THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 51, Western Illinois 47
@UT Martin 68, Eastern Illinois 63
@Southern Indiana 80, Lindenwood 73
Southeast Missouri 77, @Tennessee Tech 70
SIUE 87, @Tennessee State 80 (2OT)
MOREHEAD STATE 51, WESTERN ILLINOIS 47
MOREHEAD, Ky. - It was a grind it out kind of night for the Morehead State Men's Basketball team Thursday against Western Illinois. With both shot clocks not working tonight at Johnson Arena, the game became an old fashioned rock fight, and the Eagles erased a nine-point deficit to rally and defeat the Leathernecks 51-47.
Morehead State lost the lead with 5:28 to go in the first half and didn't gain it back until 2:44 left in the game. The Eagles held WIU to just four points in the last 8:45 as MSU remained in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference at 6-1 and moved to 11-7 overall. MSU has now won 36 straight games when its opponent scores 60 or less. The Eagles also remained perfect at home at 7-0 and are now 35-3 at home in the past three seasons.
WIU fell to 8-10 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
Point guard Jerone Morton, who had played all 40 minutes in two straight games, played 38 tonight and led the Eagles with 17 points. He's scored in double figures in seven of the last eight contests. Kenny White, Jr., was a key catalyst in the comeback. He scored all 14 of his points in the second half, including eight in the rally after MSU fell behind 43-34 with 8:45 left. Anouar Mellouk recorded his second straight double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Sean Smith came off the bench to lead WIU with 11 points. Marko Maletic had 10 points but all the second half. MSU also held the league's top three-pointer shooter to 0-for-2 from long range.
The teams both struggled to find consistent offense. MSU led 13-9 with 7:24 left in the first half, but the visitors. went on an 8-0 run - capped by Maletic's fall away jumper - and pushed ahead 17-13 with 4:43 left. WIU led 26-21 at the half and went on to lead 43-34 with 8:45 left. White's jumper with 2:44 left finally gave MSU its first lead since the first half. A quick bucket from Smith on the other end briefly handed WIU a 47-46 lead, but Mellouk cashed in a three-point play with 1:18 left for the lead for good. Whit also blocked Smith's driving runner with 20.7 seconds left as WIU had one more chance.
However, with three ticks left, WIU's inbound pass to Maletic in the corner in front of his bench led him too far, and he stepped out of bounds. Morton made a pair of free throws with two seconds left to ice the victory.
MSU won despite shooting just 31 percent, but the home team held the Leathernecks to just 36 percent and only 2-of-12 from distance. MSU also out-rebounded WIU 41-37.
UT MARTIN 68, EASTERN ILLINOIS 63
MARTIN, Tenn. - Vladimer Salaridze poured in a career-best 23 points while Tarence Guinyard recorded all of his 18 points in the second half as the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team roared back for a 68-63 triumph over Eastern Illinois.
Trailing by 17 points early in the second half, the Skyhawks (8-10, 4-3 Ohio Valley Conference) outscored the visiting Panthers by a 43-21 margin over the final 17:28 of tonight’s contest. The victory tied for the program’s largest comeback win (in terms of scoring deficit) since an 85-84 overtime win at Austin Peay on Feb. 13, 2016. It marked the first time that UT Martin rallied from at least 17 points to win in regulation since the Skyhawks reversed a 19-point deficit en route to a 75-73 win at Arkansas State on Nov. 17, 2014.
Salaridze’s 23 points eclipsed his previous high of 17 points one week ago at Western Illinois. The redshirt senior forward from Tbilisi, Georgia added six rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 28 minutes this evening. Guinyard tacked on a team-best eight rebounds and punctuated his performance with a perfect 7-of-7 effort from the charity stripe, including six free throws in the final 30 seconds. Josué Grullon (seven points, seven rebounds) also added a pair of clutch free throws with one second left to make it a two-possession game.
Eastern Illinois (5-12, 1-5 OVC) placed four scorers in double figures, led by Artese Stapleton’s 16 points. Kooper Jacobi posted a double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds) while Nakyel Shelton and Zion Fruster added 15 and 12 points, respectively. The Skyhawk defense forced 11 of the Panthers’ 19 turnovers in the final 20 minutes while mounting their comeback.
