SUNDAY'S SCORES
South Dakota 70,
@Western Illinois 68
@Tennessee Tech 108, Alice Lloyd 82
@Southeast Missouri 84, Missouri Baptist 56
@Morehead State 87, Chattanooga 80
SOUTH DAKOTA 70, WESTERN ILLINOIS 68
MACOMB, Ill. - The Western Illinois men nearly grabbed a late win on Sunday afternoon, but a buzzer-beater by South Dakota gave they Coyotes a heart-stopping 70-68 win inside of Western Hall.
Ryan Myers, scored a season-high 25 points, including a three-pointer with three seconds that tied the game at 68-68. But USD's Bostyn Holt took a pass, got to the basket and hit the bucket at the buzzer to win.
The buzzer-beater took the starch out of some big individual performances by the Leathernecks as Drew Cisse's 20 rebounds were the highest by a player in the Ohio Valley Conference this season and the most by a Leatherneck since Dan Braun's 24 in 1969. Myers' seven made three-pointers were the most by a player in the OVC and the most by a WIU player since CJ Duff's eight makes in January of 2019.
Western Illinois led most the day, leading by as many as nine with 16:57 to go, but South Dakota was able to hang around, making one last push to get the win.
South Dakota led by five, 51-46 with 9:41 left, but a 7-0 spurt fueled by Myers and JJ Kalakon (12 points) gave WIU a 53-51 lead. From there, it was back and forth as neither team led by more than three over the final 7:58. The game featured 22 lead changes and nine ties
Quinlan Bennett added nine points for Western Illinois while James Dent Jr. and Shay Davis each added seven.
WIU went 24-69 from the field, 8-22 from three and 12-17 from the line. South Dakota outrebounded Western Illinois 46-42.
TENNESSEE TECH 108, ALICE LLOYD 82
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It was raining threes in the Hooper Eblen Center Sunday afternoon, as the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team dropped Alice Lloyd, 108-82, in a matinee match-up that saw the Golden Eagle offense in rare form.
The purple and gold drained a program record-tying 18 triples on the day, lighting up the Hoop from the outset and leading the contest wire-to-wire. It matched the team's effort of 18 makes in a record-shattering 131-57 victory over Toccoa Falls College back on Jan. 11, 2000.
Tech (3-6) held the visiting Eagles (5-3) without an attempt from the free-throw line in the affair, making just three fouls overall. The Golden Eagles piled up 36 rebounds and limited Alice Lloyd to 27, all while using proficient ball movement to set up the attack.
Delivering 31 assists on 40 made field goals, the Cookeville crew dished out dimes on 77.5 percent of its made shots on the day. The purple and gold also delivered a 3.44 assist-to-turnover ratio and turned in 55 points in the first half and another 53 in the second, firing 63.5 percent from the floor, 48.6 percent from distance, and 71.4 percent from the charity stripe.
A number of Golden Eagles enjoyed banner days while stuffing the stats sheets, starting with junior guard David Early and his new career-high explosion of 29 points. Easily leading the contest, the Logan, W.Va. native drilled 6-of-11 tries from downtown while finishing 11-for-17 from the field.
Rookie forward Rylee Samons produced a perfect effort off the bench, smashing his previous season-best showing with a whopping 20 points. The Pikeville, Ky. native didn't miss a single shot in the tilt, ending the day 6-for-6 from the field, 5-for-5 from 3-point range, and 3-for-3 from the line, all while tallying a pair of assists.
A pair of Golden Eagles flirted heavily with producing the team's first triple-double since 1995, starting with sophomore forward Daniel Egbuniwe. The Little Rock transfer inked his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 rebounds, just missing out on history behind a career-high eight assists. He also rejected three Alice Lloyd shots to lead the team.
Senior guard Jayvis Harvey piled up a career-best seven helpers in the first half alone, ending the night with five points, nine boards, and the seven assists. Continuing the trend of moving the ball, sophomore guard Josiah Davis also racked up seven dimes to go along with 13 points and five rebounds.
Joining the double-digit scoring club was sophomore center David Craig. The big man accounted for 12 points and five rebounds on 6-for-7 shooting with four dunks. Junior guard Bogdan Zimonjic tacked on eight points and three assists off the bench.
