TUESDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 119, East-West University 50
@Valparaiso 66,
Eastern Illinois 63
@#10 Texas Tech 98,
Lindenwood 60
@Little Rock 92, Arkansas Baptist 63
UT Martin 86, @UNLV 81
SIUE 119, EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY 50
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball put on an offensive show Tuesday night, cruising past East-West 119-50 in the regular season opener at First Community Arena.
The point total is the fourth-highest in program history and the most points scored since a 124-105 win over Southern Indiana in December 1994.
SIUE's 69-point margin of victory ranks in a tie for third highest. It is the highest margin of victory since SIUE moved to Division I in 2008.
All 13 players who saw the floor for SIUE scored at least a point and finished with at least one rebound. Six players finished in double figures-scoring with Ring Malith and Darius Robinson leading the way with 16 points each. Jo Valrie scored 14 points and hauled in a game-high nine rebounds. CJ Hall also scored 14 points. Kyle Thomas scored 12 points and Corentin Efono added 11.
After a 4-4 start to the game, SIUE pulled away with a 13-point run. The Cougars then finished the first half on a 20-4 run to lead 62-27 at halftime.
East-West's Devine Conley hit one of two free throws at the start of the second half, before SIUE ripped off a 15-0 run to lead 77-28 before the first media timeout.
SIUE out-rebounded East-West 50-23. The Cougars scored 60 points in the paint and forced the Phantoms into 29 turnovers leading to 44 points from turnovers.
SIUE shot 59 percent (43-73) for the game and connected on 24-32 (75 percent) shots at the free throw line.
East-West was led by TJ Harris who scored 15 points and was 3-8 from three-point range. Kee Hargrow added 10 points. The Phantoms were 20-55 (36 percent) from the field for the game.
VALPARAISO 66, EASTERN ILLINOIS 63
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Eastern Illinois men’s basketball battled back from down 13 points in the second half but a three-point play with 11 seconds left sank the Panthers comeback at Valparaiso falling 66-63.
EIU trailed 31-25 at the as they were saddled with early foul trouble that had Valpo making 19 first half trips to the free throw line.
Malik Olayfioye helped the Panthers tie the game with a couple of big baskets in the second half, the first with 5:41 to play knotting the game at 51-51. He would put the Panthers up 55-53 with a jumper with 4:35 to play. Olafioye finished with nine points.
The two teams traded baskets over the next few minutes with JT Pettigrew putting the Beacons up 60-57 with 1:43 to play.
Terry McMorris responded for EIU with a three-point play to square the game at 60-60 with 1:26 to play. McMorris posted his first career double-double coming off the bench for 11 points and 11 rebounds.
In the end it was Pettigrew with a three-point play for the Beacons to seal the game as he scored 13 points as one of three Valpo players in double figures. Isaiah Barnes had 15 and Rakim Chaney had 12.
Preston Turner led EIU with 16 points including a late basket that gave EIU a 63-61 lead in the final minute. Zion Fruster joined Turner and McMorris in double figures with 12.
#10 TEXAS TECH 98, LINDENWOOD 60
LUBBOCK, Texas - Lindenwood Men's Basketball fell in their season opener on Tuesday night at #10 Texas Tech by a final score of 98-60. Robert Lewis and Milos Nenadic each had double-doubles in the contest, while Mekhi Cooper led the Lions with 15 points.
In the first half, both teams struggled to hit shots, going a combined 0-8 in the first 1:30 of the opening half. The Lions made their next three shots on layups coming from Lewis, Nenadic, and Cooper to take an 8-5 lead over the Red Raiders at the under 16 media timeout. Out of the timeout, Cooper knocked down a three to extend the lead to 12-7 with 15:11 left, but Texas Tech followed the three with a 14-2 run over the next four minutes to take the lead at 21-14. Texas Tech knocked down 12 threes in the first half, including eight following their run to take a 58-30 lead into the locker room. All 15 of Mekhi Cooper's points came in the first half as the Junior Guard shot 5-9 from the field, including a pair of three pointers to lead Lindenwood in the first 20 minutes of play.
Jeremiah Talton led the Lions in the second half with nine points, followed by Milos Nenadic who scored seven. Nenadic picked up his fifth foul of the game with 6:48 to go, ending the game with his second career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Robert Lewis also had a solid second half for the Lions, scoring six points on 3-5 shooting and grabbing six rebounds to pick up his fifth double-double of his career and first with the black and gold. Lewis finished the game scoring 10 points on 5-8 shooting, and tied his career high with 12 rebounds. Meanwhile, Talton knocked down two threes in the second half and made three of his four free throw attempts.
