SATURDAY'S SCORES
*@Little Rock 80, Southern Indiana 62
*@Eastern Illinois 72, Lindenwood 57
*Western Illinois 68, @Tennessee State 61
*@SIUE 80, Southeast Missouri 76
*@UT Martin 88, Morehead State 82
LITTLE ROCK 80, SOUTHERN INDIANA 62
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock Men's Basketball team won their fifth-straight Ohio Valley Conference contest with a 80-62 victory over Southern Indiana at The Jack Stephens Center Saturday. Jamir Chaplin led the team in scoring with 22 points and surpassed 1,000 career points in the victory.
The Trojans have won their past eight out of nine match-ups and currently sit tied for second in the conference with UT Martin and Western Illinois. Little Rock sits one game back from first place Morehead State.
Chaplin went 8-of-9 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line while also recording six rebounds and two assists. At the 12:45 mark, he surpassed 1,000 career points.
Makhel Mitchell recorded his first double-double of the season with a season-high of 18 points and a team and season-high of 11 rebounds. He also tied his season-high with a team-high of five blocks. Mitchell has led the team in blocks the past seven games.
Bradley Douglas contributed 12 points, including two three-pointers, while DeAntoni Gordon recorded ten points.
The Trojans (16-11, 9-4 OVC) bested Southern Indiana (7-20, 4-10 OVC) in field goal percentage (48.3% to 34.9%) and in free throw percentage (81.0% to 68.4%). Little Rock also out rebounded the Screaming Eagles 42 to 38 and scored more points off of the bench 34 to 18.
The Trojans opened the first half on a 7-0 run including five points from Chaplin, before USI scored their first points on a layup at the 14:56 mark.
Over the next four minutes, Little Rock held the Screaming Eagles to five points while scoring 13 to increase their lead to 20-9 a the 10:43 mark.
During this run, Chaplin recorded his 1,000th career point at the 12:45 mark on a jumper.
With 5:25 left in the half, USI scored four-straight points to cut the Little Rock lead to 29-19. The Trojans answered back with a jumper by Mitchell.
The Trojans outscored the Screaming Eagles 7-6 over the remaining minutes of the half to go into halftime with a 38-26 advantage.
USI opened the second half with a jumper, before the Trojans scored six-straight points from Gordon, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, and Chaplin for the 44-28 lead.
With 12:42 left it the game both teams exchanged three-pointers as USI knocked down two and Chaplin scored on a three for Little Rock to bring the Trojan lead to 56-43.
After a three-pointer by Douglas at the 5:33 mark, USI went on a 10-2 run to cut the Trojan lead to 70-59.
In the remaining 2:28, the Trojans outscored USI 10-4 to win 80-62.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 72, LINDENWOOD 57
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois built a double figure lead late in the first half and held the double digit margin for all but 20 seconds of the second half as the Panthers won their second straight at home with a 72-57 win over Lindenwood on Saturday afternoon at Groniger Arena.
EIU honored its senior class prior to the game with all three active seniors contributing as EIU improved to 13-14 overall, 7-7 in the OVC. Lindenwood dropped to 8-19 overall, 2-12 in the OVC.
The game had one tie at 4-4 in the first half but EIU controlled the pace of play most of the 40 minutes of action. EIU went up ten points with 8:11 to play in the first as Tiger Booker knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 19-9. Booker led the Panthers with 21 points adding five assists and two steals.
The Panthers led 35-25 at the half.
Lindenwood cut the lead to single digits on a Corey Ruffin lay-up with 18:07 remaining in the game. Booker answered 19 seconds later with a lay-up to push the lead back to ten and the Lions never threatened again.
Four Panthers finished in double figures with Kyndall Davis posting his third double-double in the last four games with 11 points, ten rebounds. Corey Sawyer Jr had 15 and Dan Luers 11. EIU's final senior Jermaine Hamlin had five points.
