MONDAY'S SCORES
@Chattanooga 85,
Tennessee State 78
@Southern Indiana 87, Indiana State 77
@Illinois 92,
Little Rock 34
CHATTANOOGA 85, TENNESSEE STATE 78
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Brandon Weston collected 21 points, but the Tennessee State men's basketball team fell to Chattanooga, 85-78 on Monday evening at the Coke Classic.
The Tigers (3-4) had four players score in double figures, led by Weston, who had 21 points. Justus Jackson added 15 points and four assists and Aaron Nkrumah chipped in as well with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Led by Josh Ogundele's four offensive rebounds, Tennessee State did a great job crashing the offensive glass, pulling down 15 boards that resulted in 16 second chance points.
After jumping out to a 24-22 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 5:08 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Nkrumah, to increase its lead to 30-22. The Tigers then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 37-31 advantage.
Chattanooga then erased the Tennessee State lead in the game's final quarter for an 85-78 comeback victory. Tennessee State shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting six shots from deep to score 18 of its 41 points.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 87, INDIANA STATE 77
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball won its second-straight in the homestand with a big 87-77 victory over Indiana State University Monday evening at Liberty Arena. The Screaming Eagles conclude November with a 3-4 mark, while the Sycamores go to 3-3 in 2024-25.
USI was up 8-0 in a blink of an eye to start the game and 10-3 before four minutes were gone in the contest. ISU's offense would wake up and close the gap to 11-9 with a 6-1 run with 12:51 to play in the half.
The Eagles took command of the first half with a 14-6 surge at 11:42 to push the lead to 11, 28-17. Junior guard Jayland Randall led the surge with nine of the 14 points as the Eagles were five-of-six from the field as a team during the run.
The USI lead was extended to as many as 12 points, 36-24, when junior guard Damoni Harrison hit a jumper with 2:09 left in the half and before the Eagles finished out the half with a 40-29 advantage. Seven Eagles scored during the first half with Randall leading the way with 13 points.
After halftime, USI re-extended the lead to 11 points, 43-32, before ISU went on a 10-3 run to close the gap to four points, 46-42, with 15:27 left. The Sycamores would claw their way to within two of USI, 53-51.
The Eagles would start to re-establish command with a six-point lead, 57-51, at 11:20 after sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi put together a pair of buckets, including a steal and thunderous dunk with 11:43 on the clock.
Following junior guard Sam Kodi's layup to put USI back up by 10 points, 68-58, ISU would close the gap once again until the Eagles put together a 6-0 run to restore the lead to double-digits, 77-67, with 2:38 to play on a three-pointer by junior guard Jack Campion. The lead would reach 14, 84-70, when graduate forward Jack Mielke hit a three-pointer from the top of the key with 1:27 left and a pair of free throws 14 seconds later at 1:13.
USI would finish the game at the stripe, converting three of four attempts to close out the 87-77 victory.
The Eagles, as a team, shot 49.2 percent from the field (30-61), including a blistering 52.4 percent from downtown (11-21). USI also had 14 steals and forced 20 ISU turnovers.
Individually, Olowoniyi led four players in double-digits with 16 points. The sophomore forward was eight-of-12 from the field and was one of three Eagles with eight rebounds.
Randall followed Olowoniyi in the scoring column with 15 points, while Mielke dropped in 14 and grabbed eight boards. Harrison rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and was third with eight rebounds.
Junior guard Jack Campion was perfect at point guard, dishing nine assists and did not have a turnover for the second game in a row. The junior also has 210 career assists, 18 away from reaching the top-15 all-time at USI.
ILLINOIS 92, LITTLE ROCK 34
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Recap coming soon.