SATURDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 91, @Tennessee State 82
Morehead State 64, @Southern Indiana 60 (OT)
UT Martin 86, @Tennessee Tech 62
@Lindenwood 109, Harris-Stowe 52
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 91, TENNESSEE STATE 82
NASHVILLE - Marqueas Bell had a double-double 22 points and 12 rebounds and Southeast Missouri (6-7, 1-1) shot a season-high 57.7 percent from the field to overpower Tennessee State (7-5, 1-1), 91-82, Saturday at the Gentry Center.
SEMO picked up its first Ohio Valley Conference win and beat TSU for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings between the teams.
The Redhawks sent the Tigers in a big hole early and never let up.
Luke Almodovar came off the bench and gave the Redhawks an immediate jolt scoring 11 points in four minutes. Almodovar's third 3-pointer during that stretch gave SEMO a 14-7 advantage with 14:15 remaining in the first half.
Bell's driving layup grabbed SEMO its first double-digit lead at 27-16. Almodovar then finished off a 13-0 run with a layup following a Landren Blocker block to put the Redhawks ahead, 31-16.
TSU dropped the margin to single digits with a 13-2 run and trailed 44-37 at halftime.
SEMO continued to have its way with the Tigers in the second half scoring six-straight points to quicky regain its double-digit lead.
The Redhawks made eight of their first 11 field goals and drew seven fouls to get in the bonus for the final 12:59 of the contest.
Blocker rebounded an Almodovar miss and threw down a highlight-reel one-handed dunk to extend SEMO's lead to 67-50 with a little over 12 minutes left.
Elliot Lowndes buried a 3-pointer to give the Redhawks their biggest lead at 76-57 at the 9:35 mark.
SEMO led by double figures until TSU scored on its final possession of the game.
Bell turned in his team-high third double-double of the season reaching new career-highs in both points and rebounds. He scored 13 of his points in the second half.
Almodovar followed with 19 points, BJ Ward added 14 and Braxton Stacker chipped in 11.
SEMO was involved in another foul heavy game that resulted in 46 fouls and 65 free throw attempts between the teams. The Redhawks made 22-of-29 at the free throw line, while the Tigers finished 26-of-36.
The Redhawks outrebounded TSU by a +11 margin (39-28) for the game and made 60 percent (15-of-25) of its field goals in the second half.
SEMO's 91 points marked a season-high, as well.
Brad Korn earned his 80th win tying Dickey Nutt (2009-15) for the second-most victories among head coached during SEMO's NCAA Division I era. Korn also improved to 9-3 all-time against TSU. Those nine victories are Korn's most against any OVC opponent.
MOREHEAD STATE 64, SOUTHERN INDIANA 60 (OT)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - -- George Marshall had an opportunity to lift the Morehead State men's basketball team to a regulation victory at Southern Indiana Saturday. While he missed the shot with five seconds left, he scored five of his team-high 19 in overtime as the Eagles prevailed 64-60 over the Screaming Eagles at Liberty Arena.
MSU improved to 5-7 overall and most importantly, to 2-0 on the young Ohio Valley Conference season. In typical MSU-USI fashion, the victory margin was one possession. MSU has won three straight over USI - a one and two-point win last year and now a four-point extra-time triumph.
The visiting Eagles trailed 55-50 with 2:56 left but forced three empty possessions for the home Eagles. Chase Dawson and Davion Cunningham combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws in that span as MSU sent it to overtime. Marshall had a look with five ticks left in regular time but couldn't get it to fall. However, in the overtime, he nailed a jumper with 47 seconds left to push his team ahead 61-58 after USI's had trimmed his team's deficit to one (59-58) with a triple with 1:20 remaining.
Dawson and Cunningham then hit free throws in the final 20 seconds as MSU held on to remain perfect all-time (4-0) at USI's Liberty Arena.
Marshall scored a game-high 19 - his seventh game in double figures this year - while Cunningham produced 15 points. Jon Carroll nearly had his fifth double-double with a team-best 10 rebounds and eight points.