Jaylon McDaniel was the lone Lindenwood player in double figures finishing with ten points. Lindenwood shot just 37 percent for the game.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 68, TENNESSEE STATE 61
NASHVILLE - The Western Illinois men's basketball team remained road warriors this season in the Ohio Valley Conference, completing a Tennessee sweep on Saturday, knocking off Tennessee State 68-61 in Nashville. The Leathernecks improved to 17-10 overall, 10-4 in league play, and 8-1 on the road in the conference.
Western Illinois' win gives the squad 10 victories on the road this season, the most since the 1957-58 season, when the team won 11, and ties the Leathernecks with UMass Lowell as the only teams in Division I men's basketball with 10 road victories.
Western Illinois now turns its focus to Western Hall, where the Leathernecks play their final four regular-season games with a chance at a regular-season conference title.
Defense led the way in the first half as WIU held Tennessee State to two points over the final 9:04, turning a 15-14 deficit to a 34-17 lead at the break.
Western Illinois held TSU to 6-30 (20 percent) shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Tigers chipped away, cutting the Leatherneck advantage to four points, 48-44 with 8:12 to go. But Western Illinois locked in once again, going on an 8-1 run over the next 2:30 to lead 56-45. From there, TSU drew no closer than the final margin.
Ryan Myers had his second-straight big night behind the arc, making 4-8 from three on his way to a team-high 22 points. Myers also added five rebounds and two assists. Drew Cisse finished with 14 points and five rebounds. JJ Kalakon added 11 points and four boards. Quinlan Bennett chipped in with eight points and five rebounds. Jesiah West had a team-high nine rebounds and five assists while scoring four points.
As a team, WIU went 22-56 from the field (39.3 percent), 6-19 from three (31.6 percent) and 18-26 from the line (69.2 percent).
SIUE 80, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 76
EDWARDSVILLE, Mo. - SIUE men's basketball overcame a 15-point deficit on Saturday against Southeast Missouri to win its final home game of the season, 80-76 at First Community Arena.
SIUE improved its Ohio Valley Conference record to 8-6 and 15-12 overall. SEMO slipped to 8-19 overall with a 3-11 record in the OVC. The Cougars finished with a 12-2 record at First Community Arena-the most home wins for the program since the move to Division I.
SEMO jumped out to an early 14-7 lead with a fastbreak layup by Marques Bryant. The Redhawks didn't slow down as they stretched their first half to 15 (32-17) on a Rob Martin jump shot.
The Cougars made up some ground, switching to a 2-3 zone with 7:30 left in the first half. SEMO would go on to make just 5 of their next 15 shots. SIUE would take advantage of an 11-2 run over the course of 3:00 to cut the lead to three (37-34).
A jump shot made by Brian Taylor II with 49 seconds left tied the game at 39 going into the halftime break; just the second time the Cougars have been tied at half under Brian Barone at SIUE.
The second half featured a similar start to the first half. The Cougars fell behind by nine (50-41) 6:00 minutes into the half yet had another fight in them. SIUE got within one (50-49) on a dunk by Arnas Sakenis. Ray'Sean Taylor gave the Cougars the lead with a three-pointer with 9:51 to play.
The Cougars' biggest lead of the game came on a layup by Arnas Sakenis to make it 68-62 with 5:39 left in the game. The Redhawks used a 14-2 run, capped off by pair of free-throws by Rob Martin to get their lead back to six.
The Cougars held SEMO scoreless for the final 3:07 and finished the game on a 10-0 run. A Shamar Wright shot tied the game at 76, followed by a Minor layup with :14 seconds left to put the Cougars back on top. Minor sealed the game with a pair of free throws.
Damarco Minor led the charge for the Cougars with a game-high 26 points, his fifth 20-point game of the season. Minor added eight rebounds and three assists.
Ray'Sean Taylor also contributed a 20-point game with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from behind the three-point arc while adding 2 points from the free-throw line.
Fifth year Senior Lamar Wright finished the game with 12 points and three rebounds. The Cougars got a big boost off the bench from Arnas Sakenis who finished with a career-high nine points and seven rebounds.
SIUE connected on 28-63 (44 percent) from the field and finished 16-22 (73 percent) from the free-throw line.
