MONDAY'S SCORES
@North Alabama 87,
UT Martin 69
@Marshall 77,
Southern Indiana 63
NORTH ALABAMA 87, UT MARTIN 69
FLORENCE, Ala. - Josué Grullon registered a game-high 24 points for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team this evening but a strong second half by North Alabama resulted in an 87-69 setback at CB&S Bank Arena.
The Skyhawks (2-1) trailed by just a 44-41 margin at the halftime break but the host Lions shot 53.3 percent (16-for-30) in the final 20 minutes.
Just hours after he was crowned as Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, Grullon shot 8-for-17 from the floor – including a 5-of-12 effort from three-point range. He swished three of his four attempts from the charity stripe while adding three rebounds, three assists and a steal in 27 minutes.
Afan Trnka also chipped in 10 points and a game-high four assists for UT Martin while Vladimer Salaridze narrowly missed his second double-double of the young season with nine points, a game-best 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
North Alabama (3-0) was led by Jacari Lane’s 22 points as he was one of six Lions in double figures scoring. Canin Jefferson tallied 12 points while Corneilous Williams (double-double with 10 rebounds), Dallas Howell, Will Soucie and Donte Bacchus each scored 10 points apiece.
Trnka (five) and AJ Hopkins (four) combined to score the Skyhawks’ first nine points of the game as UT Martin held an early lead with under 16 minutes to go in the opening half. A pair of Grullon triples capped off an 8-0 Skyhawk run and provided UT Martin with a 22-18 advantage at the under-8-minute media timeout.
A layup by Grullon and a trifecta from Salaridze kept the Skyhawks ahead by four points before North Alabama briefly took a three-point lead. Two more three-pointers from Grullon flipped the score back in favor of UT Martin at 41-39 with two minutes to go before the halftime break. However, the Lions scored the final five points of the half.
Grullon’s 14 points led all scorers while Lane had 12 points to top North Alabama, who shot 25 percent (4-of-16) from three-point land in the opening half.
North Alabama accounted for the first 12 points of the second half until a Grullon free throw at the 15:28 mark.
The Skyhawks faced a 74-51 deficit with nine minutes remaining but kept fighting, using a 14-4 run to make the score 78-65 after a Salaridze trifecta with 4:49 left to play. However, that was as close as UT Martin would get the rest of the way.
MARSHALL 77, SOUTHERN INDIANA 63
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball rallied in the second half but fell short at Marshall University, 77-63, Monday evening in Huntington, West Virginia. The Screaming Eagles are 0-3 to start the year, while the Herd go to 2-1 in 2024-25.
USI's junior guard Damoni Harrison picked up the first bucket of the game before Marshall scored eight-straight points to lead, 8-2, early. The Eagles would close the gap and get to within one, 11-10, with 13:23 left in the half on a pair of free throws by junior guard Sam Kodi.
Marshall pushed the margin back to seven points, 20-13, on a 9-3 burst with 8:37 on the first half clock. The Herd would continue to limit the Eagles' offense, allowing only two USI free throws, while building a 30-15 advantage with 3:30 left in the opening half and a 38-19 margin at the intermission.
USI's offense was stymied in the first 20 minutes as the Eagles were held to 26.3 percent from the field (5-19).
In the second half, Marshall quickly extended the margin to 21 points three times before USI's offense began to roll. The Eagles cut the deficit to nine points, 45-39, on a 15-3 run that was led by sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi, who had six points during the surge.
The Herd re-extended their lead to double-digits quickly, reaching 14 points six times in the last five minutes. The Eagles were able to stay close, getting to within nine points twice more, but could not get any closer down the stretch.
Individually, Harrison led three Eagles in double-digits with 20 points. He was seven-of-13 from the field, three-of-three from long range, and three-of-four from the stripe.
Kodi came off the bench to post 16 points, while Olowoniyi had 10 points and a team-time 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Kodi was five-of-10 from the field and six-of-eight from the line.