SATURDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 67, @Tennessee Tech 60
Little Rock 71, @Eastern Illinois 47
@Tennessee State 79, Southern Indiana 74
UT Martin 90, @SIUE 79
Western Illinois 76, @Southeast Missouri 55
MOREHEAD STATE 67, TENNESSEE TECH 60
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - - Riley Minix secured his 10th double-double with game highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Drew Thelwell hit a dagger 3-pointer with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter to put the Eagles up 60-53 as the Morehead State Men's Basketball team secured a 67-60 win against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on the road Saturday.
The Eagles (18-5, 9-1 OVC) had three players score in double figures. Kalil Thomas tacked on 13 points and Eddie Ricks III helped out with 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks off the bench. The OVC leader in assists, Thelwell dished out seven today.
Morehead State did a great job taking care of the basketball, dishing out 17 assists while turning the ball over eight times. Individually, Thelwell led the way for the Eagles with seven assists. Jordan Lathon also contributed with three assists of his own.
The Eagles trailed 50-46 with 7:41 remaining, but a 9-0 run turned the tide in MSU's favor.
Morehead State started out the scoring by going on a 9-0 run, culminating in a three from Lathon, to take an early lead with 15:44 left in the first half. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 31-25 advantage. Morehead State relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down five shots to account for 15 of its 31 points.
Tennessee Tech proceeded to take a 50-46 lead before Morehead State went on the 9-0 run, finished off by Ricks' layup, to seize a 55-50 lead with 4:09 to go in the contest. The Eagles kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 67-60 win. Morehead State got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 14 of its 36 total points.
LITTLE ROCK 71, EASTERN ILLINOIS 47
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Little Rock men's basketball team defeated Eastern Illinois on the road Saturday 71-47. It was the first time since December 11, 2018 that the Trojans held their opponent to 47 points, and the first time since January 22, 2021 that the team held their opponent to under 29% field goal percentage.
Bradley Douglas and Jamir Chaplin led the team in points with 14 each. Douglas went 6-of-10 from the field and knocked down two three-pointers. Chaplin went 7-of-11 from the floor while also bringing down eight boards.
Makhel Mitchell contributed 11 points and a team-high three blocks, while Jaylen Crocker-Johnson recorded his second double-double of the season with 11 points and a team-high 13 rebounds. He also led the team in assists with six.
EIU opened the first half on a 9-2 run with the Trojans only points coming from Jordan Jefferson. At the 15:11 mark, Douglas knocked down a jumper that sparked a 11-0 run including five points from Mitchell to give Little Rock the 13-9 lead.
Both teams exchanged points, before the Panthers held the Trojans scoreless while knocking down six-straight to take the 20-15 advantage with 6:38 left in the half.
In the remaining 6:16 of the half, Little Rock held EIU to just four points while scoring 16, including seven from Douglas for the 31-24 half-time lead.
The Trojans opened the second half limiting EIU to four points while scoring 16 including eight from Crocker-Johnson for the 47-28 advantage with 14:36 left in the game.
With 10:30 on the clock, at three-pointer by Douglas followed by a layup by DeAntoni Gordon gave the Trojans their largest lead of the game 57-34. EIU answered back with a 7-2 run bringing the Little Rock advantage to 59-39.
Little Rock held on to their advantage and ended the game on a three-pointer by Cougar Downing to win 71-47.
TENNESSEE STATE 79, SOUTHERN INDIANA 74
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team got a 50-point performance from the bench on the way to a 79-74 win over the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles at home Saturday.
The Tigers (13-10, 6-4) had four players score in double figures, led by Ej Bellinger, who had 21 points and six rebounds. Jaylen Jones tacked on 16 points and five assists from the bench and Jason Jitoboh helped out with 12 points and three blocks.
Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Southern Indiana shots in the contest, coming away with five blocks. Jitoboh's three rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.
After falling behind 37-31, Tennessee State went on a 5-0 run with 1:30 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Jones, to narrow its deficit to 37-36. Southern Indiana answered back and added to its lead, leaving the Tigers down 38-36 entering halftime.
The Tigers rallied in the second half, outscoring Southern Indiana 43-36 and overtaking the Screaming Eagles to grab the 79-74 victory. Tennessee State capitalized on eight Southern Indiana turnovers in the period, collecting 12 points off those turnovers.
UT MARTIN 90, SIUE 79
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - A scintillating opening 20 minutes for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad propelled the Skyhawks to a 90-79 triumph over SIUE at First Community Arena this afternoon.
