THURSDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 72, @Morehead State 64
Tennessee State 72, @Little Rock 70
Eastern Illinois 71, @Western Illinois 59
@Lindenwood 65, SIUE 63
@Southeast Missouri 90, UT Martin 79
TENNESSEE TECH 72, MOREHEAD STATE 64
MOREHEAD, Ky. - For the first time in more than 10 years, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team claimed victory on the hardwood of Johnson Arena in Morehead, Ky., topping the Ohio Valley Conference's top team, Morehead State, 72-64.
The Eagles (14-8, 9-3), who had taken 17 of the past 18 games between the two programs on their home floor, were in the midst of a run of 11 straight victories and 27 wins in their last 28 home tilts since Jan. 14, 2023, the third-best mark in the country. Morehead's home-court advantage has been particularly stingy in league action, with MSU boasting an OVC-best 67-18 mark over the last five seasons, ranking 10th nationally among all DI teams in terms of conference winning percentage.
All that fanfare went out the window Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles (11-11, 6-5) rode their momentum from Saturday's overtime triumph at UT Martin into Johnson Arena. Thanks to a 74-55 win in Cookeville at the beginning of the month, the purple and gold accomplished back-to-back victories over their OVC rivals for the first time since match-ups in 2007 and 2008.
It was a slow go for the Cookeville crew early on, with Tech opening the night 3-of-12 from the field. Morehead battled its own struggles offensively, only able to build a four-point advantage up to the 11:21 mark of the opening period.
The Golden Eagle defense continued to make life tough for the MSU offense all night, and the offense responded by giving the team the lead for good. Tech knocked down four straight shots following the second media break of the frame, flipping a four-point deficit into a four-point lead in just two minutes.
Tech pushed the advantage to as much as 11 in the closing minutes of the half, settling for a 34-26 lead heading into the locker room. The purple and gold held the Eagles without a field goal for nearly eight minutes down the stretch, finally yielding one with 11 seconds to play.
Playing a mighty role in the Tech lead at halftime was the team's sharp-shooting abilities, with the crew knocking down six triples at a 40-percent clip. The Golden Eagles spent the second half continuing to frustrate the home team offensively, bending, but never breaking down the stretch.
Morehead pulled back to within one point of Tech at the 9:00-minute mark, but the Golden Eagles responded immediately with a pair of buckets to move back in front by six. A couple of free throws by the Eagles closed the gap to four one final time with 3:49 to play, but the purple and gold iced things in style.
Junior guard Jaylon Johnson found senior guard Matthew Sells for an open 3-pointer and, on Tech's next possession, Sells returned the favor. The Rickman, Tenn. native dished one back to Johnson for a trey of his own, pushing the Tech lead back to 10 one last time.
Sells, Johnson, and sophomore guard Kyle Layton combined to go 8-for-8 from the charity stripe over the closing minute to ensure the huge road win for the Golden Eagles. Overall for the night, the purple and gold connected on 13 of its 15 trips to the line.
It was a balanced approach to the scoreboard for Tech, with all eight Golden Eagles seeing the floor recording at least two points and one rebound. Seven of the eight Cookeville crew members scored at least six points.
Johnson led the group, producing 14 points with three makes from downtown and a team-high four assists. Layton joined his backcourt buddy in double figures, chipping in 13 points while sinking all six of his free throw tries on the night.
Sells rounded out the trio of guards in double digits, securing 12 points and five rebounds while delivering a perfect shooting night. The veteran finished 3-for-3 from the floor, 2-for-2 from distance, and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
Junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe chalked up nine points and four rebounds to go with a team-high three steals while sophomore forward JaJuan Nicholls dropped in eight points and a team-high seven boards. Making his return to the hardwood for the first time in five games, senior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. tallied eight points and four rebounds off the bench. Junior guard Ray Glasgow mixed in six points and six rebounds for the effort as well.
TENNESSEE STATE 72, LITTLE ROCK 70
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Aaron Nkrumah knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to lead the Tennessee State men's basketball team past the Little Rock, 72-70 on the road Thursday.
The Tigers (10-12, 6-5 OVC) had four players score in double figures, led by Nkrumah, who had 13 points and five assists. Justus Jackson added 13 points and five assists from the bench and Brandon Weston chipped in as well with 12 points and two steals.
Tennessee State utilized excellent ball movement in Thursday's game, piling up 15 assists on 30 made field goals. Nkrumah's five assists were the most for the Tigers and Jackson also contributed with five assists of his own.
The Tennessee State defense held Little Rock shooters to just 38.8 percent from the field.
After falling behind 13-10, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 11:17 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Weston, to take a 16-13 lead. Little Rock then responded to tie things up at 31-31 heading into halftime. Tennessee State got the job done in the paint in the first half, scoring 18 of its 31 points close to the basket.
