2023 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - First Round

3/1/2023 7:00:42 AM

#5 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI, 84 #8 LINDENWOOD 65
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Phillip Russell scored 19 points, including 13 in the second half, and #5 Southeast Missouri (16-16) never trailed for the final 21:34 of the game in an 84-65 win over #8 Lindenwood (11-21) Wednesday night in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

SEMO, which outscored LU, 45-30, in the game's final 20 minutes, moves on to face #4 Tennessee State in the quarterfinals Thursday. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m., CT at the Ford Center.

The Redhawks grabbed the lead with 1:34 left to play in the first half and never fell behind again en route to giving Brad Korn his second postseason victory as SEMO's head coach.

Tied, 35-35, SEMO closed out the first half strong scoring the last four points off a free throw by Aquan Smart and 3-pointer by Chris Harris to take a 39-35 lead at the intermission. Harris' three capped a streak of five-consecutive made field goals by the Redhawks.

The Redhawks put together an 8-2 run to get ahead by seven early in the second half. Russell scored six of those points, including a driving layup to get SEMO a 52-45 lead with 13:04 left.

SEMO extended its lead to nine twice after that. Josh Earley's second-chance jumper put the Redhawks up, 62-53, on the latter of those occasions with 10:34 to go.

After Smart drained a 3-pointer, he drove the lane and scored to give SEMO its first double-digit lead. Smart was fouled and added a free throw to widen the Redhawks margin to 70-59 at the 7:43 mark.

A layup by Dylan Branson ran the score to 76-61 with 4:30 on the clock and the Redhawks then built their largest lead of the night to 21 (82-61) on Russell's layup off a turnover.

Both teams struggled to settle in during the first half.

SEMO missed its first six shots before Harris' jumper put the Redhawks' first points on the board. SEMO shot just 1-of-12 from the field in the first 6:33.

Meanwhile, LU shot just 27.8 percent with misses on 13 of its first 18 field goals. Combined, the teams were 1-of-11 from 3-point range through the opening 8:16 of play.

Earley (12-10) rebounded his own miss and Phillip Russell (14-12) scored on a layup to cut the Lions' lead to two on those occasions.

Branson buried SEMO's first 3-pointer of the game after the Redhawks mis-fired on their first six attempts from long range. Branson's three narrowed LU's lead to 16-15 with a little over 10 minutes to go.

The Redhawks later pulled ahead for the first time when Earley broke free on a fast break and threw down a dunk off an assist by Smart to ignite a four-point swing. Harris followed with a jumper to give SEMO a 19-18 edge at the 7:59 mark.

Russell made 5-of-6 free throws to go along with his seven made field goals. He also had four rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Earley turned in a double-double 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench, his second of the season.

Evan Eursher put together his biggest game of the season adding a season-best 13 points on a near-perfect 5-of-6 from the floor. Eursher buried 3-of-3 from 3-point range in 21 minutes off the bench.

Smart and Harris each pitched in 11 points.

SEMO man-handled LU on the boards posting a 50-34 advantage. The Redhawks pulled down 17 offensive rebounds and outscored the Lions, 17-0, in second-chance points.

#6 SIUE 68, #7 SOUTHERN INDIANA 54
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Damarco Minor tied his career high with 27 points to lead sixth-seeded SIUE men's basketball to its first-ever win at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, a 68-54 win over Southern Indiana. SIUE advances to the quarterfinals to play No. 3 seed UT Martin Thursday at 9 p.m.

SIUE improved to 19-13 overall. USI ended its first Division I season at 16-16.

The Cougars trailed 30-29 at half but opened the second period on an 8-0 run. SIUE built a double-digit lead, before USI trimmed it back to two.

SIUE led 50-48 before a late 10-0 run pushed the Cougars to a 60-48 lead with 1:20 to play. The Cougars knocked down six consecutive free throws to seal the win.

Shamar Wright and Jalen Hodge each scored 10 points. Ray'Sean Taylor scored nine. DeeJuan Pruitt scored eight points, all in the second half and added 13 rebounds.