WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Western Illinois 65, @Central Arkansas 54
@UT Martin 78, William Woods 75
@Evansville 82,
Tennessee Tech 51
WESTERN ILLINOIS 65, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 54
CONWAY, Ark. - The Western Illinois men's basketball team ended nonconference play emphatically on Wednesday afternoon, traveling to Central Arkansas to pick up a 65-54 win.
The win is the fourth straight for the Leathernecks, fifth in the last six, and improves the squad to 7-6 overall ahead of the start of Ohio Valley Conference play on December 31 at SIUE.
Western Illinois never trailed, taking an early lead and keeping Central Arkansas at bay.
Drew Cisse continued his dominance in the post, finishing with 14 points, 17 rebounds, and a block. Ryan Myers was hot in the first half, helping WIU dart ahead, scoring all 10 of his points in the opening 20 minutes.
James Dent Jr. led the way, scoring a team-high 17 points, all off the bench. Dent added six rebounds and four steals, doing a little bit of everything for the Leathernecks.
Quinlan Bennett added eight points, four rebounds, three steals, and three assists, while Jesiah West added eight points. JJ Kalakon finished with four points and five steals.
The Leathernecks (7-6) took a quick 6-0, then relied on a suffocating defense to stymie the UCA offense.
UCA trailed 15-11, but Western Illinois closed the half on an 18-8 run, grabbing a 33-19 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Bears cut the deficit to eight, 40-32, but the Leathernecks had another answer, going on a 13-2 run. Central Arkansas never cut the lead to single digits the rest of the game.
WIU had another strong shooting performance from the field, going 24-46 (52.2 percent) while holding Central Arkansas to 18-58 (31.0). WIU also was strong beyond the arc, hitting 4-8 (50 percent) from three, while Central Arkansas was 4-21 (19 percent) on triples.
As they have done all season, the Leathernecks dominated the glass, outrebounding Central Arkansas 42-32 and outscored the Bears 34-24 in the paint. The Leathernecks were also opportunistic, turning 14 UCA turnovers into 23 points.
UT MARTIN 78, WILLIAM WOODS 75
MARTIN, Tenn. - A trio of defensive stops inside the final minute capped off a competitive contest at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center this afternoon as the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team held on for a 78-75 victory over William Woods.
Neither side led by more than one possession over the final 11:13 as 13 different lead changes and four ties took place from that point forward. Overall, there were 25 lead changes and 12 ties today as the Skyhawks and the NAIA opponent from Fulton, Mo. exchanged momentum throughout the game.
After the Owls (7-4) converted an old-fashioned three-point play to go ahead by two points with 1:12 to go, Jordan Sears swished a pair of free throws to even the score at 75-all. A swarming UT Martin doubleteam resulted in an errant shot on the other end as Jacob Crews blocked the attempt and made a fast break layup with 23 seconds remaining. Sebastian Mendoza – who was in on the previous doubleteam and had the assist on Crews’ go-ahead bucket – then forced a turnover with a steal and made one free throw on the other end. Inbounding the ball with six seconds left on the clock, William Woods hoisted a potential game-tying three-pointer but the shot caromed off the rim.
Sears carried the Skyhawks offensively for most of the day, wrapping up his day with 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting with a 10-for-12 effort from the free throw line. Crews tossed in 13 of his 15 points in the second half while Desmond Williams’ 13 points rounded out UT Martin’s double-digit scorers. David Kamwanga added seven points and a game-high eight rebounds as the Skyhawks clinched a winning record (7-6) going into their Ohio Valley Conference schedule.
Entering the game having not lost since Nov. 11, the Owls received double figure scoring performances out of Nate Schwartze (21 points), Tre Titus (14), Henry Shannon III (13) and Kyle Belgrave II (10). William Woods led by eight points at the halftime break but were held to 35.5 percent (11-of-31) shooting and a 4-for-15 effort from three-point range (26.7 percent) in the final 20 minutes.
The Owls scored eight of the first 10 points before Sears caught fire. The junior guard from Daytona Beach, Fla. scored 14 of the Skyhawks’ 18 points during a 5:41 stretch to tilt the score back in favor of UT Martin.
After a backdown layup by Kenny White, Jr. gave the Skyhawks a 22-16 advantage at the 10:17 mark, William Woods went on a 10-0 run to go back on top.
A putback by Christian Fussell, trifecta from Williams and a turnaround jumper from Crews comprised a quick 7-0 surge for UT Martin, who took a 29-26 advantage immediately thereafter.
The Owls then went on a 17-3 run before a deep Justus Jackson trey right before the halftime buzzer trimmed the Skyhawk deficit to 43-35.
Sears was responsible for a game-high 17 points in the first half but nine UT Martin turnovers led to 14 points for William Woods. The Owls were led by Schwartze’s 15 points as William Woods shot 46.7 percent (7-for-15) from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes.
The Skyhawks came out of the locker room fired up on both ends, scoring seven straight and 12 of first 15 points while holding the Owls to just one field goal in the first 5:26. A pair of free throws from Williams at the 14:48 mark gave UT Martin its first lead (47-46) in 10:34 of clock time.
William Woods did not back down, snatching back a four-point lead coming out of the under-12 media timeout. Five straight points from Crews and two Koby Jeffries free throws gave the Skyhawks the lead less than 90 seconds later and that back-and-forth pace would carry on for the rest of the game.
White scored five straight points for UT Martin at one point – pushing the Skyhawks ahead by a 65-62 margin with 6:35 left to play. Kamwanga had a clutch old-fashioned three-point play with five minutes remaining that turned a two-point deficit into a one-point lead.
The duo of Sears (five) and Crews (four) joined forces to score UT Martin’s next nine points down the stretch before Mendoza’s free throw concluded the game’s scoring.
EVANSVILLE 82, TENNESSEE TECH 51
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Offensive struggles and turnovers proved too much for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to overcome Wednesday evening, as the Golden Eagles fell to a red-hot Evansville squad at the Ford Center, 82-51.
The Golden Eagles (5-8) got off to a fast start, sinking each of their first three attempts from the floor, but the script flipped quickly as shooting woes and turnovers plagued the offense the remainder of the opening stanza. The Purple Aces (10-2) took their first lead behind a 10-0 run and went on to post a double-figure advantage with a 17-2 run over nearly seven minutes of action.
Tech was held to just 1-for-11 shooting in that span, but cut the deficit to single digits with just under eight minutes to play in the half. Evansville outscored the purple and gold 20-10 the rest of the way, using the Cookeville crew's 12 first-half turnovers to secure eight more attempts from the floor.
The Aces upped the ante on offense in the second half, opening the period on a 22-3 run and 8-for-11 from the field. On the other side of the court, the Golden Eagles continued to struggle to find a rhythm, starting 1-for-10.
Evansville rode its hot start the remainder of the contest, shooting better than 70 percent up until the final four minutes of the second half alone. Tech finished at 32.1 percent for the night, including a 26.7 percent mark over the final 20 minutes.
Junior guard David Early led the purple and gold with 13 points in the contest, making all four of his tries from the free-throw line. Senior guard Jayvis Harvey added 12 points to the mix before exiting the ball game early in the second half with a lower-body injury.
Harvey ended the evening 3-for-6 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the charity stripe, chipping in four rebounds and a pair of dimes to the effort. Sophomore center David Craig paced the Golden Eagles with five rebounds. Senior guard Diante Wood and junior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. each contributed six points on 3-for-7 shooting.