UT Martin shot 54.8 percent (17-for-31) – including an 8-of-16 effort from three-point land – and limited the Cougars to 25 percent (7-of-28) shooting in the first half en route to a 46-20 halftime advantage. The 20 points scored were the fewest by any Skyhawk NCAA Division I opponent in 2023-24.
Overall, UT Martin (14-9, 7-3 Ohio Valley Conference) held an advantage for 37:56 of clock time and led by as many as 31 points with 15 minutes remaining.
OVC scoring leader Jordan Sears was on fire once again today, tying a career-high with 34 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He sank a career-best six 3-pointers in eight attempts while going 10-for-12 from the free throw line. In addition, the junior from Daytona Beach, Fla. tacked on six assists, four rebounds and three steals in 38 minutes.
Jacob Crews was responsible for his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Issa Muhammad tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, a career-high five assists and two steals for the Skyhawks, who connected on 54.7 percent (29-for-53) of their shot attempts and made 11 treys.
SIUE (13-10, 6-4 OVC) was led by Shamar Wright’s 26 points while Damarco Minor and Lamar Wright added 19 and 18 points, respectively.
The Skyhawk defense was active from the start, allowing UT Martin to get off to an 8-1 lead less than two minutes into the contest. The Cougars answered with an 8-0 run before Sears’ first trifecta of the day tilted the score back in favor of the Skyhawks.
UT Martin soon scored the first 12 points of a 29-3 run that lasted 11:34 of clock time. Sears was the main catalyst of the Skyhawks’ surge as he piled up almost half (14) of the team’s 29 points during that run, canning four treys over that stretch. His strong take to the hoop at the 3:14 mark extended UT Martin’s advantage out to 40-14.
A steal and fast break layup by Sears with 1:25 to go before the halftime break resulted in a 46-20 Skyhawk lead at the intermission. Sears had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (including a 5-for-6 performance from three-point range) in the first half while Crews added 10 points for the Skyhawks. Shamar Wright collected a team-best 11 points in the opening half for SIUE.
Sears swished a three-pointer from the left wing to begin the second-half scoring for UT Martin. A Williams layup with 15:19 remaining provided the Skyhawks with their biggest lead of the afternoon at 31 points (59-28).
Shortly thereafter, Crews came away with five consecutive UT Martin points before a Sebastian Mendoza triple from the right wing made the score 67-38 in favor of the Skyhawks with 11:41 to go.
The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run but a thunderous dunk from Sears on a backdoor cut kept UT Martin’s advantage at 20 points (75-55) with 6:16 left in the game.
SIUE slowly trimmed its deficit – eventually pulling within nine points with just under a minute to go – but the Skyhawk lead was never in serious jeopardy.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 76, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 55
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - On this week's two-game stretch through Missouri, the Leathernecks showed everyone they are for real.
After a win over Lindenwood on Thursday night, the Leathernecks played one of their most complete games of the season, rolling past Southeast Missouri, 76-55 on Saturday afternoon. The win was the largest conference victory for the Leathernecks (15-8 overall, 8-2 in Ohio Valley Conference) since a 29-point rout of St. Thomas on January 29, 2022.
It was a balanced effort for the Leathernecks with six different players scoring in double figures. It was the most players in double figures since seven players scored in double digits against Central Christian College of the Bible on November 23, 2019.
Western Illinois led for nearly 37 of the game's 40 minutes and held an advantage as great as 26, controlling the Redhawks.
Quinlan Bennett and JJ Kalakon led the way, each scoring 15 points. Drew Cisse had his fifth double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Ryan Myers, Jesiah West, and James Dent Jr. were also in double digits, scoring 10 each, respectively.
Western Illinois controlled the game in about every way, possible, shooting 53 percent (29-55) from the field while holding SEMO to 36 percent (20-55). The Leathernecks even were lights-out from the free throw line, hitting 13-15 (87 percent). In the paint, the Leathernecks outscored the Redhawks 40-18 and Western Illinois won the rebound margin, 38-20.
The win capped a 3-1 road trip for Western Illinois and saw the Leathernecks improve to 6-1 on the road in the OVC this season. The Leathernecks also won their eighth road game of the season, the most since the 1996-97 team also won eight. The most true road wins in program history is 11, belonging to the 1957-58 squad.
The Leathernecks came out hot, riding Bennett and Kalakon early as they built a nine-point lead at the break. The duo each scored 11 in the opening 20 minutes, getting the job done inside and outside.
In the second half, it was much more of a balanced attack, as Cissee and Myers scored eight of their 10, and Dent Jr. had seven of his 10 after intermission.