THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 72, Southeast Missouri 50
@Little Rock 85, Tennessee State 60
@Western Illinois 70, Eastern Illinois 66
Lindenwood 67, @Southern Indiana 63
@UT Martin 80, Tennessee Tech 68
MOREHEAD STATE 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 50
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Riley Minix registered his 17th double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Kalil Thomas dropped in a team-best 18 points to lead four double figure scorers as the Morehead State men's basketball team cruised past the Southeast Missouri Redhawks 72-50 at Johnson Arena Thursday.
Jordan Lathon added 16 points and five assists and Minix helped out with his eighth consecutive double-double. Center Dieonte Miles came within one of his career high with 11 points as the Eagles swept the season series from SEMO and eliminated them from contention for an OVC Tournament berth.
Morehead State grabbed 38 rebounds in Thursday's game compared to Southeast Missouri State's 23, led by Minix's 10 boards. With Minix's point total, he upped his season scoring to 611 points. Hie is just the eighth player in program history to score 600+ in a season.
Thomas was 4-of-5 from three-point range, giving him 150 career triples made as an Eagle in two seasons.
Morehead State forced 13 Southeast Missouri State turnovers. The Eagles turned those takeaways into 12 points on the offensive end of the floor. Eddie Ricks III led the way individually with three steals.
Rob Martin led all scorers with 22 for the visitors.
After jumping out to a 14-8 advantage, Morehead State went on a 7-0 run with 9:43 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Thomas, to increase its lead to 21-8. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 34-25 advantage.
Following intermission, Morehead State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 61-48 before going on an 11-0 run, finished off by Zach Iyeyemi's layup, to grow the lead to 72-48 with 48 seconds to go in the contest.
LITTLE ROCK 85, TENNESSEE STATE 60
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock Men's Basketball team extended their winning streak to eight games as the Trojans defeated Tennessee State 85-60 Thursday to remain tied for first in the Ohio Valley Conference. Five Trojans scored in double-figures in the victory.
Jordan Jefferson led all scorers with a season-high 22 points going 6-of-9 from the field, 2-of-5 from the arc, and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. He also contributed five rebounds and three assists.
Bradley Douglas recorded 19 points from the bench, out scoring the Tigers bench himself, while also recording five rebounds and four assists. DeAntoni Gordon knocked down 16 points, while KK Robinson contributed 11 points.
Makhel Mitchell scored ten points, led the team with eight rebounds, and led the team with five assists.
For the third-straight game, the Trojans (19-11, 13-4 OVC) outscored their opponents by at least 20 points in the paint with a 40-28 mark. Little Rock also out scored Tennessee State (17-13, 10-7 OVC) 32-16 from the bench with 29 of those points coming from Douglas and Mitchell.
Tennessee State opened the first half with a layup, before nine-straight points from Jefferson followed by a jumper by Robinson gave the Trojans a 11-2 lead.
Both teams exchanged points, before Little Rock knocked down 11-straight points, including seven from Douglas, while holding the Tigers scoreless for four minutes for the 27-11 advantage.
With 11:29 left in the half, Tennessee State rattled off 11-straight points to narrow the Trojan lead to 27-22.
After baskets by both teams, Little Rock held the Tigers to six points, including no field goals in the last 4:05, while scoring 17 points, including a last second dunk by Gordon, to end the half with a 47-32 lead.
The second half opened with baskets by both teams, before a layup by Jefferson sparked a 10-0 run by the Trojans for the 61-38 lead.
With 9:41 remaining, Tennessee State went on a 9-2 run to narrow the Little Rock advantage to 67-52.
The Trojans maintained the lead for the remaining of the game ending with a three-pointer by Cougar Downing for the 85-60 win.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 70, EASTERN ILLINOIS 66
MACOMB, Ill. - Late in the game, the Leathernecks were able to lock it in, and for their efforts, they locked down a win.
On Thursday night, the Western Illinois men's basketball team held onto the Old Railsplitter Ax, defeating rival Eastern Illinois 70-66 to maintain the traveling trophy between the two programs as well as maintain fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
For the second-straight game, it was not easy for the Leathernecks (19-11, 12-5) but much like last Saturday's win over Southern Indiana inside Western Hall, Western Illinois did enough to gut out the win.
The Leathernecks led by as many as 14 in the second half before Eastern Illinois came charging back, tying the game with 4:39 remaining, 55-55.
But a dunk by Drew Cisse (10 points, seven rebounds, two blocks) ignited an 8-0 run and gave WIU the lead for good.
It was a balanced attack that led Western as Quinlan Bennett led the way with 14 points. JJ Kalakon scored 13. Cisse and Ryan Myers scored ten apiece. Jesiah West and Tay Knox added eight. James Dent Jr. scored seven.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair as neither team gained more than a four-point advantage until a Bennett bucket put WIU up 29-23 with 3:12 to go in the first half. Back-to-back buckets by West and Knox made it an eight-point game before halftime.
In the second half, the Leathernecks darted out to a 14-point lead behind a quick 11-4 run, but the Panthers chipped away and managed to stay in the game until Western Illinois put EIU away for good in the final seconds.
The win gives Western Illinois fourth place in the OVC, clinching a first-round bye in next week's conference tournament. The victory also gave the Leathernecks 12 wins in conference play, the most for the program since winning 13 in 2012-13. The 19 overall wins are also the most since 2012-13.
