SATURDAY'S GAMES
@Tennessee Tech 75, Eastern Illinois 67
@Western Illinois 82, Southern Indiana 76
Little Rock 82, @Lindenwood 73
@Tennessee State 75, SIUE 71
UT Martin 82, @Southeast Missouri 72
TENNESSEE TECH 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 67
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - On an afternoon celebrating the careers of its two seniors, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team saw its wave of the future step up and help deliver one last victory in the Hooper Eblen Center for its two veterans, as the Golden Eagles topped visiting Eastern Illinois on Saturday, 75-67.
Prior to the critical Ohio Valley Conference match-up, senior Golden Eagle guards Diante Wood and Jayvis Harvey were honored in a special, Senior Day ceremony. Once the ball was in the air, however, it was back to work for the purple and gold.
In need of a win to stay alive for the last spot in the OVC Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. in two weeks, Tech (10-19, 5-11), waged a healthy battle with the Panthers (13-16, 7-9). The lead exchanged hands six times while the contest saw seven ties, but it was the Cookeville crew's elite 3-point shooting and solid defense that allowed the team to hold the advantage for more than 30 minutes in the contest.
After the Golden Eagles ran out to a 15-point lead in the opening half, the Panthers spent the final six minutes leading up to the buzzer doing their best work of the night on both sides of the ball. When it came time to report to the locker room, the score was all knotted up at 38-38.
The purple and gold sank seven tries from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes and kept that approach the remainder of the evening. Tech got six more timely makes from distance in the second half, helping take back control after an early deficit and build the lead back out to double digits.
For the contest, the Golden Eagles sank 13-of-25 attempts from deep, firing at a 52 percent clip. Tech's defense also held EIU to just 5-for-20 efficiency from downtown and 40.6 percent shooting from the floor.
Sophomore forward Daniel Egbuniwe set the tone right out of the gate for Tech, scoring eight early points and finishing the evening with a career-high-tying 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He added seven rebounds to the mix as well.
Junior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. provided the surge in the second half, contributing 14 of his team-high 18 points over the closing 20 minutes. The big man converted seven on his 10 shots from the field, buried a pair of treys and snagged four boards.
Rookie guard Kyle Layton turned in a pair of career-high marks to help lead the way to the win, sinking 4-of-7 tries from 3-point range on his way to 14 points. Sophomore guard Josiah Davis continued his electric play, doing a little bit of everything with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and four assists.
In his final contest in the Hoop, Harvey posted 11 points with a 3-for-7 performance from downtown. He added five rebounds, three dimes, and two steals to the stat sheet as well. Wood led the Golden Eagles with six assists and tacked on four points with six rebounds.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 82, SOUTHERN INDIANA 76
MACOMB, Ill. - When you are desperate for a win, especially on your home floor, you take them as they come. Having lost four straight at home, the Leathernecks had fallen to fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
On Saturday, Western Illinois was able to shake off the home woes and take down Southern Indiana, 82-76. The Leathernecks improve to 18-11 overall and 11-5 in the OVC.
The victory was not easy for WIU as Southern Indiana refused to go away. The Leathernecks led by as many as 13 in the second half but the Screaming Eagles trimmed the lead to two, 74-72 with 57 seconds left. But Ryan Myers (14 points) was ice water at the line, hitting four straight free throws to the Leathernecks back up six. USI again rallied, cutting the deficit to two again, 78-76 with 12 seconds left.
But Myers and James Dent Jr. (eight points, five assists, five rebounds) both hit two free throws to ice the game and end the Western Hall blues.
It was a balanced effort for the Leathernecks as Jesiah West scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Drew Cisse added nine points and 12 boards, Quinlan Bennett finished with 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists, JJ Kalakon scored 11, and Tay Knox finished with 10 points and four rebounds.
The Leathernecks started quickly, taking a 7-2 lead in the first 2:30, but Southern Indiana stormed back, taking their largest lead of the night, 22-16 at the 9:48 mark. Western Illinois responded, going on a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to lead 26-22. WIU extended the lead one more bucket at the half, taking a 39-33 advantage into the break.