Salaridze was responsible for 12 of UT Martin’s first 16 points as both teams got off to slow offensive starts. Following a Matija Žužic triple that evened the score at 21-all, Eastern Illinois went on a 16-2 run to close out the opening half with a 37-23 advantage. Salaridze’s 14 points led all scorers at the break while Shelton (12) and Stapleton (10) both scored in double figures for the Panthers.
The Skyhawks found themselves in a 42-25 hole with 18:29 to go but gradually kept chipping away. Guinyard, Carlos Cortijo and Grullon each swished three-pointers in a stretch of 3:39 that quickly shaved UT Martin’s deficit to 43-38 at the 13:19 mark.
Eastern Illinois was able to push its lead back out to nine points with seven minutes remaining but the Skyhawks outscored the Panthers by a 21-7 margin the rest of the way. An old-fashioned three-point play from Guinyard with three minutes left to play tied the score before a driving layup by Afan Trnka at the 2:40 mark gave UT Martin its first lead since 6:44 remaining in the first half.
Guinyard and Grullon’s flawless 8-for-8 effort followed as the Skyhawks held Eastern Illinois to only three made field goals in the final 7:10.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 80, LINDENWOOD 73
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball snapped a five-game losing streak with an 80-73 victory over Lindenwood University Thursday evening at Liberty Arena. The Screaming Eagles are 7-10 overall and 2-5 in OVC action, while the Lions are 8-10, 3-4 OVC.
USI and junior guard Damoni Harrison exploded out of the gate to a 12-0 lead before the first media timeout. Harrison led the way to the game-opening lead with six of the 12 points.
Defensively, USI held Lindenwood to below 10 percent (1-12) from the field and two points for the first 7:45. The Lion, however, got hot and erased the Eagles' lead with a 13-0 run to lead 15-14 with 9:35 left before halftime.
The lead would swing back and forth for the next few minutes until Lindenwood used a 10-0 surge to take control at the 6:15 mark, 26-16. USI would rally to tie the contest at 38-38 after surging with a 22-12 dash to the intermission.
Harrison, who had a team-best 13 first-half points, and junior guard Jayland Randall had seven points each during the six-minute run to halftime. USI was six-of-seven as a team during the rush to tie, including a pair of three-pointers and eight-of-nine from the stripe.
The first 10 minutes of the second half saw both teams scramble to take command with 16 lead changes and three ties. USI attempted to take control with nine minutes to play, building a four-point lead, 59-55, on a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi.
The lead would grow back to eight points, 65-57, after a jumper by Harrison to cap off a 13-2 run. Harrison and Olowoniyi would lead the offensive swell with a combined 11 of the 13 points.
Lindenwood, however, was not done as the Lions cut the USI lead to one twice before a three-point bomb by graduate forward Jack Mielke gave the Eagles some breathing room, 75-71, with 1:20 to play. The Lion would get to within two points, 75-75, one more time before USI closed out the 80-73 win on a bucket by Harrison and free throws by junior guard Jack Campion and Randall.
For the game, Harrison would add 13 more points in the second half and ended with a game-high and season-high 26 points. The junior guard was eight-of-16 from the field, three-of-five from downtown, and seven-of-nine from the line. Harrison also had a team-high and season-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double as an Eagle.
Randall followed with 17 points in his first game back after missing the last two contests due to an injury, while Mielke closed out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 77, TENNESSEE TECH 70
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Teddy Washington, Jr. scored 17 points and Southeast Missouri (10-9, 5-3) grinded out a 77-70 win over Tennessee Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday night at the Eblen Center.
SEMO handed TTU its first home loss of the season and snapped a six-game losing streak against the Golden Eagles in Cookeville.
Tonight's win was the Redhawks first at the Eblen Center since Jan. 18, 2014 (83-74) and by no means did it come easy.
Everything went right for SEMO in the first half, where the Redhawks opened things up by shooting a scorching 60 percent en route to getting their largest halftime lead against a Division I opponent this season.
Ahead, 22-18, SEMO went on a 13-2 run to grab a 15-point advantage.
BJ Ward buried two 3-pointers and Marqueas Bell converted a conventional 3-point play to key the surge that ended with a Troy Cole, Jr. jumper that put the Redhawks ahead, 35-20, with 6:10 remaining.
