THURSDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 77, Denver 74 (Mobile, AL)
@Air Force 76,
Lindenwood 58
@Tennessee Tech 82, Midway 70
SIUE 77, DENVER 74
MOBILE, Ala. - Ray'Sean Taylor's left wing three-pointer just before time expired gave SIUE men's basketball at 77-74 win over Denver in the Cougars' first game at the South Alabama Jaguar Classic.
Both SIUE and Denver are now 2-2 for the year. Denver had averaged 92 points per game over its first three games.
Denver had fought back and tied the game at 74 with a three-pointer by Tommy Brunner with 11 seconds to play. Taylor walked the ball up the floor stepped to his left and knocked down the game-winner.
Taylor finished with 21 points, including 16 in the second half. He was 5-7 from three-point range and hit four in the second half.
SIUE used a late run to get on top before halftime. It was 31-24 when SIUE started on its run. A pair of free throws by Ray'Sean Taylor with 3:46 left in the half gave the Cougars a 32-31 and they never trailed in the game again. SIUE finished the half on a 19-6 run and led 43-37 at the break.
The Cougars build as much as a 13-point lead after a jumper from Shamar Wright with 8:21 to play.
Shamar Wright finished with a team-high 24 points, including 18 in the first half. Damarco Minor turned his second consecutive double-double, scoring 14 points and adding a game-high 13 rebounds.
Bruner led Denver with 33 points. DeAndre Craig and Isaiah Addo-Ankrah each added 10 points.
AIR FORCE 76, LINDENWOOD 58
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Lindenwoond men's basketball (1-3, 0-0 OVC) falls to the Falcons of Air Force (2-2, MW) by a final score of 76-58. The Lions were held to just 32% shooting on the night going 16-50 from the field.
Keenon Cole only played five minutes in the first half after receiving an early technical foul. Coming out of the locker room in the second half, Cole scored all of his 17 points in the second going 5-8 from the field and 5-5 from the foul line.
The Falcons opened the game on a 5-0 run before Jaylon McDaniel got to the line with two foul shots. McDaniel would go on to score the first five points for the Lions. After being down just two points, LU would go down 16-5 before Darius Beane stopped the scoring drought with three free-throws.
McDaniel's scored an and-one at the 17:21 mark, the Lions did not score a field goal until the 9:24 mark with a three from Amoro Lado. Lado would finish with five points and a team high four rebounds.
Of the first 50 points scored in the game, 30 of them came from the foul line between both teams. Lindenwood went 20-23 from the line while Air Force went 28-39 including 10 free-throws made by Ethan Taylor. Taylor led the Falcons with 21 points with three three-pointers.
After trailing 41-29 at the half, Keith Haymon II hit a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Lions in the second. Haymon went 3-10 from the field on Thursday with two threes. Cole then went on a 7-0 run himself to cut the lead to 39-53.
The Lions shot the ball better in the second half going 10-25 from the field, good for 40% shooting. Lindenwood also hit four three-pointers in the second half going 4-12. Air Force caused 17 turnovers and scored 22 points off those.
Lindenwood and Air Force were neck and neck in the rebounding department with Air Force taking the slight advantage 33-32. Although the Lions had nine offense boards compared to just six by the Falcons.
Other key contributors for the Lions were Darius Beane with nine points on 3-5 shooting. Beane fouled out in the game only logging 19 minutes of action. McDaniel had an all-around game for LU picking up six points, four rebounds and two blocks.
TENNESSEE TECH 82, MIDWAY 70
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A full-fledged team effort lifted the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to its first victory of the 2023-24 campaign Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles defeated Midway in the Hooper Eblen Center, 82-70.
A number of Golden Eagles stuffed the stat sheets on the night, and the numbers supported an all-around display of teamwork. Tech (1-3) shot 56 percent from the floor in the contest, leading by as many as 22 with a little under seven minutes to play in the contest.
The purple and gold dished out a season-high 22 assists compared to just 11 turnovers in the ball game. The Cookeville crew also tallied seven blocks and 40 rebounds on the night. The visiting Eagles (1-4) closed the game with an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 12 in the end.
Racking up the first double-double of the year for the purple and gold was sophomore guard Josiah Davis. The West Virginia transfer finished 5-for-8 from the floor on the night, earning his first career double-double with career highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds. He flirted with a triple-double, piling up a career-best six assists.
Just missing his own double-double on the night was sophomore forward Daniel Egbuniwe, who notched career-high marks of 16 points – on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor and a 3-for-4 showing at the charity stripe – nine rebounds, six blocks, five assists, and two steals. The Little Rock transfer recorded the most rejections by a Golden Eagle since Charles Jackson sent back six Austin Peay attempts back on Jan. 10, 2013.
Leading the Tech squad in scoring on the night was junior forward Rodney Johnson Jr., who got the purple and gold out to an early lead with eight of the team's first 10 points in the contest. The Weatherford College transfer registered career-highs of 18 points on 9-for-12 shooting, six rebounds, and five assists.
Senior guard Jayvis Harvey completed the evening 5-for-9 from the floor, locking down 13 points, four boards, two helpers, and a couple of makes from 3-point range. Also enjoying a strong night on the hardwood for the Golden Eagles was sophomore guard Grant Strong. The local Celina native tallied seven points, five rebounds, and three assists in nearly 30 minutes off the bench.
Sophomore center David Craig, a transfer from Mercer, posted five points on 3-for-4 shooting while rookie guard Kyle Layton chipped in five points with a make from distance.