In the opening 20 minutes, Western Illinois controlled play, going 17-31 from the floor (54.8 percent) and outrebounding USI 25-16.
In the second half, WIU started quickly, taking a 46-35 lead on a Kalakon three-pointer with 18:03 to go. Western Illinois' lead grew to 13, 55-42 on a Knox dunk off a Kalakon feed. But as they did all game, the Screaming Eagles did not fold, making a late run before the Leathernecks iced the game at the line.
For the contest, WIU went 22-29 (75.9 percent) from the charity stripe, 27-60 from the field (45 percent), and 6-22 (27.3 percent) from three. The Leathernecks outrebounded the Screaming Eagles 51-29 and held a 17-7 second-chance points advantage.
USI went 26-66 (39.4 percent) from the field, 7-25 (28 percent) from three, and 17-22 (77.3 percent) from the line.
LITTLE ROCK 82, LINDENWOOD 73
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Little Rock Men's Basketball team won their seventh-straight contest on Saturday as the Trojans defeated Lindenwood 82-73 and moved into a tie for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Trojans have won their last ten out of 11 games and are now tied seventh in the nation for longest winning streak.
Makhel Mitchell led all scorers with 21 points, two points shy of his career high, and all rebounders with 14, a career-high, to record his third-straight double-double. He went 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. Mitchell also contributed a team-high three blocks.
KK Robinson scored 19 points and led the team in assist with five. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 13 points, while Jamir Chaplin recorded ten points, eight rebounds, and a team-high five assists in the win.
The Trojans (18-11, 12-4 OVC) held Lindenwood's leading scorer, Keenon Cole, to 12 points and six rebounds for the game, as the Lions were led by Keith Haymon who had 18 points, including six three-pointers.
Little Rock went 28-of-45 from the field for 62.2%, almost a season-high mark. For the second-straight game, the Trojans outscored their opponent by 20 points in the paint 40-20.
Little Rock opened the first half with a layup by Chaplin and a put back by Crocker-Johnson, before Lindenwood (8-21, 2-14 OVC) scored their first points at the 18:10 on a jumper.
Both teams scored five points, before a jumper by Gordon gave the Trojans the 11-7 lead with 14:43 remaining. The Lions answered back with a three to cut the lead to one.
The Trojans scored their first points in three minutes with a layup by Mitchell followed by a jumper by Bradley Douglas to extend their lead. Back-to-back three-pointers by Lindenwood gave the Lions their first lead of the game at 16-15 with 9:57 remaining in the half.
Lindenwood extended their advantage to three, before Little Rock went on a 9-0 run with all of the points coming from Jordan Jefferson and Crocker-Johnson to regain a 26-20 lead with 5:36 until the half.
With 2:11 left in the first half, the Lions knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to cut the Little Rock lead to 34-31.
In the last 339 seconds, the Trojans outscored the Lindenwood 3-1 including a put back by Mitchell for the 37-32 half-time lead.
Lindenwood opened the second half with a three-pointer, before Crocker-Johnson scored on a three-point play bringing the score to 40-35 in Little Rock's favor.
The Lions cut the lead to two on a three-pointer at the 16:18 mark, but the Trojans answered back with six-straight points, including four from Robinson, to extend the advantage back to 48-40.
Over the next two minutes, the Lions held Little Rock to just two points while scoring five to cut the lead to 50-45 with 12:38 left in the game.
With 10:41 left in the game, the Lions narrowed the Trojan lead to one on a three-point play, but Little Rock answered back with seven-straight points including five from Mitchell to bring the lead to 61-53.
Both teams exchanged points, before a three-pointer by Robinson with 5:10 remaining gave the Trojans a 70-64 advantage.
With 2:44 left in the game, Robinson sparked a 6-0 run on a layup to extend the lead to 78-68.
After a three by Lindenwood cut the lead to five with 38.1 seconds remaining, the Trojans locked down on defense holding the Lions scoreless while going 4-of-6 from the free throw line for the 82-73 win.