As a team, the Lions struggled from the field as they shot 31.1% from the floor and knocked down 23.8% of their three point attempts. The Red Raiders shot 37% from beyond the arc, knocking down 17 threes and shot 40.2% from the field.
LITTLE ROCK 92, ARKANSAS BAPTIST 63
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Little Rock men's basketball team outscored Arkansas Baptist 55–21 in the second half to take a 92–63 win over the Buffaloes in the season opener Tuesday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
Little Rock trailed 42–37 at halftime but took the lead for good with just over 15 minutes to play on a three-pointer from Johnathan Lawson. The Trojans led 47–44, then embarked on a 20–3 run. Braxton Bayless knocked down a three-pointer at the 11-minute mark to give Little Rock a 67–47 advantage.
The Trojans cruised from there as head coach Darrell Walker emptied his bench and played everyone on the roster.
Little Rock forced 20 Arkansas Baptist turnovers and scored 29 points off them. The Trojans shot 63.9 percent from the field in the second half, including 57.1 percent from three-point range. They also dominated the paint, outscoring the Buffaloes 52–22 inside.
The senior from Memphis, Tenn., also totaled five assists, eight rebounds, and two blocks. Graduate student Tuongthach Gatkek matched Lawson with 17 points, adding five rebounds and two blocks.
Transfer Cam Wallace also contributed 17 points and eight rebounds.
UT MARTIN 86, UNLV 81
LAS VEGAS - For the second year in a row, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team began its season with a signature road victory as the Skyhawks upended UNLV by an 86-81 margin at the Thomas & Mack Center.
After defeating eventual CollegeBasketballInsider.com (CBI) champion Illinois State to start the 2024-25 campaign, UT Martin forced the Runnin’ Rebels into 22 turnovers to spoil the traditional Mountain West Conference powerhouse’s home opener.
The Skyhawk duo of Andrija Bukumirovic and Dragos Lungu were on fire, each pumping in a career-high 23 points apiece. Bukumirovic made eight of his 10 field goal attempts – including a 5-of-7 effort from three-point range – while Lungu shot 7-for-11 from the floor, scoring 18 points in the second half alone.
Freshman Matas Deniusas tallied 11 points with a team-best six rebounds in his first career collegiate game while Filip Radakovic finished with 10 points (8-of-10 from the free throw line, mostly down the stretch) with team-highs of six rebounds and six assists. Freshman Filip Petkovski also stuffed the statsheet for five points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals as UT Martin shot 36.7 percent (11-of-30) from three-point land.
UNLV’s Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn led the way with 18 points while Kimani Hamilton (13 points) and Al Green (12 points) also scored in double figures. The Runnin’ Rebels led 43-39 at the halftime break but were held to just 36.4 percent (8-for-22) shooting – including a 27.3 percent (3-of-11) clip from three-point range – over the final 20 minutes.
“I’m kind of speechless but obviously, I’m just so proud of our guys,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “We talk about belief daily in this program – this feels amazing but in some ways it’s not a surprise. I’ll always roll with this team – their buy-in, their work ethic and their sacrifices have been very special.”
Bukumirovic had the hot hand early, scoring UT Martin’s first eight points of the contest in a span of 2:13. UNLV didn’t take its first lead until nearly six minutes into the game and eventually led by a 39-29 margin with 4:38 remaining before the halftime break.
Another Bukumirovic triple late in the first half capped off a 10-2 Skyhawk surge that got UT Martin back within striking distance at the intermission. Bukumirovic was responsible for a game-high 16 points at the half while Gibbs-Lawhorn’s 10 points guided the Runnin’ Rebels.
The fifth Bukumirovic trifecta of the night gave the Skyhawks a 49-48 edge with 15:23 to go – a lead that UT Martin held on to for 8:29 of clock time. UNLV briefly held a 66-64 lead with just under seven minutes to go but the Skyhawks responded with 12 unanswered points – ignited by back-to-back treys by Lungu.
The Runnin’ Rebels would not get any closer than three points the rest of the way. Radakovic helped ice the victory by swishing each of his final five free throw tries over the final 44 seconds.