TUESDAY'S SCORES
@UCF 80,
Tennessee Tech 69
@Tennessee State 110, East-West University 33
@Green Bay 82,
SIUE 57
@Northern Iowa 82,
Western Illinois 56
@DePaul 78,
Eastern Illinois 69
UCF 80, TENNESSEE TECH 69
ORLANDO, Fla. - A furious, second-half comeback fell just short for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla., as UCF fought off the Golden Eagles at Addition Financial Arena to claim an 80-69 victory.
UCF (4-0) took a 15-point lead into the locker room, making five of its final seven shots while boasting a decisive, 16-0 advantage in second-chance points. The Knights hauled in 11 offensive boards and 28 total while limiting Tech (3-3) to just 12 total over the opening 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagle offense kept pace with the Knights early, with both sides shooting above 60 percent from the field nearly 10 minutes into the ball game. The purple and gold cooled from down the stretch, however, finishing just 2-for-13 from the floor to close the half.
Taking the court for the second half, the contest seemed destined for blowout territory as UCF pushed out to as much as a 20-point lead at the 18:41 mark, but the Cookeville crew stayed resilient and turned the entire contest around. Tech started the comeback with a 10-0 run following the first media break of the second half, trimming the deficit to just eight.
The Knights moved back out by 15 by the next media break, but the Golden Eagles used the timeout to regroup and mount another impressive run. The purple and gold delivered an 11-0 run this time around, making it a four-point ball game with just over eight minutes to play.
Scoreless up to the 9:52 mark in the second stanza, sophomore guard Kyle Layton came alive down the stretch, helping lead the frenzied rally, sparking himself by knocking down a pair of free throws. On Tech's next possession, the youngster buried a quick triple to move Tech to within seven points.
Tech's next trip down the court, a huge offensive rebound by Ola Ajiboye set Layton up for his second straight make from downtown, cutting the UCF edge to just four points. The McKinney, Texas native upped the ante a step further after the Knights answered with a trey of its own.
Layton splashed in his third consecutive make from distance, drawing a foul on the play and executing the ensuing free throw for a clutch, four-point play. Scoring 12 straight points for the Golden Eagles, the sophomore pulled his squad to within three points with 7:15 to play.
The comeback bid would end there, as the Knights used its size to continue its dominance on the offensive glass and give itself enough opportunities to keep the purple and gold at arm's length the rest of the way.
UCF won the battle on the glass, 52-29 for the night, corralling 22 boards on the offensive side of the ball alone. The Golden Eagles forced 13 turnovers by the Knights while making just 10 of their own, but couldn't overcome a 36.8 percent showing from the floor.
Dropping a career-high 16 points, all after the 10:00 minute mark of the second half, Layton led the Tech effort while finishing 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe. He also led the team with four assists.
Junior guard Jaylon Johnson secured a team-high four steals while mixing in 12 points, six rebounds, and a pair of dimes. Junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe sunk 6-of-8 attempts from the free-throw line, finishing with 13 points, four boards, and two assists.
Senior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. paced the purple and gold with eight rebounds to go with 12 points and two blocks. Junior guard Ray Glasgow tallied seven points and five rebounds off the bench.
TENNESSEE STATE 110, EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY 33
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team had four players score in double figures, led by Lorick III, who put together a double-double with 33 points and 14 rebounds in a 110-33 victory over East-West on Tuesday evening at The Gentry Center.
Aaron Nkrumah added a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and Blake Fleming chipped in as well with 13 points off the bench.
Ahmir Langlais, Louis Daoust and Antoine Lorick III all pulled down doble-digit rebounds to help lead the Tigers.
The Tennessee State offense was strong from deep, pouring in 11 threes on 35 attempts. Fleming hit three treys for the Tigers in the contest.
Tennessee State did a great job disrupting East-West shots in the contest, coming away with eight blocks. Nkrumah's two rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.
After jumping out to a 27-7 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 16-0 run with 9:26 left in the first half to increase its lead to 43-7. The Tigers then added eight points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 59-15 advantage. Tennessee State capitalized on 10 East-West turnovers in the period, turning them into 16 points on the other end of the floor.