TENNESSEE STATE 75, SIUE 71
NASHVILLE - - Kinyon Hodges racked up eight steals, and the Tennessee State men's basketball team took down the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars 76-71 at home Saturday. Hodges' eight swipes is a new single-game TSU record, surpassing Garrett Richardson's seven in February of 2003.
The Tigers (17-12, 10-6) had four players score in double figures, led by Michael Shanks, who had 16 points. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. added 15 points and Hodges helped out with 11 points, six rebounds and eight steals.
Tennessee State grabbed 41 rebounds in Saturday's game compared to SIU-Edwardsville's 36, led by Jason Jitoboh's nine boards.
The Tennessee State defense held SIU-Edwardsville shooters to only 35.8 percent from the field, including 26.7 percent from three-point range.
After falling behind 2-0, Tennessee State went on a 17-0 run with 18:26 left in the first half to take a 17-2 lead. The Tigers then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 36-25 advantage. Tennessee State capitalized on nine SIU-Edwardsville turnovers in the period, turning them into 13 points on the other end of the floor.
SIU-Edwardsville proceeded to take a 48-43 lead before Tennessee State went on a 9-0 run, finished off by Jaylen Jones' layup, to seize a 52-48 lead with 9:45 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 76-71 win. Tennessee State got out on the break in the period, scoring 16 fast break points.
UT MARTIN 82, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 72
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A program record for Ohio Valley Conference road victories was established today as the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad claimed an 82-72 win at Southeast Missouri.
The victory this afternoon was the seventh of the season for the Skyhawks, which passed the 2008-09 and 2007-08 UT Martin teams for the most in school history. Today’s win also matched the program’s win total from a year ago and moved the Skyhawks (19-10) in a tie for first place in the OVC alongside Morehead State and Little Rock at 12-4. UT Martin’s fifth straight victory also marked the longest in head coach Ryan Ridder’s three-year tenure.
Jacob Crews muscled up for his ninth double-double of the season today, tallying a game-high 31 points (on 10-of-16 shooting and an 8-for-8 effort from the free throw line) and 11 rebounds. It was the third 30-plus point outing of the season – all coming in the last dozen OVC contests – for the junior from Hilliard, Fla.
Jordan Sears overcame a tough shooting day to still end with 22 points, making 14 of his 16 attempts from the free throw line. Issa Muhammad was responsible for his eighth double-double of the 2023-24 campaign with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Skyhawks, who led for 33:58 of clock time but had to hold off a pesky Redhawk squad with an 8-2 run over the final 71 seconds.
Southeast Missouri (8-21, 3-13 OVC) was led by 17 points off the bench from Rob Martin. Evan Eursher scored 15 points while Braxton Stacker added 11 points for the Redhawks, who were held to 35.1 percent shooting (26-of-74) and 34.8 percent (7-for-29) from three-point land.
The Skyhawks faced an early 4-0 deficit but a pair of Crews three-pointers occurred before a 13-0 UT Martin run. Muhammad contributed nine of those 13 points en route to a 20-9 Skyhawk advantage with 10:37 to go in the first half.
Crews scored 14 of UT Martin’s final 19 points before the halftime break to help the Skyhawks take a 41-30 edge at the intermission. Crews tallied 20 points in the first half while Martin posted seven points to guide Southeast Missouri.
After the Redhawks scored on their opening possession of the second half, Sears and Crews swished back-to-back three-pointers. Sears followed with a driving layup to give the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the day (49-32) with 18:10 remaining.
Southeast Missouri got back within single digits coming out of the under-14-minute media timeout and eventually trimmed UT Martin’s lead down to two points with seven minutes left to play. Sears canned a pair of free throws before Mendoza drained a big trey to push the Skyhawk advantage back out to 67-60 at the 5:37 mark.
UT Martin’s lead stood at four points with 1:12 to go before Sears knocked down six consecutive free throws – capping off a remarkable 30-for-35 night from the charity stripe for the Skyhawks. Crews put an exclamation point on the win with a thunderous dunk with 13 seconds left.