skyhawks their first double-digit lead (51-41) of the night.
Brescia had one final run in them as it pulled within five points (59-54) at the 11:16 mark but that was ultimately as close as the Bearcats would get the rest of the way.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Issa Muhammad led to a 10-0 surge for UT Martin as four different players provided points during the run.
Jalen Myers soon unreeled seven straight Skyhawk points before a David Kamwanga mid-range jumper from the left side gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the evening (88-68) with 1:38 to go.
LINDENWOOD 83, HANNIBAL-LAGRANGE 52
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (1-2, 0-0 OVC) picked up their first win of the season after defeating Hannibal-LaGrange (2-2, 0-0 AMC) 83-52 in Hyland Arena on Monday night. LU shot 58.1% from the field vs. the Trojans.
Keenon Cole continued his terrific start to the 2023-34 season after dropping back-to-back 20 point performances. Cole remains the leading scorer for the Lions after averaging 18.0 points per game while scoring in double-digits in all three contests.
Darius Beane had his best performance as a Lion after scoring 20 points and picking up four assists and three steals. Not only was he tied for the scoring lead, but he did it efficiently hitting 10 of 14 shots all within the three-point arc.
Lindenwood's offense started off slow on Monday, only leading 16-14 at the 7:57 mark in the first half. LU struggled from three-point range missing their first five attempts and only hitting 3-16 from that range (18.8 3FG%). LU largest scoring run of the night was nine points.
Most of the Lions' damage came from in the paint with Lindenwood picking up 50 of their points from that area. They held Hannibal-LaGrange to just 14 points in the paint. Beane did most of his work with pull-up jumpers in the middle of the key while David Ware picked up all eight of his points down in the trenches.
Over the first couple games of the season, Lindenwood was only averaging 4.5 assists per game. That changed on Monday when Lindenwood picked up 18 assists including five from Tommie Williams off the bench. Nine Lions had at least one assist tonight.
Lindenwood also used their defense to create offense scoring 30 points off turnovers. LU had three players have three steals in the game including Williams, Beane and Nathan Johnson Jr. Hannibal-LaGrange had 22 turnovers on the evening.
Amoro Lado came off the bench and had a solid eight minutes of action picking up 11 points and hitting two threes. Ware, along with his eight points, picked up a team high 10 rebounds. It was the fifth time in his career posting double-digit rebounds.
MISSOURI 68, SIUE 50
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Damarco Minor turned in his first double-double of the season, leading SIUE with 14 points and 10 rebounds, but it came as SIUE men's basketball dropped a 68-50 decision Monday night at Mizzou.
Defense was the name of the game Monday as the Cougars held Missouri to 68 points on just 43 percent shooting. But while the defense was solid, the offense was inconsistent for SIUE.
After trailing by seven (38-31) at halftime, the Cougars struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the second half. SIUE finished 14-49 (29 percent) from the field overall, but landed just three of 24 attempts in the second half. SIUE connected on just one of its first 20 shots in the period.
Brian Taylor II collected his first double-digit scoring game, finishing with 10 points. He was 3-3 at the free throw line. Lamar Wright scored eight points and Ray'Sean Taylor scored seven.
Missouri was paced by Sean East II who scored 20 and Noah Carter who picked up a double-double of his own with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Carter was 4-9 from three-point territory.
Missouri drained 11 of 29 attempts from long range. The Tigers outrebounded the Cougars 36-33 for the game.