SATURDAY'S SCORES
Evansville 93,
Southeast Missouri 74 (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
@SIUE 81, Detroit Mercy 67
@Eastern Illinois 85, Eureka College 39
@Little Rock 84, Tulsa 82 (OT)
UT Martin 94, @Chicago State 71
Tennessee State 91, Southeastern Louisiana 77 (Niceville, FL)
EVANSVILLE 93, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Adam Larson dropped in a career-high 22 points with a career-best six 3-pointers and Southeast Missouri (1-4) put together a strong second half in a 93-74 loss to Evansville (6-0) Saturday afternoon at the Coke Zero Sugar Classic.
SEMO, which met UE for the second time in 10 days, outscored the Purple Aces, 45-42, in the game's final 20 minutes.
Larson scored 11 points and made three 3-pointers in both halves en route to his team-high third double-digit game this season. Today marked his second-straight start after coming off the bench in each of SEMO's first three contests.
Down, 51-29, at halftime, the Redhawks were on fire to start the second half.
Rob Martin and Aquan Smart both buried a 3-pointer to jumpstart a 10-2 run and SEMO quickly got within 14 (53-39) when Martin scored again on a layup in just under two minutes.
The Redhawks made nine of their first 10 field goals, four of their first five 3-pointers and used a 20-8 surge to cut UE's lead to single digits (62-54). Smart's pullup jumper capped the run with 13:40 remaining.
UE, however, countered with a 9-0 run to take a 71-54 lead at the 11:34 mark and SEMO never got any closer than 12 after that.
The Purple Aces outscored the Redhawks, 16-5, at the free throw line in the second half and that held up big in the end.
While it was SEMO that won the second half, it was UE who was hot in the first.
The Purple Aces moved up on the Redhawks, 10-2, in the first two minutes of play. Braxton Stacker made a driving layup, was fouled and completed a 3-point play to cut the Purple Aces early lead in half.
Later in the opening stanza, UE went on a 19-4 run in 6:12 and took a 47-21 advantage on Joshua Huges' layup with 2:16 left.
BJ Ward made two of three free throws to wrap up the first half for the Redhawks. UE shot over 61 percent (22-of-36) from the field and connected on 4-of-7 three-pointers to get its hefty halftime lead.
Larson hit 70 percent (7-of-10) of his field goals and fell three 3-pointers away from tying SEMO's all-time single-game record in 3-pointers made.
TJ Biel followed with 11 points for his first career double-digit game as a Redhawk.
Ben Humrichous and Hughes paced UE with 27 and 21 points, respectively. Kenny Strawbridge also added 17 points. The Purple Aces outscored SEMO, 60-24, inside the paint.
UE won the three-team Coke Zero Sugar Classic with a 2-0 record.
SIUE 81, DETROIT MERCY 67
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Six players scored in double figures and SIUE men's basketball picked up its third win in four games, defeating Detroit Mercy 81-67 at First Community Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Cougars improved to 4-3. UDM fell to 0-6.
In another strong defensive performance, SIUE held Detroit Mercy to just 33 percent shooting. The Cougars allowed fewer than 70 points for the sixth time in seven games this season.
Lamar Wright led the balanced attack with 19 points on six-of-eight shooting. He was 3-4 from three-point territory.
Ray'Sean Taylor scored 15 points, all of which came in the second half. Damarco Minor, Terrance Thompson and Shamar Wright each scored 10 points.
Freshman Jordan Pickett pitched in 11 points, for his first collegiate double-digit scoring game.
Pickett was 3-6 from the field and 4-5 at the free throw line while adding an assist and two steals.
SIUE took a 38-26 lead into halftime, but UDM made a push to start the second half. They opened the half on a 11-0 run to cut the lead down to just one (38-37) with 17:22 left.
The Cougars scored the next five points and had pushed the advantage to 14 with back-to-back triples from Taylor before Pickett hit a pair of free throws to make it 65-51. It all came as part of a larger 13-2 run that extended SIUE's lead to 70-53 with 8:03 left.
SIUE extended the lead to 18 points on three separate occasions, including with 1:43 left after a jumper from the paint from Thompson.
