THURSDAY'S SCORES
@#4 Michigan State 74,
Southern Indiana 51
@Tennessee State 83, Kentucky State 58
@Iowa State 102,
Lindenwood 47
@SIUE 92, North Park 67
#4 MICHIGAN STATE 74, SOUTHERN INDIANA 51
EAST LANSING, Mich. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball could not get the offense into gear in the first half and lost to fourth-ranked Michigan State University, 74-51, Thursday evening at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan. The Screaming Eagles start the year 0-2, while Michigan State begins 2023-24, 1-1.
The first half saw the Eagles' offense stuck in neutral, while USI defensive effort held the Spartans to under 40 percent from the field for the first 12 minutes of the contest. Michigan State also took good advantage of 11 trips to the line for nine of their 19 points.
The Spartans took command and used an 18-0 run to lead, 29-6 with 5:25 left in the opening half. Eagles had a small run that broke an 11-minute scoreless drought before the Spartans closed out the half with a 37-14 lead.
In the second half, USI was able to get the offense running, outscoring Michigan State, 14-6, during the opening minutes of the final stanza by shooting 60 percent from the field (6-10). Junior forward Jack Mielke (Downer's Grove, Illinois) led the way with a pair of three pointers and six of the 14 points.
Michigan State re-established control with a 10-3 run of its own to push the score back to 22, 53-31, with over 12 minutes to play. USI closed the gap to 19 points, 62-43, but that would be as close as the Eagles would come the rest of the way despite battling the Spartans
The second half saw USI shoot drastically better, shooting 48.1 percent from the field (13-27), compared to 14.8 percent in the opening stanza (4-27).
For the game, junior guard Jordan Tillmon (Pine Bluff, Arkansas) led the Eagles with 10 points and tied for second on the team with five rebounds. Mielke followed in the scoring column with nine points, while senior forward Nolan Causwell (Duluth, Georgia) led the squad with seven rebounds.
TENNESSEE STATE 83, KENTUCKY STATE 58
NASHVILLE - Ej Bellinger secured a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds to help the Tennessee State men's basketball team take down the Kentucky State Thorobreds 83-58 at home Thursday.
The Tigers (2-0) had three players score in double figures, led by Bellinger, who secured a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jason Jitoboh added 18 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks and Jaylen Jones chipped in as well with 13 points and two steals from the bench.
Bellinger pulled down five offensive rebounds to lead the Tennessee State offense which grabbed 11 boards and turned them into 11 second chance points.
Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Kentucky State shots in the contest, coming away with five blocks. Jitoboh's three rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.
After jumping out to a 6-4 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 7-0 run with 17:14 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Jitoboh, to increase its lead to 13-4. The Tigers then added five points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 40-26 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 26 of its 40 points close to the basket.
Tennessee State kept its lead intact before going on a 9-0 run, finished off by Jitoboh's layup, to grow the lead to 62-41 with 8:53 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 83-58 win. Tennessee State took care of business in the paint, recording 24 of its 43 points in the lane.
IOWA STATE 102, LINDENWOOD 47
AMES, Iowa - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (0-2, 0-0 OVC) lost on Thursday evening to Big 12 opponent Iowa State (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) by a final score of 102-47. Keenon Cole was Lindenwood's high scorer for the second straight game after posting 18 vs. the Cyclones.
Iowa State jumped out to a 14-0 lead to begin the game after shooting 6-9 from the field. Darius Beane stopped the run with a pull-up jumper on the wing. ISU's defense forced four turnovers early on to stop Lindenwood's offense.
Jeremiah Talton only played four minutes in the first half but made quick work scoring five points. He helped Lindenwood cut into ISU's lead at 20-7. Keith Haymond II made his first appearance of the season making one three and was followed by Keenon Cole draining another to cut the lead to 13 points.
The Lions cut it to as close as eight points late in the first half after an and-one finish by Cole at the rim. ISU would end up going on a 13-0 run to end the half and go into the locker room leading the Lions by a score of 46-23. The Cyclones were led by Tamin Lipsey who had a team-high 21 points in the game.
Coming out for the second half, the Cyclones started off hot making four of their first five shots. Cole also continued his success against ISU by scoring the first six points in the half for the Lions.
Lindenwood turned the ball over 13 times in the second half on Thursday and 22 times for the entire game. They were outscored 56-24 in the second half resulting in a final score of 102-47.
Cole led the way for the Lions with 18 points and three rebounds. Jeremiah Talton also posted 13 points in only his second game as a Lion. Colin Ruffin did a little of everything picking up two points, four rebounds and three assists.
SIUE 92, NORTH PARK 67
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Fueled by a career-high 29 points from Shamar Wright, SIUE men's basketball turned a four-point game at half into a 92-67 win over North Park Thursday at First Community Arena.
The Cougars evened their record at 1-1 with the win, improving to 39-17 all-time in home operners.
SIUE managed as much as a nine-point lead in the first half at 35-26, but never pulled away. North Park had as big as a six-point lead in a half that included five lead changes.
The Cougars never trailed in the second period and pulled away with a 14-2 run over a three-minute stretch early in the half to lead 61-42 with 14 minutes to play.
After scoring five points in the first half, without a three-pointer, Shamar Wright knocked down his first five three-point attempts in the second half. His 29-point outing moved him into eighth place in career scoring at SIUE and he now has 1,126 points. Wright also became the all-time leader in games played at SIUE, playing in his 123rd career game.
Damarco Minor scored 16 points for the Cougars and added a team-high seven rebounds. Lamar Wright scored 14 points and also grabbed seven boards.
The Cougars were 20-34 (58.8 percent) in the second half and shot 54 percent from the field for the game. SIUE was 9-19 (47 percent) from three-point range.
North Park, which won 24 games and made an appearance in the final 16 of the Division III tournament last season, connected on 42 percent (24-57) of its shots in the game.
Phil Holmes, Jr. and Kolden Vanlandingham each scored 12 points to pace the Vikings.