SUNDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 82, Ball State 69
@Murray State 73,
Southeast Missouri 53
SIUE 82, BALL STATE 69
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Ray'Sean Taylor and Ring Malith both recorded 20-point games to lead SIUE men's basketball to an 82-69 comeback win over Ball State Sunday afternoon at First Community Arena.
SIUE improved to 6-4 on the year and 3-1 at home. Ball State dropped to 3-6.
The first half featured 11 lead changes as the matchup went back and forth early on.
Ball State took a 24-21 lead on a Juanse Gorosito three-pointer. The Cardinals would extend thier lead to 12 thanks to a 13-2 run.
SIUE would fight back to narrow the deficit to eight late in the first half. A Ray'Sean Taylor three made it 41-37 Ball State with a minute to play in the opening half.
SIUE trailed 41-39 at halftime.
SIUE came out of the locker room on fire taking the lead on a Ring Malith three which made it 45-44 with 18:27 left.
SIUE and Ball State traded the lead, but SIUE took the lead for good on a pair of free throws made by Ring Malith at 8:33.
The Cougars would run away with the game at the end closing on a 12-1 run as Ball State finished 1 of 9 from the field down the stretch.
Ray'Sean Taylor led all scorers with 27 points, including 20 second-half points. The Graduate Senior added four rebounds and three assists.
Ray'Sean Taylor's 27 points moved him into fourth all-time in scoring at SIUE with 1,483 points, passing Mark Yelovich who scored 1,467 career points.
Ring Malith recorded his second career double-double with a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Arnas Sakenis pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with six points in 26 minutes of play.
SIUE shot 28 of 57 (49 percent) from the field and 11 of 24 (46 percent) from three-point range.
Ball State connected on 27 of 63 (43 percent) shots from the field and 35 percent (8-23) from behind the three-point arc.
The Cougars converted 15 points on 22 attempts from the free throw line.
Ball State recorded 14 total assists to the Cougars 11. SIUE outrebounded the Cardinals 42 to 27.
MURRAY STATE 73, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 53
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State (6-2) used a 20-2 run over a near seven-minute stretch in the second half to pull away from Southeast Missouri (3-6), 73-53, Sunday afternoon at the CFSB Center.
SEMO and MSU, once big rivals in the Ohio Valley Conference, met for the first time with the Racers being a member of the Missouri Valley.
The 89th meeting between the teams featured six ties and six lead changes before the Racers put together their decisive surge.
After BJ Ward's jumper gave the Redhawks a 37-34 lead with 18:31 left to play in the game, MSU scored 20 of the next 22 points in 6:57.
Jacobi Wood's shot in the paint put MSU back on top and the Racers never trailed again.
Terence Harcum later drained a 3-pointer to give the Racers their first double-digit lead at 49-39 at the 12:28 mark.
Harcum hit another 3-pointer and AJ Ferguson made a layup to cap the run expanding MSU's lead to 54-39 with 11:34 on the clock.
SEMO went scoreless for over six minutes while MSU scored 15 unanswered points.
The Racers took control of the game in the second half, where they outscored the Redhawks, 40-20.
SEMO put together a strong first half shooting 53.8 percent from the floor.
The Redhawks scored on three of their first five possessions out of the gate and went on to build a seven-point lead midway through the opening stanza.
Tied, 9-9, Teddy Washington, Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer to jumpstart a 9-2 run. Rob Martin followed with a layup and Troy Cole, Jr. scored four-straight points, including a layup to put SEMO ahead, 18-11, with 10:21 remaining.
MSU answered with a 15-1 run and took a seven-point lead of its own when AJ Ferguson buried a 3-pointer to give the Racers a 26-19 advantage with 7:17 left.
Shortly after Martin knocked down a jumper to cut MSU's lead to one, Brendan Terry added a transition layup to regain a 32-31 edge for the Redhawks.
Both teams headed into the intermission tied, 33-33.
JaCobi Wood scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the second half to lead MSU. Nick Ellington added 15 points and eight rebounds and Harcum finished with 12 points.
The Racers heated up to shoot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the field in the second stanza, while SEMO made 26.9 percent (7-of-26) of its shots.
Washington, Jr. and Terry scored 12 points each to lead the Redhawks.