Ohio Valley Conference

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Point guard Jerone Morton scored a game-high 17 points, while forward Anouar Mellouk threw down three thunderous breakaway dunks and scored 14 as the Morehead State Men's Basketball team locked down on defense too to pick up a 59-53 league road win at Little Rock Thursday afternoon - the program's first-ever win at Little Rock.

On a cold and snowy day, the game was moved up to the afternoon to beat an impending winter storm. Both teams were also cold at times on offense, but the Eagles limited Little Rock to only 2-of-12 three pointers and just 20 points in the first half to improve to 9-7 overall and 4-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Trojans lost their second straight and fell to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Morehead State had its struggles early on but kept the home team disrupted too. MSU actually didn't hit its first field goal until the 13:11 remained in the opening half on Mellouk's turnaround floater. But the Eagles still led 7-6 at that moment.

The game see-sawed back and forth for the next six minutes until a three-pointer by Eagle transfer Tyler Brelsford at 7;10. His triple put his team on top 20-18, and Morehead State never relinquished the lead the rest of the day. Little Rock managed to creep to within 35-34 with 13:28 left in the final half, but the Eagles' 7-0 run pushed it back out as Mellouk finished off he run with another slam. MSU's largest lead was 51-40 at the 5:02 mark before Little Rock attempted its rally. However, the Eagles' cushion never dipped below four until the final horn.

Mellouk was 7-of-10 shooting, while Morton came within one of his career high for points. MSU also got  a near double-double from Steven Clay with 10 points and a career-high eight boards.

MSU held the hosts to just 36 percent shooting, including a dismal 24 percent in the first half. Despite going 3-of-19 from distance itself, MSU managed to hit 42 percent overall. The visitors were 19-of-34 from inside the three-point line.

Isaiah Lewis paced the Trojans with 14 points, while Mwani Wilkinson nearly had a double-double too with 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

TENNESSEE TECH 69, EASTERN ILLINOIS 64
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A spectacular second-half effort helped propel the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to its fourth-straight Ohio Valley Conference victory Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles topped Eastern Illinois, 69-64, at Groniger Arena in Charleston, Ill.

The triumph also marked Tech's fifth consecutive win overall, mixing in a non-conference victory during the impressive streak.

The Golden Eagles (9-7, 4-1) opened the contest cooking on offense, with chef Rodney Johnson Jr. serving up seven points on 3-for-3 shooting to give Tech the early 7-2 lead. The purple and gold shot 66.7 percent over the opening 10 minutes of play, but the Panthers (5-11, 1-4) recovered the remainder of the half.

Johnson Jr. was forced to exit early in the first stanza and miss the remainder of the affair due to an upper-body injury and Eastern Illinois took advantage of the big man's absence. The Panthers held the Cookeville crew to just 1-for-13 shooting to close the half, taking a 37-28 advantage of their own into the break.

Tech head coach John Pelphrey had the magic words in the locker room for his squad, as the Golden Eagles erupted out of the gates for a 10-0 run to take the lead. EIU called for a timeout, but the damage had been done.

The purple and gold turned it into a 23-5 run to open the second half, as the Panthers were forced to call a second timeout in the stanza at the 12:08 mark. The Golden Eagles dominated the stretch, finishing 5-for-9 from distance while using a 14-5 advantage on the glass to take as large as an 11-point lead.

Eastern Illinois refused to give in on its home floor, storming back as the Tech offense hit a cold stretch. The Panthers pulled all the way to within a single point at the 2:16 mark, but junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe delivered a clutch layup through contact to move the lead back to three.

From that point on, the Golden Eagles hit the necessary free throws to ice the game, with Kyle Layton leading the way with four clutch freebies in the final minute. Tech's ball control was a massive factor in the second half, as the Cookeville crew closed the final 20 minutes of the ball game without committing a single turnover.

Egbuniwe dropped his second double-double of the season in the win, tying for the team lead with 13 points while pacing the squad with 10 rebounds. Junior guard Jaylon Johnson matched his teammate with 13 points, sinking 3-of-6 attempts from downtown while leading the game with six assists and no turnovers.

Layton mixed in 10 points and three assists, locking down a perfect 7-for-7 showing at the charity stripe on a night when the Golden Eagles shot just 62.5 percent at the line. Fellow sophomore JaJuan Nicholls also contributed 10 points on 3-for-6 efficiency, hauling in seven boards with four free throws.

