FRIDAY'S SCORES
Mercer 60, T
ennessee State 59 (Niceville, Fla.)
@#9 Duke 80,
Southern Indiana 62
@#22 Illinois 84,
Western Illinois 52
MERCER 60, TENNESSEE STATE 59
NICEVILLE, Fla. - Jaylen Jones had a team-high 18 points, but an 18-point deficit was too much to overcome for the Tennessee State men's basketball team in a 60-59 loss to Mercer on Friday in the semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic.
The Tigers (4-2) had two players score in double figures, led by Jaylen Jones, who had 18 points. Kinyon Hodges added 17 points, six rebounds and five steals and Michael Shanks added four points and two steals.
The Tennessee State defense caused its share of mistakes in Friday's game, forcing 23 Mercer turnovers while committing 15. Those takeaways turned into 25 points on the other end of the floor. Hodges' five steals led the way individually for the Tigers.
Tennessee State struggled out of the gate, falling behind 32-17 heading into halftime.
After intermission, Tennessee State kept the Bears from increasing their lead before going on a 13-0 run, finished off by Hodges' layup, to shrink the deficit to 51-49 with 5:36 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept their comeback going, but Mercer managed to hold on for the 60-59 win. Tennessee State capitalized on 13 Mercer turnovers in the period, collecting 19 points off those turnovers.
#9 DUKE 80, SOUTHERN INDIANA 62
DURHAM, N.C. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball concluded the Duke Blue Devil Challenge with an 80-62 loss to ninth-ranked Duke University Friday evening at the Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The Screaming Eagles are 1-6 after tonight's action, while the Blue Devils are 5-1 to begin the season.
The Eagles stunned the Blue Devils in the first five minutes of the game, quickly building a 10-point lead, 15-5, when the first media time out was called. USI would go on to lead by 10 points six different times during in the first 20 minutes.
Following USI pushing the lead back to 10, 32-22, with 5:02 left in the half, Duke used a 9-3 run to close the gap to four, 35-31, at the break. USI was led in the first half by sophomore guard/forward AJ Smith (Edwardsville, Illinois), who had 11 points and nine rebounds.
Junior guard Jeremiah Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois) and sophomore guard Jack Campion (Milton, Wisconsin) followed Smith in the first half with seven points each. Campion also had a team-high three assists in the opening half and would tie a career-best with seven assists in the contest.
The second half saw Duke exploded out of the locker room with an 11-0 run to take the lead for the first time since the opening minutes, 42-35, its largest lead to that point. The Duke lead expanded to as many as 16 points, 58-42, but USI was not done.
The Eagles used a 6-0 run that was capped off by a dunk by sophomore forward Kiyron Powell (Evansville, Indiana) to close the gap to nine points, 58-49. The nine-point deficit would be as close as the Eagles would come the rest of the way.
Duke hit the gas one more time in the final five minutes and outscored USI, 22-13, the rest of the way to close out the 80-62 final.
In the scoring column, USI was lead by Hernandez's team-high 15 points. The junior guard, who had eight points in the second half, was five-of-13 from the field, including a three, and four-of-four from the stripe.
Junior guard/forward Javius Moore (McComb, Mississippi) and Smith followed with 11 points each to round out the double-digit scorers. Moore was a blistering four-of-six from the field and three-of-four from beyond the arc.
Smith finished the game with a team-high 13 points to produce his third double-double of the season. Twelve of Smith's 13 boards came on the defensive end.
#22 ILLINOIS 84, WESTERN ILLINOIS 52
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Western Illinois men's basketball fell at Illinois on Friday night, dropping a contest to the No. 17 ranked Illini 84-52. The Leathernecks are next in action on Monday, visiting Wisconsin at 6 p.m.
The Leathernecks had big nights from James Dent Jr. (20 points) and Drew Cisse (12 rebounds, eight points). Jesiah West added 11 points while Ryan Myers scored 10.
Illinois led big early, getting out to a 20-6 lead, but a big run highlighted by eight-straight points from Dent Jr. cut Illinois' lead to five, 21-16. But the Illini had a strong close to the half, leading 40-23 at the break.
Western Illinois (2-4) was able to cut the deficit to 12 on a Tay Knox bucket, but never was able to get into single digits in the second half.
Western Illinois went 21-72 (29 percent) from the field, while going 4-8 (50) from the line and 6-25 (24 percent) from three. The Illini went 34-72 (47 percent) from the field, 6-12 (50 percent) from the line and 10-25 (40 percent) from three.
The Leathernecks were outrebounded 54-38 while Illinois outscored WIU 44-26 in the paint and 23-7 on second-chance points.