TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 74, Mercer 66
Lipscomb 96,
@Tennessee Tech 65
@Southern Indiana 68, Tiffin University 65
MOREHEAD STATE 74, MERCER 66
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior guard Drew Thelwell scored a career-high 26 points and graduate forward Riley Minix added 19 more, combining to score 45 of Morehead State's 74 total points as the Eagle Men's Basketball took down the Mercer Bears 74-66 at home Tuesday.
Minix also added seven rebounds and four blocks and was 12-of-12 at the free throw line, and graduate forward Dieonte Miles added eight points and a career-best nine rebounds.
Morehead State out-rebounded Mercer 34-20 in Tuesday's game, paced by Miles' boards.
MSU also did a great job disrupting Mercer shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. The Eagles won despite turning the ball over 26 times.
After falling behind 8-4, Morehead State went on a 7-0 run with 16:52 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Jordan Lathon, to take an 11-8 lead. The Eagles then added five points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 38-30 advantage. Morehead State got a great contribution from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 11 of its 38 total points.
Morehead State kept its lead intact before going on a 7-0 run, finished off by Thelwell's three, to grow the lead to 49-40 with 15:03 to go in the contest. MSU's largest lead (12) came with 4:44 remaining. The Bears narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over and capitalized on Eagle mistakes, but the Eagles still cruised the rest of the way for the 74-66 win. Morehead State made the most of seven offensive rebounds to tack on nine second-chance points out of 36 total in the period.
LIPSCOMB 96, TENNESSEE TECH 65
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A tough, first-half stretch of offense played spoiler to an otherwise good start by the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Tuesday evening, as the Golden Eagles fell in their home opener against in-state rival Lipscomb, 96-65, in the Hooper Eblen Center.
The purple and gold took a seven-point lead in the ball game over the first five minutes of action, jumping on top 12-5. The Bisons (2-2) ended the half on a 35-10 run, limiting the Golden Eagles (0-3) to just 28.1 percent shooting and a 3-for-11 mark from distance.
While the visitors from Nashville enjoyed a first half of impressive shooting, things only got better in the second half. Over the opening 20 minutes, Lipscomb shot 51.6 percent from the floor and 5-of-14 from downtown. Those numbers ballooned to 62.5 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from 3-point range in the second half.
The Golden Eagles found more rhythm in the second half, producing 43 points while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from deep. Eight of the team's 10 assists came in the second half as well.
Junior guard David Early, a Marshall transfer, led the purple and gold with a career-high 16 points on the night, finishing 6-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from distance while chipping in two rebounds. Sophomore Little Rock transfer Daniel Egbuniwe set a pair of career marks in the tilt, turning in 13 points and seven rebounds. He blocked a shot, dished out two assists and shot 6-of-11 from the floor.
Local Celina native Grant Strong also finished in double figures in the scoring column, posting 10 points with four rebounds and a team-high three assists. Rookie forward Rylee Samons scored his first career points, drilling the final three shots he tried, all from downtown, on his way to nine on the evening.
Forward Rodney Johnson Jr. tacked on six points with three rebounds while senior guard Jayvis Harvey produced five points and seven rebounds.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 68, TIFFIN 65
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball got into the win column for the first time this season with a 68-65 victory over Tiffin University Tuesday evening at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Screaming Eagles rise to 1-3 to start the campaign.
The Eagles had command of the first five minutes of the game and built a 16-8 advantage with 14:15 left in the opening stanza. The Dragons, who as a Division II team considered the contest an exhibition game, closed the gap multiple times before grabbing a 28-27 lead with 1:45 remaining and took a 31-29 advantage into the break.
USI sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois) was making his presence known in the opening half with a team-best eight points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois) followed with seven points to lead the squad.
The second half began with the Eagles and Dragons trading buckets before Hernandez gave USI back the lead, 40-38, with a three-pointer and ignited a 20-8 run that extended the lead to a game-best 11 points, 57-46. Hernandez had eight of the 20 points during the run, while Smith dropped in another six.
Tiffin attempted another comeback as it did in the first half, but USI stiffened defensively. The Dragons would close to within three points twice in the final 10 seconds before the Eagles sealed the 68-65 win on a pair of free throws by Hernandez with eight seconds left.
Overall in the game, USI won the battle of the boards for the first time this season, 36-30, and outshot the Dragons 45.8 percent (27-59) to 43.1 percent (25-58) from the field.
Hernandez led the Eagles in the scoring column with his second-straight career-best of 24 points. The junior guard, who had 18 points Monday night against Chicago State University, was seven-of-12 from the field, including a three-pointer, and nine-of-10 from the stripe.
Smith followed with 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for this second-straight double-double. Junior guard Jordan Tillmon (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.