The Cougars shot 56 percent from the field (29-52) overall and also knocked down 15-19 free throws (79 percent). The Cougars turned the ball over just seven times, marking the fourth straight games SIUE has finished with fewer than 10 turnovers.
Jayden Stone led all scored with 23 points for UDM. Marcus Tinkersley added 16 points.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 85, EUREKA COLLEGE 39
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s basketball held Eureka College without a field goal for the first nine and half minutes of action on Saturday afternoon as the Panthers easily picked up a 85-39 win handing head coach Marty Simmons his 300th career win as a college head coach.
EIU improved to 3-4 on the season while Eureka is 2-3.
The Panthers opened with a 17-1 run out of the gates as seven different players scored on a night when EIU had balanced scoring across the board. Kooper Jacobi had five early points as he finished the game as the lone Panther in double figures with 16 points while just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.
Eureka’s first field goal came with 10:28 left in the first half on a jumper by Dylan Logsdon. He would finish with eight points, one of two Red Devils to finish with eight for team-high honors. Cody Baer was the other.
EIU led 37-12 at the half with the defense holding Eureka to 13 percent shooting in the half. The Red Devils finished the game shooting 25 percent for the contest.
After shooting 43 percent in the opening half, EIU connected for 59 percent in the second half to finish shooting 51 percent for the game.
Following Jacobi as top scorers for EIU in the game were Jermaine Hamlin with nine points and Dan Luers with nine points.
The Panthers finished with a 46-34 rebound edge and had an impressive 54 points in the paint.
LITTLE ROCK 84, TULSA 82 (OT)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock men's basketball team defeated Tulsa 84-82 in overtime at The Jack Stephens Center on Saturday. The Trojans gave the Golden Hurricanes their first lost of the season and snapped a four-game losing streak.
Jamir Chaplin led all scorers with a career-high 27 points and all athletes with a career-high 15 rebounds. Chaplin went 11-of-14 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
This is Chaplin's third double-double of the season and the Trojans first 20-point double-double since December 29, 2022.
DeAntoni Gordon contributed 13 points, while Bradley Douglas also knocked down a season-high 13 points and led the team in assist with six. Cougar Downing added ten points in the win.
The Trojans (2-4) greatest lead of the game came in the first half with seven points. Little Rock also recorded their best field goal percentage in the first half going 16-of-28 for a 57.1 percent mark. Tulsa (4-1) saw their greatest lead in the second half at the 18:28 mark when the Golden Hurricane led by five points.
Little Rock went into halftime with a 41-39 lead after two made free throws by Gordon. Tulsa opened the second half on a 8-0 run, before a layup by Chaplin cut the Golden Hurricane lead to three.
At the 3:02 mark in the second half, a three-point shot off a turnover from Downing sparked a 5-0 run to give Little Rock their largest lead in the second half at four. Each team exchanged baskets, before two free throws by Chaplin again stretched the Trojan lead back to four with 1:48 remaining.
Tulsa made two-straight jumpers to tie the score, before Douglas knocked down a jump shot with one second on the clock to give the Trojans a 76-74 lead. After a pass was knocked out of bounds, Tulsa knocked down a jumper with less than a second left to tie the score and send the game to overtime.
The Golden Hurricane jumped to early lead in the extra period on back to back layups in the paint. A three-pointer from a turnover by Douglas recorded the Trojans first points and narrowed the lead to one with 2:58 remaining.
Back-to-back free throws by Jaylen Crocker-Johnson gave the Trojans their first advantage 81-80. With 22 seconds on the clock, Downing knocked down a three-pointer to give Little Rock the 84-80 lead.
Tulsa knocked down a layup, before a miss Trojan free throw gave the Golden Hurricane one more opportunity. Tulsa missed the final shot attempt at the buzzer with Little Rock winning 84-82.
UT MARTIN 94, CHICAGO STATE 71
CHICAGO - A dominant second half for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad helped the Skyhawks post their biggest margin of victory in a road contest since Feb. 1, 2017 in a 94-71 win at Chicago State.