Sparta native Grant Slatten chipped in seven points and two steals in 20 minutes off the bench while Ola Ajiboye added four points and three boards. Junior guard Ray Glasgow snagged eight rebounds while producing five points in 22 minutes off the bench.

UT MARTIN 85, WESTERN ILLINOIS 83 (OT)
DEKALB, Ill. - The third time was the charm for the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team this evening as the Skyhawks outlasted Western Illinois, 85-83 in an Ohio Valley Conference overtime thriller.
           
Previously coming up just short in its first two overtime decisions of the 2024-25 campaign, UT Martin made all the right plays down the stretch tonight – going on an 11-2 run in overtime to seal the victory.
           
Tarence Guinyard tied a career-high with 31 points this evening, knocking down six 3-pointers while adding three assists and a career-best four steals. Vladimer Salaridze tallied his fifth double-double of the season (fourth in the past seven games) with a career-high 17 points, 10 rebounds, career-best four steals and three assists. Matija Žužic scored 10 of his 16 points after halftime – swishing five treys in seven attempts for the Skyhawks (7-9, 3-2 OVC), who received a career-high four steals out of AJ Hopkins and game-best four assists from Carlos Cortijo.
           
The Fighting Leathernecks (8-8, 2-3 OVC) placed four scorers in double digits, led by Ryan Myers' 19 points. Sean Smith added 17 points while Marko Maletic and Julius Rollins scored 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Guinyard set the tone early, pumping in the Skyhawks' first 14 points of the game over a span of 3:27. A Cortijo free throw pushed UT Martin's lead out to 27-20 with eight minutes to go in the opening half.
           
Western Illinois battled back to take a brief 36-34 advantage with 3:25 left before the halftime break but the Skyhawks took a 45-42 edge into the locker room thanks to a Žužic trey just before the intermission.
           
Guinyard (20 points) and Salaridze (10) both scored in double figures in the first 20 minutes as UT Martin shot 55.2 percent (16-for-29). Rollins and Smith each collected 11 points apiece for the Fighting Leathernecks.
           
Triples from Cortijo, Žužic and Guinyard in a 2:18 span opened up an early eight-point second-half advantage for the Skyhawks. A Stefano Faloppa layup with 11:44 to go gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the night at 64-51.
           
The Skyhawks did not relinquish a lead until Myers hit a deep three-pointer from the left wing to knot the score at 74-all with 24 seconds left in regulation, resulting in UT Martin's third overtime outing in the last month (at Alabama State on Dec. 11, at Morehead State on Dec. 19).
           
Western Illinois scored the first four points of the extra period before a pair of free throws from Filip Radakovic got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard at the 3:23 mark. Žužic (three-pointer), Guinyard (layup and an old-fashioned three-point play) and Andrija Bukumirovic (free throw) flipped the momentum into an 85-80 lead to give UT Martin the win.

LINDENWOOD 72, TENNESSEE STATE 62
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (7-9, 2-3 OVC) earned a gritty 72-62 victory over the Tigers from Tennessee State (5-11, 1-4 OVC) by a final score of 72-62 in Hyland Arena on Thursday night. It became the first ever victory for the Lions over the Tigers in program history.

Anias Futrell posted his second double-double of the season after tying his season-best in points (24) and grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds in the win over TSU. Futrell shot 7-17 from the floor while going 4-10 from three-point range. All 10 of Futrell's rebounds were on the defensive glass and he added a team-high three steals.

Nathan Johnson Jr. provided a spark in just his fourth start of the season after scoring 11 points on 3-9 shooting from the field. Johnson Jr. was also active on the glass adding seven rebounds in 30 minutes of action. He has now started the last three games for the Lions.

Markeith Browning II was the third Lion to score in double-figures after scoring 10 points against Tennessee State. The graduate transfer also dished out a team-high four assists and went 4-6 at the foul line. Lindenwood went 18-27 at the foul line including a few important ones down the stretch of the second half.

Aly Tounkara made his first career start during his freshman campaign on Thursday and did not disappoint. The 7-footer scored seven points while grabbing seven rebounds, five on the offensive glass. On defense, he led the team in blocked shots with a career-high four. Tounkara has now played over 20 minutes in his last two games. Jaids Jones also had nine points, six rebounds and two steals for the Lions.

