THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 101, Alice Lloyd 39
Jacksonville State 90,
@Little Rock 60
@Iowa State 80,
Eastern Illinois 48
@Illinois State 85,
Southeast Missouri 64
@Bradley 75,
SIUE 64
MOREHEAD STATE 101, ALICE LLOYD 39
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Senior guard Drew Thelwell shattered the Morehead State Men's Basketball single-game assist record with 19 helpers, while Riley Minix, Dieonte Miles and Eddie Ricks III all put up double-doubles to help lead the Eagle men's basketball team over the Alice Lloyd Eagles 101-39 at Johnson Arena Thursday.
Thelwell broke Kareem Storey (2013-14) and Jeff Fultz's (1983-84) co-single-game assist record and came within one of tying the Ohio Valley Conference record set by James Johnson of Middle Tennessee in 1985-86. Morehead State did an excellent job taking care of the basketball, dishing out a season-high 28 assists while turning the ball over just nine times.
Thelwell's assist total is the highest for a Division I player in a game this season.
Morehead State's defense held Alice Lloyd to only 17 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 20 percent from the field, both season-bests for defensive field goal accuracy. MSU cleared 47 defensive rebounds and a season-high 73 rebounds. The rebound total is the second highest in a game for all D1 teams this year. Ironically, the Eagles' 69 boards last week against St. Mary-Of-The-Woods is the fifth-best D1 single-game rebound total as well.
Minix recorded his OVC best sixth double-double with a team-high 20 points and 13 rebounds. Miles and Ricks both had their second Eagle double-doubles. Miles had 13 points and 12 boards, while Ricks scored 10 and tied his career-high 11 rebounds.
MSU finished with six double-digit scorers. Coming off a career-best 30 at Indiana, Jordan Lathon notched 18 today. Kalil Thomas drilled six triples and scored 18 too, while George Marshall came off the bench for a career-high 11.
Morehead State started out the scoring by going on a 12-0 run to take an early lead with 16:58 left in the first half. The Eagles then added 13 points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 47-22 advantage. Morehead State relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down nine shots to account for 27 of its 47 points.
Morehead State kept its lead intact before going on a 13-0 run to grow the lead to 60-24 with 15:28 to go in the contest. The Eagles kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 101-39 win. Morehead State took care of business in the paint, recording 30 of its 54 points in the lane.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 90, LITTLE ROCK 60
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock men's basketball team closed out non-conference action on Thursday with a 90-60 loss to Jacksonville State at The Jack Stephens Center. KK Robinson led the team in scoring with 14 points, while Jaylen Crocker-Johnson led the team in rebounds with ten.
Bradley Douglas contributed 12 points, including two three-pointers.
The Trojans shot their worst field goal percentage of the season going 18-of-64 for a 28.1 percentage. The team also shot their lowest three-point field goal percentage with a 17.4% going 4-of-23. The Gamecocks finished the game shooting 50.7% from the field and 42.9% from the three-point line.
Little Rock held the lead once in the first half at the 14:51 mark when Crocker-Johnson knocked down a jump shot. Jacksonville State's largest lead was 31 points at the 1:04 mark in the second half.
The Trojans were out rebounded 53-33 and out scored in the paint 48-28.
IOWA STATE 80, EASTERN ILLINOIS 48
AMES, Iowa - Eastern Illinois had two players score in double figures Thursday night as the Panthers wrapped up non-conference play with road loss at Iowa State, 80-48.
Eastern Illinois battled early against the Cyclones from the Big 12 Conference trailing by just one in the early minutes of the game following a Tiger Booker lay-up with 14:14 to play.
The Panthers were within six points after a Nakyel Shelton 3-pointer with 12:47 to play before turnovers and a cold shooting stretch allowed Iowa State to open up a double-digit margin.
Shelton scored 11 points to lead EIU while Booker finished with ten.
EIU trailed 39-26 at the half with Iowa State led by the sharp outside shooting of Curtis Jones off the bench. Jones had 15 first half points going 4-of-6 from 3-point range. He finished with 18 knocking down five 3-pointers. Iowa State had ten 3’s for the contest.
Iowa State forced EIU into 17 turnovers leading to 22 points off turnovers. Three additional Cyclones scored in double figures with Robert Jones, Milan Momcilovic and Tamin Lipsey all scoring 16.
The Panthers finished even on the glass at 32-32 with Kooper Jacobi pulling down a team-high seven boards for EIU.
ILLINOIS STATE 85, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 64
NORMAL, Ill. - Adam Larson made five 3-pointers and scored 16 points as Southeast Missouri (4-8) dropped a 85-64 decision to Missouri Valley Conference member Illinois State (8-4) Thursday night.
Larson finished with double figures for his team-high seventh time this season.
SEMO used a nice balance of offense and defense to key a strong surge early.
The Redhawks made four of their first seven field goals and forced six turnovers in the game's opening 8:15. Larson gave SEMO momentum when he knocked down a 3-pointer on each of the Redhawks first two possessions.
Aided by a 6-0 run, SEMO took an 18-12 lead. Aquan Smart converted a 3-point play and Larson added a free throw to close out that stretch. That, however, would be the final time the Redhawks would lead in the game.
Johnny Kinzinger's jumper snapped a drought which saw ISU go scoreless for over four minutes. Kinzinger sparked an initial 10-0 run for the Redbirds who took control by outscoring the Redhawks, 30-10, in the final 10:27 of the first half.
ISU later led by as many as 26 with 5:35 left in the second half before coming away with its eight victory of the season.
Larson shot 5-of-7 from the field and 1-of-2 at the free throw line. He also had four rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes. Braxton Stacker chipped in 11 points as SEMO's other double-digit scorer.
The Redhawks shot just 25 percent (6-of-24) from 3-point range and 39.7 percent (23-of-58) for the night.
Burford led all scorers with a game-high 22 points and Lewis contributed 18 points and nine rebounds to pace ISU. The Redbirds outscored the Redhawks, 23-12, at the free throw line.
BRADLEY 75, SIUE 64
PEORIA, Ill. - Recap coming soon.