The 23-point triumph is the largest road victory for UT Martin since a 75-46 win at Tennessee Tech during the 2016-17 slate. As a result, the Skyhawks are off to their first 5-2 start to a season since the same 2016-17 campaign.
UT Martin led by five points at the halftime break but broke the game open by shooting 62.5 percent (20-of-32) over the final 20 minutes. The Skyhawks also held a commanding 47-29 edge in the rebounding battle, leading the contest for 34:48 of clock time.
The UT Martin duo of Jordan Sears and Jacob Crews led the way today, combining for a 73.9 shooting percentage and a 72.7 percent performance from three-point land. Sears tossed in 20 of his game-high 27 points in the first half, ending his day with an 8-of-11 shooting performance (4-of-6 from three-point range). Crews connected on nine of his 12 field goal tries (including 4-for-5 from deep) on the way to 25 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Chicago State (2-6) was led by 26 points from Wesley Cardet, Jr. The Cougars also received 15 points out of Kedrick Green but shot just 37.7 percent (26-for-69) for the game, including a 28.9 percent clip (11-of-38) from beyond the three-point arc.
“We found a way to play really well together for the full 40 minutes,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We have quality players up and down this roster – everybody deserves to play and they make it tough on us as coaches. But that’s a fun thing. We’re only seven games in but we’re starting to gel – today I think we saw a little bit of what the future can hold. Good teams find a way to win on the road.”
Sears was unstoppable early as his old-fashioned three-point play got the scoring started for UT Martin. By the 11:04 mark, the junior guard from Daytona Beach, Fla. had canned four treys and was up to 15 points – outscoring Chicago State by himself – as the Skyhawks claimed a 20-14 advantage.
The Cougars evened the score at 22-all before a Desmond Williams three-pointer keyed a 7-0 UT Martin run. Chicago State followed with eight unanswered points to briefly take a lead before the Skyhawks wrapped up the half with an 8-0 run of its own – bookended by six points out of Crews on an old-fashioned three-point play and a deep trey that made the score 40-35 in favor of UT Martin.
Quick buckets from Issa Muhammad and Sears within the first 51 seconds of the second half helped the Skyhawks push their lead out to 44-35. The Cougars pulled within three points but Koby Jeffries drilled a pair of three-pointers from the right wing as UT Martin opened up its first double-digit lead (57-47) of the day with just under 15 minutes remaining.
Crews recorded eight straight points in a 1:44 span – beginning his personal run with a pair of three-pointers before flying in for a putback on an offensive rebound. Moments later, KK Curry made a pair of free throws and Justus Jackson scored on a driving take to the hoop as the Skyhawks led by a 73-53 margin at the 9:26 mark.
Chicago State scored the next seven points of the contest but never got any closer than 13 points the rest of the way. A layup from David Kamwanga with 34 seconds remaining gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the day and provided the final scoring margin of 94-71.
TENNESSEE STATE 91, SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 77
NICEVILLE, Fla. - Tennessee State men's basketball secured a 91-77 victory against Southeastern Louisiana in the consolation game at the Emerald Coast Classic on Saturday, with five Tigers scoring at least 10 points.
The Tigers (5-2) exhibited balanced scoring, as five players reached double figures. EJ Bellinger led the way with 18 points, supported by Christian Brown contributing 18 points off the bench and Kinyon Hodges chipping in with 15 points and four steals.
In a display of effective ball movement, Tennessee State recorded 18 assists on 30 made field goals. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. led in assists with six for the Tigers.
Tennessee State capitalized on 15 Southeastern Louisiana turnovers while committing 12 themselves. The Tigers converted these takeaways into 19 points, with Hodges leading the way with four steals.
Tennessee State initiated the scoring with an 8-0 run, capped by a bucket from Bellinger, giving them an early lead with 18:56 left in the first half. Despite surrendering the lead, the Tigers regrouped, narrowing the deficit to 53-52 and eventually seizing a 61-53 lead with a 9-0 run with 13:35 remaining. From there, they expanded the margin and coasted to the 91-77 win. Tennessee State received a significant boost from its bench, contributing 16 of its 48 total points in the period.