After intermission, Tennessee State grabbed a 61-59 lead before going on a 6-0 run, finished off by Jackson's three, to grow its advantage to 67-59 with 3:57 to go in the contest. The Trojans narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still held on for the 72-70 win. Tennessee State took care of business in the paint, recording 24 of its 41 points in the lane.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 71, WESTERN ILLINOIS 59
MACOMB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois had a balanced scoring effort on Thursday night as the Panthers won their second straight with a 71-59 road win at Western Illinois.
EIU improved to 7-15 overall, 3-8 in the OVC. WIU fell to 8-14 overall, 2-9 in the OVC.
EIU built its first double figure lead of the game at the six-minute mark of the first half on a basket by Artese Stapleton putting EIU up 21-11. Stapleton was one of five Panthers in double figures finishing with 16 points.
EIU closed the first half on a 7-0 run to end the half and led 32-19 at the half.
WIU cut the EIU lead down to five points with 13:13 remaining as a Ryan Myers lay-up trimmed EIU’s lead to 42-37.
Nakyel Shelton answered with a 3-pointer off a big offensive rebound by Kooper Jacobi and EIU turned away all of WIU’s threats down the stretch.
Shelton had 15 points. Jacobi posted his ninth double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds. Corey Sawyer Jr and Obadiah Curtis rounded out the double figure Panthers. Sawyer had 12 points. Curtis had ten including several big buckets in the opening half.
EIU won the battle on the glass for the second straight game with a 40-28 advantage including 12 offensive rebounds.
WIU had three players with 14 points with Trey Deveaux, Massal Diouf and Myers all leading the Leathernecks. WIU was held to 3-of-15 from 3-point range.
LINDENWOOD 65, SIUE 63
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Recap coming soon.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 90, UT MARTIN 79
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - – Braxton Stacker scored 19 points and Southeast Missouri (12-10, 7-4) shot a season-high 63.5 percent from the field in a 90-79 win over UT Martin (9-13, 5-6) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
With its win, SEMO ended a five-game losing streak in its all-time series against the Skyhawks. The Redhawks also improved to 38-9 all-time against UTM in Cape Girardeau.
SEMO was red-hot in the first half shooting 60.7 percent from the field. The Redhawks made 17 of their first 28 shots en route to their highest first half field goal percentage of the season
The Redhawks put together an 11-2 run to take a six-point lead in the opening 4:25 of the contest.
BJ Ward buried a 3-pointer for SEMO's first basket of the game, Troy Cole, Jr. followed with back-to-back buckets and Rob Martin made a jumper. Ward capped the surge with another make to put the Redhawks ahead, 11-5, with 15:35 remaining in the first half.
SEMO, which at one time made eight-straight field goals, grew its lead to 17-7 on a fastbreak jumper by Ward with 13:53 left to play.
The Redhawks later pulled ahead, 33-20, on TJ Biel's free throw with 6:19 to play.
After that, Josue Grullon drained three-straight 3-pointers in a quick 2:04 span to cut the Redhawks lead to 33-29.
UTM got within four again, but SEMO scored the next six points all from the free throw line to get back up by double figures (42-31) with 1:41 left.
A steal and breakaway dunk by Braxton Stacker followed by a Martin jumper in the final 41 seconds pushed the Redhawks margin to 46-33 at the half.
SEMO picked up where it left off in the second half scoring six-straight points to run its lead to 19. Brendan Terry made a pair of layups in that stretch with his second giving the Redhawks a 52-33 advantage.
UTM countered with an 8-0 surge and knocked the Redhawks lead down to 52-41 on Matija Zuzic's 3-pointer with just under 17 minutes left.
Despite going over five minutes without a field goal, the Skyhawks made nine free throws two pull within eight, 63-55, at the 11:58 mark.
Martin immediately countered with a jumper and Ward knocked down a 3-pointer to put SEMO ahead by double figures again, this time at 68-55 with 10:36 to go.
UTM down eight twice more before Stacker drove the baseline, scored and was fouled to grab the Redhawks a 73-63 led with 6:48 on the clock.
The Skyhawks then managed to make it a seven-point game when Grullon made three free trimming SEMO's lead to 77-70 with 4:37 remaining.
However, Ward and Washington, Jr. each made a 3-pointer on SEMO's next two possessions. Washington, Jr.'s three put the Redhawks up, 83-72, with 3:28 left.
UTM got within single digits one last time before TJ Biel scored off an assist by Martin to bury the Skyhawks for good.
Stacker made 6-of-8 field goals, knocked down three 3-pointers and hit a near-perfect 4-of-5 free throws off the bench to lead five Redhawks in double figures.
Martin followed close behind with 18 points and seven assists, while Ward added 15 and both Washington, Jr. and Biel each had 11.
SEMO made 33-of-52 field goals, including seven from downtown.
Grullon finished with a game-high 31 points to lead UTM.
With losses by Morehead State, Little Rock and SIU Edwardsville Thursday night, SEMO moved into a tie for second in the Ohio Valley Conference standings.