FRIDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 67, Eastern Illinois 58
@Southeast Missouri 93, Southern Indiana 91 (OT)
SIUE 67, EASTERN ILLINOIS 58
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball opened its 13th Ohio Valley Conference season with a 67-58 win over Eastern Illinois Friday night at First Community Arena.
The Cougars improved to 8-6 overall and won their conference opener for the second time in as many years. Eastern Illinois slipped to 6-8 overall and are 0-1 in the OVC.
The Cougars opened the game on a 6-0 run and trailed only once in the game.
Eastern Illinois' only lead came on the strength of a 7-0 run and was capped off with a Jaylin Gibson layup which made it 16-15 with 8:19 to play before halftime. Brian Taylor's jumper put the Cougars back on top and they never trailed again.
SIUE pushed its lead to 31-21 with a Damarco Minor three-pointer at 2:48. The Cougars led 33-37 at the break.
Eastern Illinois got as close as two points on three separate occasions in the second half, but never could fully close the gap and SIUE knocked down 16 of 19 free throws in the second half to seal the win.
The Cougars shot 44 percent (19-43) from the field for the game and hit 8-20 (40 percent) three-point attempts. Minor collected his fifth double-double of the year with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Minor led four Cougars in double figures. Shamar Wright scored 14 points. Terrance Thompson scored a season-high 12 points and Ray'Sean Taylor pitched in 11 points.
SIUE limited Eastern Illinois to just 30 percent (19-62) from the field and 3-14 (21 percent) from three-point range. The Panthers are the ninth team this year that SIUE has held under 70 points.
Kyndall Davis scored a game-high 23 points to lead EIU.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 93, SOUTHERN INDIANA 91 (OT)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Rob Martin scored a career-high 29 points and made the game-winning jumper with 1.1 seconds left to give Southeast Missouri (5-8, 1-0) a thrilling 93-91 overtime win over Southern Indiana (3-11, 0-1) Friday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO led, 71-62, with 2:05 left to play in regulation when USI went on a 12-3 run down the stretch to send the game to overtime.
AJ Smith's layup pulled the Screaming Eagles within one (72-71) with 25 seconds left and the USI had a chance to win the game when Smith drove in for a layup. Aquan Smart, however, blocked Smith's shot and Martin was fouled after that.
Martin calmly made two free throws to put SEMO ahead, 74-71, with seven seconds on the clock. On USI's last possession, Jack Champion made a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to force an extra period.
Tied, 74-74, SEMO outlasted USI, 19-17, in overtime to claim its first OVC opening victory since the 2016-17 campaign. The Redhawks gave Brad Korn his first win in an OVC opener as the Redhawks head coach and ended a streak of six-straight losses in such games in the process.
USI again came on strong again in the final minutes of overtime erasing a seven-point deficit in just 62 seconds.
Jeremiah Hernandez split a pair of free throws to cut SEMO's lead to 90-89 with 20 seconds to go. Hernandez had made 17 free throws in a row before missing his second attempt.
TJ Biel was then fouled and split his two free throws putting the Redhawks ahead by two. On USI's next possession, Hernandez scored on a layup with nine seconds to tie the game at 91-91.
Martin drove inside the paint, pulled up and made his jumper with one second to cap the win.
Neither team led by more than five points in a tight first half that had two ties and nine lead changes. USI led by five points on three occasions and led, 31-26, with 2:06 remaining in the opening stanza.
Biel came off the bench to score SEMO's final eight points in the last 1:40 to put the Redhawks ahead at the intermission. Biel made back-to-back 3-pointers and went hard to the rim for a dunk to give SEMO a 34-32 edge at the intermission.
SEMO closed out the first half strong by making four-straight field goals. Biel's surge in the final minutes of the first half swung momentum in the Redhawks direction entering the second half.
SEMO began the second half by scoring eight of the first 10 points and extended its lead to 42-34 when Rob Martin made a jumper off a turnover with 16:25 left. Adam Larson later knocked down a 3-pointer and Josh Earley scored a layup to give the Redhawks an eight-point advantage twice more. After that, Braxton Stacker stole the ball and ignited the crowd with a breakaway dunk to give SEMO its first double-digit lead at 49-39 with 13:47 to go.
Martin's pullup jumper off another USI miscue pushed the Redhawks margin to 12 (51-39) before the Screaming Eagles trimmed SEMO's lead to four with the help of a 8-0 run. Larson snapped a scoreless drought of over three minutes for SEMO when he nailed his third 3-pointer of the game to put the Redhawks up, 54-47, with 9:46 on the clock. Twenty-six seconds later, Martin drained a 3-pointer of his own and the Redhawks went ahead by eight (57-49).
USI missed its first 10 three-pointer of the game until Hernandez splashed in a stepback jumper from beyond the arc to narrow SEMO's lead to 57-52 at the 8:20 mark. The Screaming Eagles kept chipping away and pulled within four when Jack Mielke made a 3-pointer to make it a 64-60 ballgame with 4:29 left. Hernandez then made a pair of free throws to cut SEMO's lead to 64-62 out of the game's final media timeout.
That was as close as USI would get as SEMO, which went over three minutes without a field goal, scored six points in just 53 seconds to quickly get ahead by eight. Smart scored on a layup and stole the ball on USI's next possession. Smart sprinted to the hoop and threw down a dunk off the turnover.
Martin made 10-of-15 field goals, buried two 3-pointers and went 7-of-9 at the free throw line. He also dished out seven assists in 35 minutes. Smart followed with 19 points and Larson added 11 points and six rebounds.
SEMO shot 66.7 percent (4-of-6) in its decisive overtime period and 45.7 percent (32-of-70) for the game. The Redhawks outrebounded the Screaming Eagles, 39-36, and forced 19 turnovers as well.
Hernandez finished with a game-high 35 points and Smith turned in a double-double 19 points and 11 rebounds to pace USI.