MONDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 64, @Bellarmine 51
@Bucknell 67,
Southern Indiana 56
@Southeast Missouri 70, Central Arkansas 68
@Tennessee State 87, Midway University 70
MOREHEAD STATE 64, BELLARMINE 51
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kalil Thomas nailed a dagger 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in the game to put Morehead State Men's Basketball ahead 60-51, and the Eagles earned a hard-fought 64-51 victory over the Bellarmine Knights on the road Monday at Freedom Hall.
The Eagles (3-3) had three players score in double figures, led by Thomas, who had a season-best 20 points. Riley Minix tacked on 16 points, eight rebounds and two steals and Drew Thelwell helped out with 10 points and six assists. Trent Scott gave the Eagles a boost with all eight of his points in the second half.
After having 29 mistakes in its last game, MSU valued the ball tonight with only eight turnovers.
Minix pulled down four offensive rebounds to lead the Morehead State offense which grabbed 14 boards and turned them into 15 second-chance points.
Morehead State did a great job disrupting Bellarmine shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Eddie Ricks III led the way individually for the Eagles with acareer-high four rejections. Bellarmine's top scorer, Peter Suder, was held to only two points.
Morehead State started out the scoring by going on a 7-0 run, culminating in a bucket from Thomas, to take an early lead with 18:05 left in the first half. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 22-20 advantage. Morehead State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 16 of its 22 points close to the basket.
Following intermission, Morehead State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 55-51 before going on a 9-0 run, finished off by Thomas' layup, to grow the lead to 64-51 with 23 seconds to go in the contest, The Eagles held onto that lead for the rest of the game for the 64-51 win. Morehead State shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting seven shots from deep to score 21 of its 42 points.
BUCKNELL 67, SOUTHERN INDIANA 56
LEWISBURG, Pa. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball went cold in the second half lost to Bucknell University, 67-56, in its second game of the Duke Blue Devil Challenge in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Screaming Eagles are 1-5 after tonight's action, while the Bison are 2-4 to begin the season.
The Eagles had control of the contest early, using a 14-6 run to take a 13-point advantage, 25-12, with 10:13 left in the opening 20. Junior guard Jordan Tillmon (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) led the USI dash with six of the 14 points.
Bucknell would fight its way back in the final 10 minutes of the first half, closing to within seven at the intermission, 33-26.
The USI three-point shooters were hot in the opening half, hitting seven from long range. Junior forward Jack Mielke (Downers Grove, Illinois) led the hot shooter with four from beyond the arc, reaching a season-high 12 points by the halftime horn.
In the second half, Bucknell used an 11-3 run to jump out and front, 37-36, and built an eight-point lead, 46-38, with 10:22 left. USI would rally to knot the game at 48-48 with 6:31 left when sophomore forward Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) hit a jumper to cap off a 10-0 run.
USI's offense stalled after run as Bucknell exploded on a 13-2 run over four minutes to post a double-digit lead of its own with 2:04 to play. The Eagles would try to rally one last time, cutting the gap to seven points, 61-54, but could get no closer in falling 67-56.
After shooting seven-of-15 from long range in the opening half, USI was one-of-13 from the beyond the arc in the second half. The Eagles also lost the battle of the boards in the game, 35-31.
Individually, Mielke led the Eagles with a career-high 14 points. He was five-of-10 from the field and four-of-eight from the three-point area. Tillmon followed with 13 points on five-of-12 from the field, including a pair of three-point field goals and a free throw.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 70, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 68
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - -Josh Earley scored a career-high 19 points and Aquan Smart made the game-winning shot with seven seconds left to send Southeast Missouri (1-3) to its first win of the season, 70-68, over Central Arkansas (1-4) Monday night.
Tied, 68-68, Smart drove to his right and sunk a baseline jumper with one second on the shot clock. Before that make, Smart was only 2-of-10 from the floor.
UCA had one last chance, but SEMO didn't let the Bears get a shot off.
The Redhawks overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half to grind out their pre-Thanksgiving holiday win.
UCA began the second half with a 14-3 run to take a double-digit lead in the six minutes. Masai Olowokere knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers with is second extending the Bears' margin to 41-30 with 14:10 to go.
The Bears ran their largest lead to 12 points before Gavyn Elkamil later made it a three-point contest. Elkamil drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to slice UCA's lead to 52-49 at the 8:37 mark.
BJ Ward's pullup jumper cut the score to 52-51 with a little over seven minutes remaining and SEMO was down one again (55-54) following TJ Biel's free throw.
After that, UCA countered with five-straight points to pull ahead, 60-54, with 5:31 on the clock.
The Bears, down 68-66, went over three minutes without a field goal until Ubong Abasi Etim's layup tied things up with 36 seconds to go.
SEMO and UCA went back-and-forth in a first half that included eight ties and nine lead changes. Neither team was ahead by more than four points and each struggled from behind the 3-point line going a combined 1-of-17.
Earley gave the Redhawks their first lead of the season on a layup 22 seconds into the contest. Smart's fast break layup later put SEMO ahead, 22-19, for its biggest advantage of the first half with 4:07 remaining.
After SEMO missed its first 11 shots from long range, Elkamil ended that stretch when he buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 25-25 with just under two minutes left.
Earley's hookshot then brought the game to a 27-27 deadlock at the intermission.
Earley shot a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the field en route to his career-best. He scored 10 of his points in the first half. Earley added a team-high seven rebounds, as well.
Elkamil and Evan Eursher followed with 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively. Eursher made a pair of 3-pointers to help get the Redhawks within a point (65-64) with 2:04 on the clock.
SEMO outrebounded UCA, 37-33, and held a 32-26 edge in the paint.
Etim paced the Bears with 15 points and eight boards.
TENNESSEE STATE 87, MIDWAY 70
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team got a 32-point showing from the bench on the way to an 87-70 victory over the Midway Eagles at home Monday.
The Tigers (4-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Ej Bellinger, who had 19 points. Kinyon Hodges tacked on 16 points and Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. helped out with 14 points, four assists, and five steals.
Tennessee State utilized excellent ball movement in Monday's game, piling up 16 assists on 31 made field goals. Jaylen Jones' six assists paced the Tigers.
The Tennessee State defense held Midway shooters to just 37.7 percent from the field.
After falling behind 6-0, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 17:25 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Christian Brown, to tie the game at six. Midway then pulled ahead, sending the Tigers into halftime down 35-32.
After intermission, Tennessee State managed to gain control and had a 76-65 lead before going on an 8-0 run to grow the lead to 84-65 with 1:16 to go in the contest. The Eagles narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still cruised the rest of the way for the 87-70 win. Tennessee State got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 23 of its 55 total points.