Southeast Missouri was led by Rob Martin who scored 13 points and grabbed three rebounds while recording a game high 9 assists.
The Redhawks shot 31-64 (48 percent) from the field and connected on 7-21 (33 percent) three pointers. SEMO was perfect at the line going 7-7.
The Cougars outrebounded SEMO with 36 -33.
UT MARTIN 88, MOREHEAD STATE 82
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team led for nearly 37 minutes of clock time this afternoon but overcame a late deficit with a game-ending 8-0 run in an 88-82 triumph over Morehead State.
After winning for the seventh time in their last eight tries, the Skyhawks improve to 17-10 with a 10-4 record in Ohio Valley Conference play – just one game behind the visiting Eagles (20-7, 11-3) in the league standings. Today's victory also clinched a winning season for UT Martin and is just the third time in school history (second year in a row) that the Skyhawks have defeated every OVC team at least once in a single season.
UT Martin led by as many as 13 points with 11:13 remaining but Morehead State clawed back to take an 82-80 advantage with 1:50 to go. A free throw from Jordan Sears followed before Issa Muhammad converted both ends of a one-and-one situation from the charity stripe to nudge the Skyhawks ahead by an 83-82 margin at the 1:12 mark. Sebastian Mendoza then drained a clutch three-pointer from the left corner on UT Martin's next possession before Sears knocked down two free throws that officially sealed the win. All in all, the Skyhawk defense locked down the Eagles for three missed shots and a turnover on their final four possessions en route to the victory.
Sears achieved a bit of history today as the junior guard from Daytona Beach, Fla. scored his 1,000th point in a UT Martin uniform. He became the 19th member of the Skyhawks' 1,000-point club and only the fourth player to accomplish that feat in two seasons or less, joining Lester Hudson (2007-09), Michael Hart (1994-96) and Marcus Glass (1984-86). Sears ended his day with a game-high 31 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals while playing all 40 minutes for UT Martin, who drained 45.8 percent (11-for-24) of its three-point attempts.
Jacob Crews accounted for 29 points (on 11-of-22 shooting), eight rebounds and two steals today while Muhammad hauled in a team-best nine rebounds while toughing out an eye injury that occurred in the first 93 seconds of the game.
Morehead State saw three players score at least 20 points, led by Riley Minix's 26 points and 10 rebounds. Eddie Ricks III added 21 points with seven rebounds and Drew Thelwell provided 20 points plus a game-high eight assists for the Eagles, who were outscored by sizeable margins by the Skyhawks in fast breaks (23-6) and in bench points (17-0).
The Skyhawks led for the first 33:56 of the game, taking a 44-36 halftime lead into the locker room. Sears' 1,000th point at UT Martin gave the home squad a 10-4 lead four minutes into the contest before the Eagles raced back to tie the score at 15-all.
A Mendoza three-pointer at the 6:25 mark of the first half opened up a 29-21 lead for the Skyhawks. Towards the latter stages of the opening half, Crews pumped in six straight points for UT Martin – capped off with an off-balance turnaround trifecta from the left corner that provided the Skyhawks with a double-digit lead (44-33) for the first time all afternoon.
Sears also went on a personal 7-0 run for UT Martin in the early portion of the second half. He scored on a driving layup, canned a pullup three-pointer and splashed a floater in the paint – all in the span of 52 seconds – to push the Skyhawk advantage out to 64-51 with 11 minutes to go.
A little under two minutes later, Morehead State began a 12-0 run that ended with UT Martin's first deficit of the contest (68-67) at the 6:04 mark. That lead lasted exactly nine seconds before Muhammad weaved through traffic for a driving layup that tilted the score back in favor of the Skyhawks.
It was a back-and-forth affair from there. Crews hit a pullup three-pointer to give UT Martin an 80-77 edge with 2:24 remaining but the Eagles responded with five straight points. The Skyhawks' defensive prowess then showed up while the aforementioned trio of Sears, Muhammad and Mendoza gave UT Martin the offensive punch it needed in crunchtime.