FRIDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 72, Omaha 70 (USAF Academy, Colo.)
@Penn State 74,
Morehead State 51
SIUE 60, Nicholls 51 (Mobile, Ala.)
UT Martin 80, @Eastern Kentucky 74
@Western Illinois 88, Southern 80 (OT)
@Oregon 92,
Tennessee State 67
LINDENWOOD 72, OMAHA 70
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (2-3, 0-0 OVC) captured their first win at the Air Force Classic after defeating the University of Nebraska at Omaha (2-3, 0-0 SL) by a final score of 72-70. The Lions shot 47.3% from the field on 26-55 shooting.
Colin Ruffin was the hero off the bench for Lindenwood. With eight seconds remaining in the game, Ruffin pulled up from the left side and sank a shot to put Lindenwood up three points. He would then hit a free throw with five seconds left to ice the game for the Lions. He finished with 10 points on 4-6 shooting.
Keenon Cole continued his streak of scoring double-digits to start the season after scoring 19 on Friday against the Mavericks. Cole went 6-14 shooting along with knocking down six of his eight foul shots. He also grabbed a season high eight rebounds in the win.
Lindenwood and Omaha traded baskets to start the game and were tied at 6-6 early on. Darius Beane continued to impress with his pull-up jumper scoring four early points off that play. Beane ended the game with 10 points and three assists.
Omaha went on a 7-0 run to go up 13-6 with just over 13 minutes to go in the first half. They would extend their lead to 18-9 before Beane hit another jumper to cut the lead to seven.
The Mavericks went 15-32 in the first half making four threes along the way. Lindenwood made 14-33 shots connecting on three triples. LU's defense also had five steals turning that into 11 points off turnovers.
With 1:34 left through the first 20 minutes of play, Keith Haymon II made a three off a Mavericks' turnover to cut the lead to eight. Ruffin then attacked the basket twice with under a minute left to give LU the momentum heading into halftime. After Omaha made it a seven point game, the Lions got a steal from Cole who then scored a layup with 0.4 left on the clock to cut the lead to five.
The Lions continued that momentum into the first couple minutes of the second half with six straight points to take their first lead since the 6-4 mark in the first half. Cole scored four early points in the second to get the Lindenwood's offense moving.
Both big men for the Lions had career days as they punished Omaha underneath. Jaylon McDaniel had a season high 12 points while making four of his six shots. Isaac Ondekane also scored in double-digits adding 11 points and six rebounds. Ondekane had two key baskets late in the game for LU. Lindenwood had 36 points in the paint.
The Lions started to pull away from Omaha with just over 6:00 minutes remaining. After being tied at 53-53, Lindenwood went on a 10-0 scoring run while also forcing Omaha to turn the ball over four times in that stretch. They also held them without a field goal for over four minutes.
The Mavericks would get it as close as 69-68 before Ruffin shined in the big moment creating a little separation with three points. Lindenwood fouled with 2.7 seconds left after being up three points. After a first make foul shot, Omaha's Marcel Bryant missed the second and secured Lindenwood's second win of the season.
Frankie Fidler was the leading scorer for Omaha with 19 points while JJ White added 13 off the bench. The Mavericks drop to 2-3 on the season after defeating William & Mary yesterday during their opening round matchup at the Air Force Classic.
PENN STATE 74, MOREHEAD STATE 51
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Kalil Thomas recorded his second career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but turnovers proved to be the difference and his effort wasn't enough to offset the Nittany Lions' 74-51 Penn State win over Morehead State Men's Basketball at the Bryce Jordan Center Friday night.
MSU fell to 2-3, while PSU moved to 4-0. The Eagle defense held the hosts to just 30 percent shooting but the discrepancy came in points elsewhere.
Thomas was 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Freshman Eddie Ricks III also reached double figures with 10 points.
Twenty-nine turnovers led to a 32-2 advantage for the home team in points off mistakes. Penn State also took advantage of foul trouble for MSU as the Eagles were flagged for 27 fouls. PSU outscored the Eagles 30-15 at the charity line.
