2023 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals

3/2/2023 10:27:56 AM

#5 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91, #4 TENNESSEE STATE 83
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Chris Harris had a double-double 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Nate Johnson added a career-high 17 points to lead #5 Southeast Missouri (17-16) to a 91-83 victory over #4 Tennessee State (18-14) Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

SEMO eliminated TSU in the quarterfinals for the second-straight year and moves on to Friday's semifinals to face #1 Morehead State. Tip-off of that game is set for 7 p.m., CT and will be televised live on ESPNU.

The Redhawks outlasted the Tigers in another physical matchup, this time which resulted in a combined 55 fouls. SEMO outscored TSU, 34-17 at the free throw line and that was the difference in the end.

In the game's final minute alone, TSU pulled to within six on four occasions, but the Redhawks made eight-straight free throws to nail down the win.

SEMO started off completely different than it did a night earlier in its first-round victory over Lindenwood.

The Redhawks made six of their first 11 field goals and forced five turnovers in the game's opening eight minutes. Phillip Russell drove in for a layup and followed that up with a pullup 3-pointer to put SEMO ahead, 12-7, with 14:06 remaining in the first half.

SEMO later converted on five of seven shots to grab a 26-20 advantage. Johnson got loose for a big two-handed dunk to complete that stretch at the 7:36 mark.

TSU answered with a 9-0 run which started with four-straight points by David Acosta. Dedric Boyd followed with a 3-pointer and scored an uncontested layup to give the Tigers a 29-26 edge with 5:21 to play.

Josh Earley's reverse layup and Israel Barnes' basket off a nice inbounds pass by Aquan Smart fueled a 6-0 surge right before Chris Harris drained a 3-pointer to regain a 34-31 lead for SEMO.

TSU missed eight of its last nine field goals of the first half as SEMO stayed ahead, 35-31, at the intermission.

The Redhawks forced nine turnovers and scored 14 points off those miscues in the opening stanza.

SEMO began the second half with Johnson getting open for another dunk.

Johnson later scored again, this time on a wide open layup. That led to three points when a David Acosta was called for a technical foul on a flop.

Russell's deep 3-pointer from the top of the arc and a dunk by Johnson extended SEMO's lead to 50-38 with 14:35 to go.

The Redhawks continued to attack TSU and stretched their lead to 15 on multiple occasions. Russell made two free throws to make it a 56-41 game. Shortly after that, Harris buried two free throws to get SEMO a 58-43 lead with 11:31 on the clock.

Marcus Fitzgerald completed a 3-point play to close the Redhawks lead to 60-51 at the 9:51 mark. However, Harris splashed in a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring to grab SEMO a 67-54 lead with under eight minutes.

The Tigers managed to get within nine again on a pair of free throws by Jr. Clay with 5:35 left to play. Then, after Christian Brown scored a second-chance layup, Brown stole the ball and scored a layup to narrow SEMO's lead to 71-64 with 3:50 left.

TSU kept inching closer and used a Zion Griffin free throw to make it a seven-point game again.

Johnson then snapped SEMO's span of 4:43 without a field goal with a bucket underneath. Johnson was fouled knocked down his free throw to up the Redhawks lead to 74-65 at the 2:55 mark.

SEMO shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the field and 81 percent at the free throw line on 34-of-42 attempts. The 34 made free throws are a new season-high.

Harris shot 5-of-12 from the field and made 16-of-18 free throws. For Harris, the 16 made free throws are a career-high. He also dished out four assists in 38 minutes.

Johnson did not miss a field goal going 7-of-7 to go along with 3-of-4 free throws and two boards.

Russell pitched in 18 points, with eight coming at the free throw line, while Smart contributed 10.

Additionally, SEMO assisted 16 of its 25 made field goals.

Clay scored a game-high 34 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead TSU in his final college game.

#3 UT MARTIN 81, #6 SIUE 75
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The University of Tennessee at Martin rallied from a double-digit deficit with under four minutes to play to post a thrilling 81-75 victory against SIUE in the Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship quarterfinals held at the Ford Center.

Amidst plenty of adversity that included two-time All-OVC guard KJ Simon sidelined with a season-ending injury and down a pair of players after ejections for defending a wounded teammate in the first half, the Skyhawks ended the contest with seven healthy bodies. Even Jordan Sears – who was masterful in a career-high 33-point performance – left the game for three minutes in the second half after an injury. However, UT Martin found a way to get it done, wrapping up the night on a 17-1 run while holding the Cougars to 0-of-their-last-7 shooting down the stretch to improve to 19-13 overall.

Sears was the maestro in the Skyhawk comeback as the All-OVC first teamer recorded 24 points in the second half alone. His old-fashioned three-point play with 36 seconds remaining gave UT Martin a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way. The sophomore from Daytona Beach, Fla. ended his spectacular evening with an 8-of-13 effort from the field while going 15-for-16 from the free throw line. He also added a team-high four assists, two steals and a block in 35 minutes.

Koby Jeffries came up huge with 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench while Desmond Williams contributed 11 points – including a clutch trey with 1:15 to go and a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining to extend the Skyhawk lead out to two possessions. KK Curry also excelled for UT Martin, hitting a pair of three-pointers while tallying a career-high three blocks to go along with two steals.

SIUE (19-14) was led by Damarco Minor’s 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Lamar Wright also managed 22 points but the fresh Skyhawk legs outscored the Cougars by a 20-2 margin in fast break points.

“Fighting through adversity is what our team embodies,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We did some things tonight that we haven’t done all year defensively. Most of our practices are predicated around late-game situations and getting stops – our guys didn’t panic in the huddle. I thought our defensive effort, specifically that last four to six minutes, was really special. The season was on the line and our team came together – we’re excited for our guys to live to see another day.”

The Skyhawks trailed 5-0 before a pair of Sears free throws at the 16:19 mark got UT Martin on the scoreboard. SIUE soon took a six-point lead with 14 minutes to go before the halftime break but the Skyhawks responded with a 22-6 run, claiming a double-digit advantage (31-21) after Williams stroked a stepback three-pointer with six minutes to go in the opening half. Rifen Miguel was a giant factor in the comeback, scoring seven points on 3-of-3 shooting in four minutes.

The Cougars later scored 11 unanswered points and eventually took a 36-35 lead into the locker room at halftime. Sears’ nine points guided UT Martin while Minor had 14 points at the half for SIUE.

Two Sears free throws and a Parker Stewart trifecta in the first 93 seconds of the second half evened the score at 40-all. The Cougars went on to post the next seven points of the game and the Skyhawk deficit remained at seven before a Curry three-pointer and Stewart free throw pulled UT Martin back within a single possession (50-47) with 13:16 to go.

However, SIUE pushed its lead back out to 10 points and maintained that advantage with 3:50 remaining after a Minor three-pointer made the score 74-64.

That’s when the game-changing 17-1 run started as Sears got things going with seven consecutive Skyhawk points (three-pointer, driving layup, two free throws). Trailing 75-71 with 1:36 to go, Jeffries found Williams for a deep trey from the right wing that found nothing but net and got UT Martin within one point with 1:15 left.

The swarming Skyhawk defense forced a shot clock violation on the Cougars’ next trip down the floor. Sears went full-steam ahead to the rim on UT Martin’s next play and was fouled while converting the layup, making the freebie to put the Skyhawks ahead 77-75 with 36 seconds to go.

An enormous Curry block on the other end led to Williams’ two free throws. Yet another UT Martin stop then resulted in two Sears free throws with five seconds remaining that provided the final score of 81-75.