FRIDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 72, VMI 71 (White Sulphur Spring, W.Va.)
SIUE 79, @Western Michigan 60
@Robert Morris 67,
Lindenwood 53
@Northwestern 67,
Eastern Illinois 58 (OT)
TENNESSEE TECH 72, VMI 71
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - – It came down to the wire, but the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team took home a clutch, 72-71 victory over VMI on the first day of the Greenbrier Tip-Off at Colonial Hall at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Friday afternoon.
The purple and gold (3-1) led for most of the contest, building as large as a 14-point advantage in the first half. The Keydets (3-1) mounted a comeback bid with a little under seven minutes to play in the contest, battling back from a 10-point deficit.
With just 12 seconds left on the clock, VMI's Augustinas Kiudulas drew a foul and knocked down a pair of free throws to give his team its first lead of the day at 71-70. Calm, cool, and collected, the Golden Eagles and head coach John Pelphrey called for a timeout, drawing up the game-winning play.
Junior guard Jaylon Johnson provided the clinching bucket, driving down the court and sinking a layup with six seconds to go. The guard followed it up with a huge steal with four seconds on the clock, essentially icing the game and sealing the victory for the Cookeville crew.
Forcing 15 turnovers, the Tech defense also held VMI to 35.9 percent shooting from the floor and just 25.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles scored 12 points off the Keydet turnovers while finishing pretty efficiently from distance, a solid 11-for-30 at 36.7 percent.
It was a total team effort across the board for the purple and gold, led by Johnson and forward Rodney Johnson Jr. The two each tallied 13 points, with Johnson Jr. hauling in five rebounds and Johnson securing four boards, two steals, and a trio of triples.
Forward Daniel Egbuniwe made his 22 minutes on the court count while battling foul trouble, turning in 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting and five assists. Off the bench, junior guard Ray Glasgow chipped in 11 points with five rebounds, three dimes, and two steals.
Local Sparta, Tenn. native Grant Slatten added 10 points to the mix, corralling a team-high six boards and sinking 5-of-7 attempts from the charity stripe. Sophomore guard Kyle Layton delivered nine points with three makes from downtown and dished out a season-high six assists.
SIUE 79, WESTERN MICHIGAN 60
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Ray'Sean Taylor connected on eight three-pointers on his way to his second career 30-point game as SIUE men's basketball scored a convincing 79-60 win at Western Michigan Friday.
It is the second consecutive road win for the Cougars who improved to 3-2 overall. Western Michigan fell to 1-3.
Taylor was 11-20 overall shooting and went 8 for 16 from three-point range to become SIUE's most prolific three-point shooter. Taylor has now made 224 three-point baskets for his career, surpassing Jason Homes, who had 222 career three-pointers from 1993-1997.
The eight three-pointers in a single-game is the most by a Cougar in the Division I era, and one shy of the all-time single-game record of nine three-pointers.
The 30-point outing tied Taylor's career high and moved him to 1,412 points for his career. He is just the fourth player ever at SIUE with at least 1,400 points.
The Cougars never trailed in the game, pushing their lead to double digits (15-4) within the first five minutes. WMU never got as close as single digits in the first half and a Taylor three-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave SIUE a 43-29 advantage.
The Broncos did make a push following halftime, using a 15-7 start to the half to cut the Cougar lead down to 50-44. It was 52-46 when SIUE used an 8-0 surge to take a double-digit advantage for good.
The SIUE lead swelled to as many as 22 when Taylor's final three-pointer of the game went down for a 79-57 lead with 2:06 left.
Desmond Polk scored a career-high 16 points for the Cougars. Brian Taylor added 10 points. Darrion Baker scored four but chipped in a career-high nine rebounds.
SIUE outrebounded Western Michigan 38-37 for the game.
The Cougars shot 55 percent in the first half and 49 percent (31-60) for the game. SIUE used 14 three-pointers to overcome a large disparity in free throws. SIUE was 5 for 8 at the free throw line while Western Michigan was 26-37.
The Broncos shot just 30 percent (16-54) overall and knocked down only two of 13 (15 percent) attempts from long range.
Owen Lobsinger led WMU with 16 points, eight of which came at the free throw line.
ROBERT MORRIS 67, LINDENWOOD 53
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Lindenwood men's basketball (1-3, 0-0 OVC) suffers their second loss of the weekend after falling to the Urban-Bennett MTE host school Robert Morris (3-2, 0-0 HL) by a final score of 67-53. The Lions were held to 35.2% from the floor and 26.7% from deep.
Reggie Bass in 38 minutes played scored 11 points in his return to the starting lineup. Bass was all over the court posting a team-high four assists while grabbing five rebounds and two steals. Markeith Browning II also scored 10 points off the bench for Lindenwood, but was held to 3-12 shooting from the floor. Browning also had four rebounds and two steals.
Jadis Jones led the team in rebounds with seven while scoring six points on 3-6 shooting. Anias Futrell also had eight points in 21 minutes while pulling down three rebounds. Lindenwood's bench scored 20 points tonight compared to 11 by Robert Morris.
RMU out-rebounded the Lions 41-32 including 12 offensive rebounds. The Colonials scored 16 second chance points while Lindenwood was held to zero. Robert Morris' offense nailed 10 three-pointers including six in the second half.
Lindenwood headed into the locker room at halftime trailing by one point by a score of 28-29. Bass had all 10 of his points in the first half while shooting 4-5 from the floor including two threes. Nathan Johnson Jr. also had five points in the first 20 minutes.
Robert Morris forced the Lions into eight turnovers in the first half which led to eight points. Both teams scored 14 points in the paint. Lindenwood shoot over 44.0% in the first half, but found themselves down one heading into the second half.
After a three-pointer by DJ Smith with 12:47 remaining, the Lions found themselves down by nine points. Two minutes later, the Colonials hit another three to extend their lead to 11 points. Robert Morris' never let the Lions get back into it as they trail by at least 10 for the last seven minutes.
Futrell and Browning both scored eight points in the second half. Lindenwood struggled from the field shooting 27.6% from the floor and 1-8 from three. RMU hit 15-30 in the second half to secure their second win of the MTE.
NORTHWESTERN 67, EASTERN ILLINOIS 58 (OT)
EVANSTON, Ill. - Nakyel Shelton hit a runner with 31.5 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 58-58.
That would prove to be Eastern Illinois final points of the game as the Panthers fell 67-58 in overtime at Northwestern falling to 1-3 on the season. Northwestern moved to 3-1.
In the overtime session Northwestern scored the first four points of the extra session at the foul line with Jalen Leach and Nick Martinelli each knocking down free throws. The pair would combine for 43 of the Wildcats 67 points in the game, Leach scoring 27 and Martinelli 16.
EIU trailed 37-27 at the half and slowly chipped away at the Northwestern lead behind the hot hand of Shelton who scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. Shelton’s basket with 7:56 to play gave EIU a 47-46 lead as the Panthers had a stretch of hitting five of seven from the field while Northwestern missed four straight shots.
EIU was unable to score for a three-minute stretch in the final four minutes of the game allowing Northwestern to erase a late three point EIU lead. Leach drained a 3-pointer to give Northwestern a 58-56 lead with 1:03 left before Shelton’s game tying shot.
Kooper Jacobi just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. Rodolfo Bolis chipped in with eight points.