2024 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals

3/7/2024 8:30:45 AM

#4 WESTERN ILLINOIS 61, #5 TENNESSEE STATE 59
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Survive and advance, indeed. That is what the Western Illinois men's basketball team did on Thursday night as Ryan Myers' bucket with 2.3 seconds left gave the Leathernecks a 61-59 win over Tennessee State in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

The victory sends the Leathernecks (21-11) to the OVC semifinals and a matchup with top-seed Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The game was tight throughout but Western Illinois made the stops and got the points they needed in the slugfest.

"This is a big win for us and the program, but we have two more to win," Quinlan Bennett, who scored a team-high 18 points and added ten rebounds for his second double-double this season.

The game featured 13 ties and ten lead changes as a TSU free throw tied the game with 17 seconds to go. Rather than use a timeout, the Leathernecks went to, putting the ball in the hands of Myers, who went to the basket and delivered the good.

The game was a defensive struggle from the outset as the two teams were tied 30-30 at the break.

In the second half, it was much the same as the two squads traded punches, taking turns appearing to pull away before the other team fought back.

Turnovers and free throws haunted the Leathernecks as 19 WIU giveaways led to 25 Tiger points. Also, WIU struggles from the charity stripe, going 16-29 (55.2 percent) But when the game got tough, the Leathernecks were tougher, grinding out the win.

The Leathernecks led by as many as eight in the second half, but TSU took a lead as large as five with eight minutes to go. A JJ Kalakon (12 points, eight rebounds) basket with 6:39 left tied the game and a free throw by Jesiah West (12 points, nine rebounds) gave WIU a 52-51 lead. Tennessee State regained the lead on its next possession and never trailed until the basket by Myers.

Drew Cisse added six points and 12 rebounds for Western Illinois. The Leathernecks went 21-56 (37.5) from the field, 3-17 (17.6) from three and 16-29 (55.2) from the line. WIU outrebounded Tennessee State 52-36, scoring 14 second-chance points.

The win is the first for WIU in conference tournament play since a first-round victory over South Dakota State in the 2018-19 conference quarterfinals. The Leathernecks have not advanced to a conference championship game since the 2011-12 season.

#3 MOREHEAD STATE 78, #6 SIUE 63
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Morehead State men's basketball team led for all 40 minutes over the SIUE Cougars, picking up a 78-63 victory in the OVC Tournament quarterfinals at the Ford Center Thursday night.

The third-seeded Eagles improved to 24-8 in 2023-24, just one shy of tying the school record for wins in a season.

Riley Minix secured his 10th consecutive double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to give him an OVC-best 19 double-doubles. In addition to Minix's solid outing, the Eagles were led by Jordan Lathon, who had 17 points and four assists, and by Kalil Thomas, who added 15 points. Eddie Ricks III came off the bench to provide his team 11 points.

The Morehead State offense was very productive from three point land, knocking down 10 threes on 30 attempts. Thomas was the most prolific shooter for the Eagles, draining four treys in the contest. Thomas now needs just three more triples to break Maze Stallworth's single-season program record of 95 three-pointers.

Morehead State forced 14 SIUE turnovers while committing just nine themselves in Thursday's game.

Thelwell dished out five assists and became the third Eagle ever to record 200+ assists in a season. He needs only four more to set the MSU single-season record.

How It Happened

MSU raced out a 10-2 lead. SIUE cut the lead back to a 15-12 advantage, but Morehead State went on a 7-0 run with 8:36 left in the first half to increase its lead to 22-12. The Eagles then added three points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 34-21 advantage. Morehead State relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down five shots to account for 15 of its 34 points.

Following intermission, Morehead State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 60-46 before going on a 5-0 run, finished off by Thomas' layup, to grow the lead to 65-46 with 4:16 to go in the contest. The Cougars narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Eagles still cruised the rest of the way for the 78-63 win. Morehead State got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 14 of its 44 total points.