Morehead State held 14-10 and 16-12 leads midway through the first half, but Penn State used a 15-4 run to push ahead 27-20 with 4:35 left in the half. Penn State led 36-27 at the break.
The Nittany Lions opened the final half on a 7-0 run and eventually led by as much as 27 late in the game
SIUE 60, NICHOLLS 51
MOBILE, Ala. - SIUE men's basketball limited Nicholls to just 51 points on 26 percent shooting Friday on its way to a 60-51 win in the second game of the South Alabama Jaguar Classic.
The Cougars are 2-0 at the tournament and improved to 3-2 overall. Nicholls finished its tournament 1-2 and fell to 2-3 overall.
The Cougars took control with a 10-0 run midway through the first half. Trailing 15-12, the Cougars got points from two points each from Shamar Wright and Arnas Sakenis and six on a pair of three-pointers by Ray'Sean Taylor to lead 22-15 with 6:59 to play before half and never trailed in the game again.
SIUE led 27-24 at halftime. The Cougars pushed their lead to nine early in the half, but never more than that. Nicholls got back to four at 33-29, but never got any closer and when SIUE pushed the lead out again, the Colonels never got any closer than six.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well. SIUE hit 22 of 62 attempts (36 percent), but the Colonels managed just 14-53 field goals. Nicholls had averaged near 11 three-pointers a game coming in, but settled for just seven of 27.
SIUE was 7-24 from deep with Ray'Sean Taylor hitting three of them. Taylor finished with 11 points. Shamar Wright led SIUE with 15 points. Lamar Wright added nine points.
The Cougars hauled in 50 rebounds to Nicholls' 32. Damarco Minor pulled down 11 boards while Terrance Thompson grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds.
SIUE will next face host South Alabama Sunday afternoon. The Jaguars are 1-1 in the tournament.
UT MARTIN 80, EASTERN KENTUCKY 74
RICHMOND, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad led by as many as 17 points in the second half this evening before staving off an Eastern Kentucky rally in an 80-74 triumph to kick off the EKU Classic multi-team event.
The Skyhawks led for 34:24 of clock time tonight but it came down to a one-possession game for most of the final five minutes. Facing the nation’s leading scoring offense who was the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason favorite and ranked 17th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll, UT Martin clamped down defensively – holding the Colonels to 1-of-7 shooting to close out the win. In the process, the Skyhawks improved to 3-1 and ended Eastern Kentucky’s 12-game home winning streak – the longest for the program in 33 years.
Jacob Crews narrowly missed his second straight double-double as the Hilliard, Fla. native racked up team-highs of 20 points and nine rebounds. Jordan Sears scored 18 points on an efficient 8-of-12 shooting while Issa Muhammad (14 points, eight rebounds, game-highs of four assists and three steals) and Justus Jackson (14 points, three treys in only 16 minutes) played big late for UT Martin.
The Colonels (2-1) placed all five starters in double figures scoring but were limited to just 36.7 percent shooting (29-of-79). Leland Walker (21 points), Isaiah Cozart (13), Devontae Blanton (12), Michael Moreno (11) and Tayshawn Comer (11) each contributed double-digit scoring performances but Eastern Kentucky only tallied seven fastbreak points – 33 shy of its NCAA-best average.
A Muhammad hook shot at the 17:33 mark of the first half provided the Skyhawks with their first lead of the evening. The Colonels’ fourth trey of the first 4:26 gave Eastern Kentucky a 12-7 advantage but UT Martin answered right back with a 12-0 run which featured buckets from five different Skyhawks.
Crews dropped in three treys over a 4:29 span, helping UT Martin retain a three-possession lead. A fast break layup from KK Curry and a right-wing three-pointer by Jackson pushed the Skyhawk advantage out to 40-29 with two minutes to go before the halftime break.
A Colonel three-pointer at the 1:53 mark snapped an 0-for-10 skid from long distance. Muhammad (dunk), Crews (pull-up 15-foot jumper) and Jalen Myers (putback from an offensive rebound) added field goals in the final 106 seconds of the opening half as UT Martin took a 46-36 lead into the locker room.
