FRIDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 83, Charleston Southern 77 (Huntsville, Ala.)
@#8 Kentucky 99,
Eastern Illinois 53
SIUE 61, @Drake 59
@Cal Baptist 69,
Western Illinois 59
LINDENWOOD 83, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 77
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (2-2) completed a 20-point comeback to defeat Charleston Southern (2-3), 83-77 in the first game of the Bulldog Bash.
Lindenwood jumped out to an early 13-7 lead behind four points apiece from Jadis Jones and Robert Lewis. The Lions maintained a slim lead until back-to-back three pointers from the Buccaneers put them in front, 20-17. That began a 20-4 run for CSU that gave them their largest lead of the half at 37-21 with just under five minutes to go in the opening 20 minutes of action. Lindenwood trailed 41-28 at the break as Jones had 12 points to lead the Lions.
Charleston Southern opened the second half on a 9-2 run to grow the lead to 50-30. Lindenwood answered back with a 17-0 run over the next 5:49 to pull within three at 50-47. Jones had 10 points during the spurt, giving him 24 for the game. The Lions kept chipping away and got the lead down to two at 60-58 after a layup by Dontrez Williams. However, CSU responded with a pair of three pointers to regain some separation with just under seven minutes to play.
After CSU went back up by nine, Lindenwood went on an 8-0 run to get within one, which forced a Buccaneers timeout with 4:18 to go. The Lions took their first lead since the first half after a pair of free throws by Clayton Jackson put the Black & Gold in front 72-71. Charleston Southern tied the game with a layup with just over a minute to go, but on the next possession, Jones got a touch in the paint and kicked it out to Jackson who buried the go-ahead three pointer, putting Lindenwood ahead 76-73 with 53 seconds to go. The Lions salted the game away with late free throws and won 83-77. Jones finished with a career-high 30 points on the night, while Milos Nenedic registered his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 boards.
#8 KENTUCKY 99, EASTERN ILLINOIS 53
LEXINGTON, Ky. - No. 8 Kentucky jumped out to a 15-2 run in the opening few minutes as the Wildcats beat Eastern Illinois 99-53 in the final game of the BBN United Tipoff Classic.
EIU (1-3) went 1-2 in the tournament beating Nicholls at home with road losses at Valparaiso and Kentucky.
EIU stopped the UK run with back-to-back 3-pointers by JT Elder and Andrew Austin as EIU was 3-of-11 from 3-point range in the opening half, finishing 6-of-18 for the game.
Elder had all eight of his points in the first half.
UK led 47-19 at the half shooting 52.9 percent from the field. Mouhamed Dioubate had ten of his 20 points in the opening half. The Wildcats ended the game with five double figure scorers.
Terry McMorris had three blocks in the opening half and picked up his offense in the second half. McMorris led the Panthers with 18 points.
Austin finished with 13 points, going 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
Kentucky (3-1) dominated play on the glass finishing with a 49-17 rebounding edge. Dioubate had 11 rebounds. McMorris and Kooper Jacobi each had four rebounds to lead EIU.
SIUE 61, DRAKE 59
DES MOINES, Iowa - Ring Malith's 15-foot jumper with less than two seconds to play vaulted SIUE men's basketball to a 61-59 win at Drake Friday night at the Knapp Center.
The Cougars improved to 2-0 on the road and 3-1 overall with the win. Drake slipped to 2-2.
The win was the 89th at SIUE for Head Coach Brian Barone moving him past Marty Simmons for fourth place on the all-time wins list.
Following a timeout, Jo Valrie inbounded for Jack Campion near the top of the key. Campion found Malith just off the right elbow for the winning shot.
Malith finished with 20 points; his second 20-point game on the road this season. Myles Thompson earned his second career double-double with 11 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. He added three assists. Campion scored seven points, added seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Valrie added 13 points and four rebounds of his own.
SIUE got out to a fast start but had to endure a second-half surge from the Bulldogs.
The Cougars started the game hot and a Malith three-pointer with 13:28 to play in the first made it an 11-0 run and pushed SIUE's lead to 18-5, forcing Drake into a timeout.
SIUE led 22-7 at under 12-minute media timeout thanks 9-15 (60 percent) shooting. The lead was 33-18 when Drake went on a 8-0 run to trim the advantage to 33-26.
SIUE led 36-30 at half.
Another three-pointer by Malith with 17:50 to play extended the lead to 39-30, but SIUE opened was cold to start the half, beginning the period just 1-9 from the field.
The Cougars led 42-39 when Drake's Wilguens Exacte buried a three-pointer with 12:01 to play, tying the score at 42. Arnas Sakenis hit a free throw to put the Cougars up 43-42 before a 7-0 Drake run gave the Bulldogs a 49-43 lead.
The Bulldogs led 54-51 when Jo Valrie knocked down a three-pointer to tie the score with 4:06 left. Thompson scored after fighting through two defenders to put SIUE ahead 56-54.
A three from Drake's Jalen Quinn made 57-56 Drake and the Bulldogs called a timeout. The Cougars got the ball back before calling a timeout of their own. Following the timeout, Malith put SIUE up 59-57 SIUE with a three. Quinn tied the game with a jumper from the left of the lane. The Cougars then called timeout with 5.8 seconds left and set up the play to Malith.
CAL BAPTIST 69, WESTERN ILLINOIS 59
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Recap coming soon.