Making their season debuts after missing the first eight games due to injury were senior guard Erik Oliver and junior guard DeSean Woods. Oliver scored three points in limited time in his first action with the purple and gold since suffering a lower-body injury late last season.
Woods made his Golden Eagle debut, scoring three points in seven minutes off the bench. Making his collegiate debut on the night was local Livingston native and former Tech manager Nick Choate.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 84, MISSOURI BAPTIST 56
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Aquan Smart scored a season-high 19 points and Southeast Missouri (2-6) made 26 free throws in an 84-56 rout of Missouri Baptist (7-2) Sunday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
Smart led four players in double figures for the Redhawks. Adam Larson added 15 points, Rob Martin had 12 and TJ Biel chipped in 11.
SEMO, which led from start to finish for the first time this season, outscored MBU, 26-6, at the free throw line en route to its second-straight home victory.
Up, 30-25, with 6:48 remaining in the first half, the Redhawks blew the game open with a 14-0 run.
Biel ignited the surge with a 3-pointer and Smart followed with the next six points. After Mason Hanback scored on a layup, Smart drained a 3-pointer to cap the run as SEMO extended its lead to 44-25 at the 2:01 mark.
Biel's second chance layup with three seconds on the clock sent SEMO into the locker room with its first halftime lead of the year, 48-29.
SEMO didn't let up in the second half where it pushed its lead over 20 points.
The Redhawks scored nine of the first 12 points in the final half of play. Larson scored four points and Braxton Stacker added five in the first 2:17 of the second stanza.
After Stacker drove the baseline, threw down a dunk and completed a 3-point play, Larson hit two free throws giving SEMO a 57-32 advantage with 17:43 left.
SEMO took its largest lead of the contest at 84-54 when Hanback made a layup with 25 seconds to go.
Smart shot 4-of-9 from the field and a near perfect 9-of-10 at the free throw line. He also dished out a game-high five assists.
Larson posted his team-high fifth double figure scoring performance with all but five of his points coming at the charity stripe. He made 10-of-12 free throws.
Meanwhile, Martin and Biel made four field goals apiece.
SEMO outrebounded the Spartans, 38-26, and man-handled MBU, 14-3, on the offensive end. The Redhawks shot 41.9 percent (26-of-62) from the floor and registered their biggest scoring margin (+20) at the free throw line under Head Coach Brad Korn.
The Redhawks improved to 21-0 all-time against MBU and ran its winning streak to 34 in a row versus non-Division I opponents.
MOREHEAD STATE 87, CHATTANOOGA 80
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Graduate transfer Riley Minix totaled a career high 25 points, and senior guard Drew Thelwell equaled him with 25 markers as well - one short of his career standard - as the Morehead State men's basketball team knocked off the Chattanooga Mocs 87-80 at home Sunday for the program's 10th straight win in Johnson Arena.
MSU improved to 6-3 this season in coming away victorious in just the second-ever meeting between the OVC's Eagles and the Southern Conference's Mocs.
Minix notched his third Eagle double-double with the 25 points and game-high 11 rebounds. Thelwell added five assists and scored 16 of his total in the first half. Kalil Thomas helped out with 16 points and four assists, and Jordan Lathon reached double figures for the third straight game with 10.
Morehead State did an excellent job taking care of the basketball, dishing out 20 assists while turning the ball over just eight times.
Morehead State also did a great job disrupting Chattanooga shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Minix's two rejections led the way individually for the Eagles. The Eagles shot a season-high 57 percent overall, the fourth straight game above .500 from the floor.
After jumping out to a 14-11 advantage, Morehead State went on an 8-0 run with 10:08 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Thelwell, to increase its lead to 22-11. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 40-36 advantage. Morehead State relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down seven shots to account for 21 of its 40 points.
Following intermission, Morehead State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 66-59 before going on a 6-0 run, finished off by Jordan Lathon's layup, to grow the lead to 72-59 with 6:11 to go in the contest. The Mocs narrowed the margin somewhat, including cutting it to 85-80 with less than 20 seconds left. Morehead State took care of business in the paint, recording 26 of its 47 points in the lane in the final half.