Crews registered game-highs of 18 points and six rebounds for the Skyhawks in the first half as UT Martin shot 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from downtown. Walker scored 10 points in the opening 20 minutes to top Eastern Kentucky.
The Colonels scored on the opening possession of the second half but Muhammad knocked down back-to-back shots to nudge the Skyhawk lead back out to a dozen points.
After Eastern Kentucky pulled within single digits with just under 15 minutes remaining, Sears canned back-to-back trifectas to ignite an 11-2 run. A stepback trey by Jackson from the right wing extended the UT Martin lead to 65-48 – its biggest of the evening – at the 12:25 mark.
The Colonels used an 8-0 run to shave their deficit to 65-56 but Jackson answered with huge plays on back-to-back trips down the floor. The 6-1 guard out of Surprise, Ariz. scored on a floater down the right side before converting an old-fashioned three-point play to make the score 70-56 midway through the second half.
Eastern Kentucky pulled within two points (72-70) at the final media timeout but Sears scored on mid-range jumpers on back-to-back possessions to give the Skyhawks a 76-70 edge. The Colonels made it a two-point game with a minute remaining but Muhammad scored the final four points of the contest – tipping in a shot on a hustle play before throwing down an emphatic dunk with six seconds to go that officially punctuated the victory.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 88, SOUTHERN 80 (OT)
MACOMB, Ill. - Only a handful of days after getting head coach Chad Boudreau his first win as Western Illinois coach, the Leathernecks were able to get the coach his first win against a Division I foe, putting in a little extra work on Friday night, topping Southern University 88-80 in overtime. The win is the second straight for Western, which now hits the road for three-straight games, playing at Valparaiso on Tuesday, Illinois on Friday and Wisconsin next Monday.
Things were rolling early for the Leathernecks (2-2), who took a lead as large as nine in the game's first five minutes. But Southern managed to hang around, trailing WIU, 35-32 at the break.
Turnovers plagued Western Illinois in the first half, as 16 miscues allowed the Jaguars to hang around. In the second half, it was free throw shooting that hurt WIU as Southern took a lead as large as seven after intermission, but the Leathernecks were able to fight back into the game.
Southern led 64-57 with 4:47 to go, but a 9-0 Leatherneck run gave Western a 66-64 advantage as Quinlan Bennett's (18 points, seven rebounds) bucket helped Western Illinois regain the lead with three minutes to go.
From there, it was back and forth as Southern led by four with under a minute to go. But James Dent Jr. (24 points, eight rebounds, three assists) hit a runner, then made a pair of free throws with one second left to force overtime.
In the extra session, Dent Jr. continued his clutch play, scoring Western's first seven points of overtime. After a JJ Kalakon free throw, Dent Jr. hit a pair from the line, giving the Leathernecks an 82-76 lead.
On Southern's ensuing possession, Drew Cisse (12 points, nine rebounds), recorded his fourth block of the night, setting the stage for the Leathernecks to ice the game at the line.
OREGON 92, TENNESSEE STATE 67
EUGENE, Ore. - - The Tennessee State men's basketball team fell short in a 92-67 loss to the Oregon Ducks on the road Friday after trailing by just eight at halftime.
The Tigers (3-1) had three players score in double figures, led by Ej Bellinger, who had 14 points and two blocks. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. tacked on 11 points and Jaylen Jones chipped in as well with 10 points off of the bench.
Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Oregon shots in the contest, coming away with seven blocks. Jason Jitoboh's three rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.
After falling behind 38-27, Tennessee State went on an 8-0 run with 3:16 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Jitoboh, to narrow its deficit to 38-35. Oregon answered back and added to its lead, leaving the Tigers down 48-40 entering halftime.
Oregon kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 50-40 advantage before Tennessee State went on a 5-0 run to shrink the deficit to 50-45 with 18:05 to go in the contest. Oregon responded and outscored the Tigers the rest of the way, ending the game with a final score of 92-67. Tennessee State took care of business in the paint, recording 22 of its 27 points in the lane.