THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Lindenwood 72, Southeast Missouri 68
Little Rock 62, @Western Illinois 51
@SIUE 82, Southern Indiana 76
@Tennessee State 89, Tennessee Tech 77
Morehead State 73, @Eastern Illinois 66
LINDENWOOD 72, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (9-11, 4-5 OVC) ended their two game losing streak on Thursday after a 72-68 victory over Southeast Missouri State (10-10, 5-4 OVC) inside Hyland Arena. The Lions now hold the all-time series record at 4-2 and have won the last three meetings against the Redhawks.
Anias Futrell scored a game-high 20 points in the win over SEMO after shooting 7-14 from the field and 3-6 from three-point range. The St. Louis, Mo. native has scored over 20 points four times this season, including three times in Ohio Valley Conference play. He also added four rebounds and four steals.
Jordan Wildy made his return to the court after being held out since the SIUE game on Jan. 4th. Wildy responded with a career-high 17 points on 4-9 shooting and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. He also added five rebounds and two steals off the bench.
Reigning OVC Freshman of the Week Jadis Jones posted his fourth straight double-digit scoring effort on Thursday after scoring 15 points on 5-9 shooting. The freshman also went 5-6 at the foul line and is 13-14 over his last two games. Jones grabbed six rebounds for LU helping the Lions out-rebound SEMO 36-29. Aly Tounkara added a team-high seven rebounds including four on the offensive glass.
Both teams shared the ball with each squad registering 16 assists. Lindenwood assisted on 16 of their 24 made field-goals with eight of those assists coming from Markeith Browning II. Browning II also scored in double-figures, scoring 10 points while adding five rebounds and one block.
As a team, Lindenwood shot 52.2% from the field including an impressive 59.3% shooting in the first half. The Lions were limited on the outside going 4-12 from three-point range with three of those coming from Futrell. LU also shot a season-high 35 foul shots going 20-35 at the line.
Over the first six minutes of the game, Lindenwood went on a 13-0 run which would be their largest lead of the night. Lindenwood shot 5-6 from the floor over that stretch while the Redhawks were held in-check shooting 0-8 from the field.
SEMO responded cutting the lead to 20-19 with 7:34 remaining in the first half. After starting the game off hot, the Lions shot 2-7 over their next nine field goals attempted. Five different Lions scored over the first 12 minutes of action.
After being up 32-29 with under three minutes to play, Lindenwood ended the half on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 41-31. Wildy led all scorers at the break with 13 first-half points while Futrell chipped in 11. SEMO was held to under 40.0% shooting in the first half going 10-27 (37.0%).
Both offenses slowed down in the second half as SEMO held to slight edge in the first eight minutes of the half out-scoring LU 11-10. The Lions started the quarter shooting 3-8 from the floor and 3-6 at the foul line while SEMO went 5-11 from the field.
Lindenwood's lead would be cut to five points (56-51) with eight minutes to play after a driving layup by Marqueas Ball. Back-and-forth both teams went as Lindenwood managed to maintain their lead and eventually stretch it out to nine points with 3:45 remaining after a three by Futrell.
With under two minutes left, Teddy Washington Jr. made it a three-point game. Lindenwood responded scoring the next four points at the foul line as they were able to ice the Redhawks out at the free throw line. SEMO never led in the ball game as the Lions clinched their fourth OVC win of the season.
LITTLE ROCK 62, WESTERN ILLINOIS 51
MACOMB, Ill. - Little Rock has caught fire, and it has done it on the road. The Trojans (12-7, 6-2) won their fourth game in a row, and their third on the road, Thursday night in a 62-51 victory Thursday night against Western Illinois at Western Hall. Little Rock looks to make to it five straight Saturday afternoon at Lindenwood.
There were four lead changes in the game, but they all came in the first half as the Trojans held the lead for 36:38 of the game. The Trojans led 35-26 at halftime after leading by as many as 11 in the first 20 minutes.
The advantage climbed to 14 in the second half and was never less than seven.
Johnathan Lawson scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. He added 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Ante Beljan chipped in 12 points and 6 rebounds. Emwani Wilkinson only scored five points, but he grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and recorded 2 steals. Toungthach Gatkek totaled a career-high 10 rebounds.
Sean Smith led WIU with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Marko Maletic added 15 points and was 4-of-6 from the three-point line. He is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation, but he made the only four shots out of the 18 the team attempted.
Maletic tried to give the Leathernecks (8-12, 2-7) life when he hit a three-pointer with 7:52 left to trim the lead to 52-45. However, that is the closest the Leathernecks came as Isaiah Lewis immediately responded with a short jumper and Beljan's put-back in the paint moved the lead back to 11 with 6:15 remaining.
SIUE 82, SOUTHERN INDIANA 76
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Five Cougars scored in double figures as SIUE outlasted Southern Indiana 82-76 Thursday at First Community Arena.
SIUE improved to 13-7 this year and 6-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southern Indiana dropped to 8-11 and 3-6 within the OVC.