For the game, the Leathernecks went 25-60 (41.7 percent) from the field, 12-19 from the line (63.2 percent), and 4-14 (28.6 percent) from three. WIU outrebounded EIU 45-33 and outscored the Panthers 32-20 in the paint and 17-7 on second-chance points
LINDENWOOD 67, SOUTHERN INDIANA 63
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Lindenwood men's basketball (9-21, 3-14 OVC) snapped their seven game losing streak with a win at Southern Indiana (8-22, 5-12 OVC) by a final score of 67-63. It marked the first ever win for the program over USI.
Nathan Johnson Jr. was a spark off the bench scoring a career-high 18 points in the win while shooting 6-11 from the floor including two triples. Johnson was one of four Lions to score in double figures including Darius Beane (12 points) who had a clutch layup with 14 seconds left to secure the win.
Lindenwood's offense struggled out the gate as it was a low scoring affair early on. Jeremiah Talton scored the first five points for Lindenwood. He ended the game with 16 points while going 7-10 from the foul line.
After an early 11-9 lead for Lindenwood, USI would go on an 9-1 run to push the lead to 18-12. Back-and-forth action in Screaming Eagles Arena up until the final five minutes of action for USI when Ryan Hall made back-to-back-to-back threes to pull out to a 29-20 lead. Hall had five three-pointers in the first half and scored a season high 22 points.
After trailing in the first half by 11, Lindenwood managed to cut the lead to four points right before halftime with a Johnson three-pointer. The Lions were held to just 39.1% shooting in the first half while USI shot 52.0% from the field. LU went 9-14 from the line to keep it close at half while Southern Indiana was held to just four attempts in the first 20 minutes.
Beane and Jaylon McDaniel combined to score the first 10 points coming out of halftime to cut the lead to 41-42 with 16:23 remaining. The Lions started the second half red hot shooting 5-8 from the field.
Tommie Williams contributed off the bench with a steal and a layup to tie the game at 46. Southern Indiana was held without a field goal from the 14:27 mark until 4:31 left in the game. They scored all 11 of their points in that span at the foul line.
Although he struggled from the field, Keith Haymon II (1-9 FG) hit a big three with 9:40 remaining to give Lindenwood the 49048 advantage and their first lead since early in the second half.
Southern Indiana went on a 6-0 scoring run with 6:15 left to go up three. Lindenwood then saw Talton nail a three to cut the lead to one point with 2:46 remaining.
Talton was then fouled late on a defensive rebound to send him to the line where he nailed two shots giving LU the 62-61 lead. After a missed shot by USI's Jeremiah Hernandez, Beane had a tough layup and finish to give Lindenwood a three-point lead with 14 second remaining.
Lindenwood would ice the game with free throws by Beane and Haymon to secure their third Ohio Valley Conference win of the season. As a team Lindenwood shot 19-26 from the line and 44.4% from the field in the second half.
McDaniel ended the game with 12 points for Lindenwood. The Lions also out-rebounded USI 34-30 after the Screaming Eagles out-rebounded LU by 12 in the first meeting. USI was held to 29.2% shooting from the floor in the second half.
UT MARTIN 80, TENNESSEE TECH 69
MARTIN, Tenn. - Jordan Sears took over in the second half tonight as the University of Tennessee at Martin overcame a halftime deficit to stay atop the Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball standings with an 80-69 victory against Tennessee Tech.
Sears tossed in 20 points after the intermission to wrap up his evening with 28 points, seven assists and five rebounds. He was joined in double figures scoring by Desmond Williams (all 16 points in the first half), Jacob Crews (13 points, seven rebounds, three steals) and Issa Muhammad (ninth double-double of the season with 11 points, game-high 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks).
The Golden Eagles (10-20, 5-12 OVC) saw Josiah Davis score 20 points while Diante Wood (15 points), Jayvis Harvey (12) and Kyle Layton (10) also posted double-digit scoring tallies.
With tonight’s win, the Skyhawks clinched a 20-win season for only the ninth time in school history and fifth time in the school’s NCAA Division I Era (also accomplishing that feat in 2016-17, 2015-16, 2014-15, 2008-09). UT Martin remained in a three-way tie for first place at 13-4 with Morehead State and Little Rock and will play for a share of its second OVC regular season championship in school history at home on Saturday.
Tennessee Tech went on a 10-0 run early until Williams’ third trey of the first half helped UT Martin eventually even the score at 18-all.
The Golden Eagles scored the next eight points of the contest and led by nine points with 63 seconds remaining in the opening half before Williams caught fire once again. The senior guard out of Montgomery, Ala. was responsible for the Skyhawks’ final seven points of the opening stanza. That included a three-pointer from the right corner with four seconds left that whittled Tennessee Tech’s lead to 36-32 at the break.
Williams’ 16 points led all scorers at the half while Davis had 10 points to guide the Golden Eagles.
UT Martin scored 11 unanswered points during the early portion of the second half, flipping a seven-point deficit into a four-point lead after a Crews fast break trifecta – his second three-pointer of the run – with 15:44 to go.
After a Muhammad tip-in extended the Skyhawk advantage to 49-43 at the 13:33 mark, Tennessee Tech went on an 11-0 run of its own to briefly reclaim the lead.
The game of runs continued as UT Martin pieced together 12 unanswered points once again to take the lead for good. Sears swished a stepback triple – his second of the run – that gave the Skyhawks a 61-54 advantage with 7:49 left to play.
The Golden Eagles would not get any closer than six points the rest of the way. A Sears driving layup on a fast break with just under four minutes remaining gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the night (72-59) as the Skyhawks coasted to the finish line.