Following intermission, Tennessee State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 73-20 before going on a 16-0 run, finished off by Jc Brooks' layup, to grow the lead to 89-20 with 8:58 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 110-33 win. Tennessee State took care of business in the paint, recording 34 of its 51 points in the lane.
GREEN BAY 82, SIUE 57
GREEN BAY, Wis. - SIUE men's basketball connected on just 34 percent of its shots Tuesday, falling on the road at Green Bay 82-57.
The Cougars dropped to 4-3 overall. Green Bay improved to 2-3.
The Cougars took their only lead of the first half when Jordan Pickett knocked down a three-pointer to give SIUE a 20-19 lead with 10:17 to play in the half.
Green Bay took a 35-26 lead thanks to an Anthony Roy three with 57 seconds left in the half.
SIUE had the ball out of bounds with just more than one second to play before halftime after a Green Bay foul. Brian Taylor II inbounded for Ray'Sean Taylor in the right corner. Taylor banged a three as the halftime buzzer sounded to cut the lead to 35-29 at the break.
The Cougars scored the first six points of the second half to knot the score at 35, forcing Green Bay into a timeout with 18:31 left in the game, but the Phoenix went on a 21-7 run forcing an SIUE timeout with 8:10 left and the lead at 56-42.
Green Bay shot 47 percent (24-51) overall and went 10-27 from three-point range. The Phoenix also connected on 24-29 (83 percent) from free throw line.
SIUE was 7-31 from three (23 percent) and 10-18 (56 percent) at the foul line.
Brian Taylor II led the way for SIUE with 16 points. Ray'Sean Taylor scored nine.
Anthony Ray scored 31 points for Green Bay to lead all scorers.
NORTHERN IOWA 82, WESTERN ILLINOIS 56
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Western Illinois fell to Northern Iowa 82-56 on Tuesday night as the Leathernecks dropped to 2-3 on the season despite having a balanced offensive effort. Marko Maletic and Trey Deveaux both scored 15 points for WIU, with Maletic demonstrating range with two three-pointers and Deveaux scoring 13 second-half points to lead the way for the Leathernecks. Kayden Carter added 8 points, with Rodrick Payne and Ryan Myers each having 6 points.
The team struggled with turnovers, committing 12, which led to 17 points for Northern Iowa. As a team, the Leathernecks had 28 points in the paint and had 36 bench points, with 30 of them coming from Deveaux and Maletic.
Defensively, the Leathernecks forced eight turnovers scoring three points off of those turnovers. Northern Iowa would outscore WIU in the paint and in transition, as the Panthers scored 50 points in the paint and added 21 fast-break points compared to the Leathernecks 2 fast-break points. UNI ended the first half on an 11-0 run leading 42-24 at the break and would never trail in the game.
The second half saw WIU's bench score 31 of the team's 32 points as Tay Knox would knock down a free throw at the 16:27 mark of the second half. The Leathernecks shot 6-9 (66.7%) from the free throw line with all nine attempts coming in the second half.
DEPAUL 79, EASTERN ILLINOIS 69
CHICAGO - DePaul made its final five shots from the field as the Blue Demons held off a couple of second half charges by Eastern Illinois to pick up a 78-69 win over the Panthers.
Trailing 29-25 at the half Eastern Illinois made an early second half run taking a 36-34 lead with 17:13 to play on a runner by Zion Fruster.
DePaul answered with a 14-0 run led by three 3-pointers by David Skogman as part of a 15-of-39 night by the Blue Demons from 3-point range. DePaul would go up double digits for the first time in the second half on free throws by Troy D’Amico giving DePaul a 55-45 lead. D’Amico had 14 points as one of five DePaul players in double figures.
EIU finished the game with four players in double figures led by Kooper Jacobi with 22 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Fruster had 12 points including a 3-pointer with 4:19 to play that cut the DePaul lead to 61-58. Isaiah Rivera answered with a 3-pointer and the Blue Demons were able to hold off the Panthers.
Nakyel Shelton was 11-of-11 from the foul line ending with 17 points. Artese Stapleton was the fourth EIU player in double figures with ten points.