Southern Indiana jumped off to an early five-point lead, but the Cougars answered with a Kyle Thomas layup to tie the game at 11 at the first media timeout.
The Screaming Eagles expanded its lead to nine (22-13) that was catapulted by a 7-0 scoring run midway through the first half.
SIUE trimmed the lead to three on a dunk by Desmond Polk but trailed by two (43-41) at halftime.
The second half featured nine lead changes with one of them coming at the 5:18 mark thanks to back-to-back layups by Ray'Sean Taylor which made the score 72-69.
Another Ray'Sean Taylor field goal gave the Cougars a 74-73 lead with 2:23 remaining.
SIUE stretched its lead to three on a pair of free throws by Brian Taylor II. A defensive stand on the ensuing possession and a pair of free throws put away the Cougar victory.
Ray'Sean Taylor led all scorers with 24 points, his fourth consecutive game with 20+ points. Taylor added two assists to go along with four rebounds.
Ring Malith scored in double figures for the fifth straight game with 10 points and four rebounds and dished out an assist.
Brian Taylor finished with 15 points shooting 4-8 from the field and 6-7 from the free throw line. The junior guard recorded three rebounds and added two assists.
Myles Thompson and Desmond Polk also scored in double figures. Thompson and Polk both finished with 10 points.
It was the first time this season SIUE had five or more players score in double figures.
SIUE shot 28-59 (48 percent) from the field and 6-15 (40 percent) from the three-point arc. The Cougars connected on 20-27 (74 percent) free throw attempts.
Damoni Harrison anchored the Screaming Eagles offense, scoring 15 points on 5-10 from the field and delivered two assists along with eight rebounds.
Southern Indiana finished 27-56 (48 percent) from the field and 7-17 (41 percent) from three-point range. The Screaming Eagles shot 15-19 (79 percent) from the free throw line.
TENNESSEE STATE 89, TENNESSEE TECH 77
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team went into halftime trailing Tennessee Tech 47-40, but rallied from the deficit to defeat the Golden Eagles 89-77 on Thursday evening at the Gentry Center.
The Tigers (9-12, 5-5 OVC) had five players score in double figures, led by Brandon Weston, who had 21 points. Josh Ogundele tacked on 16 points and seven rebounds and Carlous Williams helped out with 14 points.
The Tennessee State offense made hay from downtown, knocking down nine threes on 19 attempts. Travis Harper II hit three treys for the Tigers in the contest.
Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Tennessee Tech shots in the contest, coming away with five blocks. Ahmir Langlais led the way individually for the Tigers with two rejections.
After playing to a 2-2 tie, Tennessee State went on an 8-0 run with 18:31 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Justus Jackson, to take a 10-2 lead. The Tigers then surrendered that lead and entered halftime down 47-40.
Tennessee State came out of halftime clicking on all cylinders, going on a 13-0 run, finished off by Travis Harper Ii's layup, to seize a 53-47 lead with 16:19 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 89-77 win. Tennessee State capitalized on six Tennessee Tech turnovers in the period, collecting 13 points off those turnovers.
MOREHEAD STATE 73, EASTERN ILLINOIS 66
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Led by a career-high 24 points from George Marshall and four others in double figures for the second straight game, Morehead State Men's Basketball kept up its winning ways Thursday night, fending off Eastern Illinois 73-66 in an ESPNU game at Groniger Arena.
The Eagles (13-7/8-1 OVC) kept their first-place status in the OVC intact and are now 10-1 in their last 11 games. MSU also won for the fifth straight time at EIU and the eighth time in a row in the series.
MSU had to hold off an incredibly pesky Panther (5-14/1-7 OVC) team that got a game-high 38 points from Naykel Shelton.
The Eagles took a 16-13 lead with 11:14 left in the first half, part of a 10-0 run, and never trailed again. But, the home team eventually made it interesting by trimming MSU's lead all the way down to two twice in the final two minutes before free throws iced the win.
Marshall, earning the start tonight, responded with his best-ever point production as an Eagle with 24. Kenny White, Jr. added 14 points, including a key fall away one-handed jumper as the shot clock ran out with 45 seconds left to push MSU's lead to 68-64. Point guard Jerone Morton scored 13 and handed out a career-high eight assists, while Tyler Brelsford managed 11 points, and Anouar Mellouk scored 10. While Dieonte Miles scored just a point, he rejected four key Panther shots, and all four blocks led to points on the MSU offensive end.
Morehead State out-rebounded the hosts 31-24 as White, Jr., led the way with eight boards.
Shelton hit 14 of 20 shots and five three-pointers to almost single handily keep his team within striking distance.
MSU built as much as a 14-point (30-16) lead in the first half with 5:26 left and led 37-26 at halftime. But EIU eventually began the shave points off its deficit. The Panthers crept to within 61-58 with 4:58 remaining, and the Eagle advantage wavered between two and six the rest of the way.
The Eagles shot 52 percent (25-of-48)) on the evening the second straight game above 50 percent. EIU managed to hit 48 percent but shot 58 percent in the second period.