For the night, Lindenwood shot 38.7% from the floor while going 6-18 (33.3%) from beyond the arc. TSU was held to under 40.0% shooting going 23-59 (39.0%) and 3-22 from three-point range. The Tigers also struggled at the foul line going 13-21 in the loss.

Lindenwood capitalized on the Tigers' 19 turnovers scoring 22 points off of those. LU also won the battle in the paint 36-34 and on second chance opportunities 22-14. Tennessee State did out-rebound the Lions 43-39 but both teams had 13 offensive rebounds.

It was a slow start for the Lindenwood offense as the Tigers led 10-5 with 15:13 remaining in the first half. The Lions started the game shooting 1-10 from the field and 0-3 from three-point range. TSU held an early advantage on the boards out-rebounding LU 9-6 in the first five minutes of the game.

Tennessee State stretch the lead to 28-18 with just under six minutes left in the half. Aaron Nkrumah made a layup off a turnover by the Lions to give TSU a double-digit lead. At that point in the game, TSU was shooting 43.5% from the field while Lindenwood was shooting 25.0%.

Going into halftime, the Lions managed to go on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 34-29. Futrell scored 13 of his 24 points in the first half while shooing 4-11 at the foul line. LU shot under 30.0% from the field in the first 20 minutes of the game, but held TSU to 2-12 shooting from beyond the arc.

At the first media timeout, Lindenwood's offense exploded starting the second half on a 12-0 run (17-0 run overall) while shooting 4-7 from the field and 3-4 from the foul line. Lindenwood's defense forced three early second half turnovers as they now led 41-34. Johnson Jr. made two free-throws with 18:09 left to give LU their first lead of the evening.

Tennessee State managed to cut it to a two-point lead with 14:00 minutes remaining, but Lindenwood responded with a 13-4 run capped off by a Jalen Bouknight three with 9:47 left to play putting Lindenwood back up 11, 55-44.

Lindenwood managed to maintain at least a five-point lead for the majority of the second half answering every shot Tennessee State threw at them. Jones had a huge offensive rebound with 2:02 remaining in the game that lead to a Johnson Jr. two-point basket and put Lindenwood up 66-59. In the last 22 seconds of the game, Futrell made three out of his last four free throws to ice the game for the Lions and helped them pick up their second OVC win of the season.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 77, SOUTHERN INDIANA 66
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Rob Martin scored 15 points to lead four players in double figures and Southeast Missouri (9-7, 4-1) picked up its sixth-straight home win with a 77-66 victory over Southern Indiana (6-9, 1-4) Thursday.

SEMO improved to 7-1 and remained undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference games at the Show Me Center this season.

USI led for only 55 seconds of clock time.

After USI scored the game's first basket, SEMO went on a 9-0 run behind four-straight made field goals.

BJ Ward buried a 3-pointer, Martin pulled up for a jumper and Elliot Lowndes followed with a dunk off a pass from Brendan Terry before Teddy Washington, Jr. added a hookshot to give the Redhawks a 9-2 lead less than three minutes in.

The Screaming Eagles battled back to tie the game at 20-20 on Stephen Olowoniyi's dunk with 6:37 remaining in the first half.

Ahead, 25-24, a minute and 16 seconds later, SEMO used a stepback jumper by Washington, Jr. and four-straight free throws to get ahead, 31-24, with just under four minutes left.

Braxton Stacker's driving layup gave the Redhawks another seven-point lead before they headed into the intermission up, 37-31.

SEMO took its first double-digit lead of the night when Troy Cole, Jr. made two free throws widening the Redhawks margin to 41-31.

Cole, Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer on his team's next possession to stretch the Redhawks lead to 44-33 with 15:52 remaining.

Two more free throws by Cole, Jr. then put SEMO ahead, 46-36, thirty-eight seconds later.

USI managed to get within two (52-50) on a pair of Sam Kodi free throws with10:12 to play, but that was as close as it would get the rest of the way.

Martin knocked down two 3-pointers to go along with 5-of-6 free throws en route to his sixth double-digit game of the season. He added a game-high six assists, as well.

BJ Ward followed with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Stacker pitched in 13 off the bench and Terry contributed 12.

The Redhawks finished with eight 3-pointers and outscored the Screaming Eagles, 24-9, from beyond the arc. Additionally, SEMO made a season-high 25-of-32 free throws.

SEMO returns to action when it hosts Morehead State Saturday. The Redhawks are in a three-way tie for first in the OVC along with MSU and Tennessee Tech.