SEMO outscored TTU, 29-4, in the final 9:06 of the opening stanza and Braxton Stacker's layup extended the Redhawks lead to 21 (47-26) at the intermission.
The Redhawks made 18-of-30 field goals and registered their highest first-half field goal percentage this season.
SEMO also went a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line and forced nine turnovers in its balanced opening 20 minutes that saw eight Redhawks get in the scoring column.
Things suddenly began to turn in the second half when TTU used a 24-9 run in the first 10:06 to trim SEMO's lead to 56-50.
The Golden Eagles scored on 10 of their first 13 field goals at a 76.9 percent clip and made it a two-possession contest on Ola Ajiboya's dunk at the 9:54 mark.
Thirty-three seconds later, Daniel Egbuniwe got open for a two-handed jam to close SEMO's lead to 57-52.
TTU continued to chip away and tacked on two more points on free throws by Egbuniwe.
Moments after Washington, Jr.'s baseline jumper, Matthew Sells knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game at 59-57 with eight minutes to go.
SEMO then countered with a 9-0 run ignited with five-straight points from Rob Martin out of a media timeout.
Martin made two free throws and hit a 3-pointer before TJ Biel scored a second-chance layup. Braxton Stacker followed with a jumper to put the Redhawks back up by double figures (68-57) with 5:45 to go.
After Sells made his second 3-pointer, Kyle Layton scored on a driving layup, was fouled and added a free throw to slice SEMO's lead to 70-67 with 1:35 left.
Stacker, however, nailed a huge 3-pointer to push the Redhawks lead to 73-67 just 17 seconds later.
Washington, Jr. and Stacker each made two free throws in the final 33.7 seconds to seal it for good.
Washington, Jr. scored 12 of his points in the second half and finished with double figures for his team-high 14th time in 2024-25.
Martin and Stacker both chipped in 13 points. Martin made 4-of-9 field goals and Stacker hit 4-of-8 from the floor. Neither missed a free throw, as well, each going 4-of-4.
SEMO outrebounded TTU 33-29 and powered through a second half where it was outscored, 44-30.
SIUE 87, TENNESSEE STATE 80 (2OT)
NASHVILLE - SIUE outscored Tennessee State 12-5 in the second overtime period as the Cougars outlasted the Tigers 87-80 in double overtime to win their fifth straight game.
The win is the first overtime win since 2019 when the Cougars won a pair of overtime contests.
SIUE improved to 5-2 in OVC play and 12-6 overall with the win. Tennessee State slipped to 2-5 in the league and 6-12 overall.
Brian Taylor II scored seven points and Ray'Sean Taylor scored the other five points in the second overtime period as the Cougars won at Tennessee State for the first time since 2021.
The Tigers led by as many as 11 in the first half and held a 35-31 advantage at halftime.
SIUE built its lead to as many as nine in the second half. The Cougars led 71-67 late in regulation before the Tigers fought back to tie the score at 71 with a free throw to take the lead with just 3.5 seconds left. The free throw missed and SIUE had the ball with 1.5 seconds to play. A half-court heave missed to send the game into overtime.
SIUE trailed 75-73 with under 10 seconds to play in the first overtime period. Ray'Sean Taylor drove to the basket and was fouled. He sank both free throws to tie the game at 75 and force the second overtime.
Brian Taylor II tied his career high with 23 points to lead four Cougars in double figures. He was 7-14 shooting and 3-4 from three-point range. Ray'Sean Taylor scored 21 points and was 10-11 at the free throw line. Ring Malith scored 16 points and Kyle Thomas scored 10 after making his first start for the Cougars. Declan Dillon scored a season-high eight points and added a team-high eight rebounds.
After shooting 37 percent in the first half, SIUE was 14-25 (56 percent) from the field in the second half of regulation. The Cougars were 10-20 from three-point range, including going 7-13 in the second half and overtime.
Tennessee State was led by Aaron Nkrumah, who scored 16 points. Carlous Williams scored 13 points and Travis Harper and Ronald Jessamy each scored 11.
The Tigers were 27-60 (45 percent) overall and 6-19 (32 percent) from three-point range. TSU was 6-12 from three-point line in the first half and then 0-7 after halftime.
Both teams finished with 40 rebounds. The Cougars forced Tennessee State into 19 turnovers and finished with 10 steals.