2024 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Semifinals

3/8/2024 8:30:22 AM

#1 LITTLE ROCK 82, #4 WESTERN ILLINOIS 57
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Little Rock Men's Basketball Team advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference Championship game with a 82-57 win over Western Illinois in the semi-finals. This is Little Rock's first trip to the OVC Championship game as the Trojans had four players in double-figures.

DeAntoni Gordon and KK Robinson led all scorers with 16 points, while Jordan Jefferson scored 13 points. Jamir Chaplin recorded 11 points in the win. Robinson and Jefferson led the team in rebounds with seven. Makhel Mitchell recorded eight points and a team-high five assists.

The Trojans (21-1) and Leathernecks (21-12) each recorded 40 rebounds in the contest. Little Rock outscored Western Illinois 54-20 in the paint and 18-8 in bench.

Both teams opened the first half with points as Crocker-Johnson scored the first for the Trojans. Western Illinois extended their lead to four with 18:03 on the clock with a three-pointer.

The score tied five times, before a layup by Bradley Douglas from Mitchell with 9:41 remaining in the half gave Little Rock their first lead 21-19.

With 6:09 on the clock, Robinson knocked down a jumper to spark a 6-0 run to take the 31-23 advantage.

The half ended with two free throws by Robinson to extend the Little Rock lead to 40-28.

After Western Illinois opened the second half with a free throw, Robinson scored four-straight points to spark a 19-4 run with points coming from Robinson, Chaplin, and Jefferson for the 59-33 advantage with 14:55 on the clock.

The Leathernecks scored their first basket in three minutes with a three-pointer followed by two free throws, before Gordon scored back-to-back layups for the 63-36 lead with 12:38 left in the game.

The Trojans controlled the rest of the game scoring the last four points on the game and winning 822-57.

#3 MOREHEAD STATE 84, #2 UT MARTIN 78
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - - Riley Minix scored 26 points, Kalil Thomas added a season-high 23 while hitting seven three-pointers to establish the program single-season triples record, and Drew Thelwell set the school single-season assist record as the Morehead State men's basketball team took down the UT Martin Skyhawks 84-78 at Ford Center Friday to advance to Saturday's league title matchup with Little Rock.

Saturday's championship bout will be the program's third appearance in the title game in the last four seasons.

Thomas drilled his first three three-point shots, giving him 96 for the season and surpassing Maze Stallworth's previous mark of 95. He went on to hit four more, pushing his season total to 100. Thelwell needed four assists to break Nik Stojakovic's record of 204 set in 2006-07, and he got just that. His record-breaking assist came with 43 seconds left on a layup by Eddie Ricks III.

Morehead State tied the program record for wins in a season (25-8 now), equaling the 1983-84 and 2010-11 squads.

MSU had four players score in double figures, led by Minix's 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Thomas tacked on his second double-double of the year too with the 23 points and 10 rebounds. Not only did Thelwell help with the assists, he also scored 17 points. Jordan Lathon scored 10 points.

MSU drained 16 three-pointers, a season-high, which was one short of the OVC Tournament record.

Morehead State out-rebounded UT Martin 45-38 in Friday's game, led by Thomas' 10 boards. The Eagles also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 14 second-chance points.

After falling behind 20-15, Morehead State went on a 6-0 run with 9:50 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Minix, to take a 21-20 lead. The Eagles then surrendered that lead and entered halftime down 41-37.

The game was tied 56-56 with 9:34 to go, but a 13-4 run spurred the Eagles to victory. MSU never trailed after that point. The Eagles led 76-64 with 2:34 left. UT Martin trimmed the margin back but never got to within lower than six.