USI did most of its scoring from outside the arc, where it hit 11 triples compared to just five two-pointers on the day. MSU forced USI to hit just 28 percent overall from the floor.
Morehead State managed just three from distance but hit 44 percent (20-of-45) inside the arc. Cardell Bailey paced the Screamers with 17 points.
UT MARTIN 86, TENNESSEE TECH 62
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad rode the hot hand of junior wing Andrija Bukumirovic today in a convincing 86-62 victory at Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee Tech.
A 6-7, 200-pound native of Sjenica, Serbia, Bukumirovic poured in a career-best 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting, including a perfect 9-for-9 clip from inside the three-point arc. He tossed in 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting in the second half alone, helping the Skyhawks outscore the Golden Eagles by a 54-31 margin over the final 20 minutes.
Matas Deniusas added 16 points and a career-best four assists to complete UT Martin’s double-digit scorers as the Skyhawks made 11 of their final 12 field goal tries on the way to a 53.4 percent shooting (31-of-58) performance. That marked the second-most efficient field goal percentage of the season for UT Martin (9-4, 1-1 OVC), who also committed a season-low seven turnovers – outscoring Tennessee Tech 23-3 in points off turnovers.
Damien King (4-of-6 shooting) and Luca Colceag (3-for-5 from three-point range) each scored nine points apiece for the Skyhawks, who led for 34:05 of clock time. Filip Radakovic (seven points, game-high seven assists, team-best five rebounds) and Filip Petkovski (seven points, five assists) chipped in notable contributions.
The Golden Eagles (6-7, 1-1 OVC) were led by Mekhi Cameron’s 19 points. Tennessee Tech was forced into 15 turnovers and shot 42.3 percent (22-for-52) from the floor.
The Skyhawks went on an 11-0 run early on, capped off with a tip-in layup from Radakovic to make the score 15-7 with 13:31 remaining in the first half. UT Martin’s lead extended to double digits at 27-17 after a Bukumirovic layup with a little under five minutes left before the halftime intermission.
The Golden Eagles followed with a 14-3 run to briefly take the lead before a King turnaround mid-range jumper just before the halftime buzzer resulted in a 32-31 Skyhawk lead at the break. Bukumirovic’s 10 points led UT Martin while Cameron had 14 points in the first half.
A Tennessee Tech three-pointer opened the second-half scoring and gave the Golden Eagles a lead for 30 seconds. The Skyhawks struck for a 12-2 run immediately thereafter and never trailed the rest of the way.
Five straight points from King stretched UT Martin’s lead back out to double figures (51-41) with 12:51 left to play and Tennessee Tech didn’t get closer than six points for the remainder of the contest.
A 21-7 Skyhawk run in a 4:51 span officially put the game away as a Ty Price three-pointer from the left wing with 32 seconds to go gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the contest – the final scoring margin of 86-62.
LINDENWOOD 109, HARRIS-STOWE 52
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (8-4, 2-0 OVC) wrapped up their final non conference home game of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 109-52 win over Harris Stowe. The Lions end their home portion of the non conference schedule with a perfect 4-0 record and improved to 5-0 overall inside of Hyland Arena. Junior guard Mekhi Cooper recorded his second career double-double as he scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting and dished out a career-high 11 assists against the Hornets this afternoon.
Jadis Jones started off the game with five quick points on back-to-back thunderous dunks to immediately set the tone for the Black and Gold, who started the first half on a 21-4 run over the first five minutes of the contest. Jeremiah Talton and Mekhi Cooper each buried a three pointer during the run, and were led in scoring by Jones who scored seven of the first 21 points.
Later in the half, Harris Stowe cut the Lion lead to 12 with 8:35 to go in the opening half, but the Lions settled in after the Hornet run and took over the game. Anias Futrell knocked down a three pointer to push the lead to 15 at 35-20 with 8:21 to go, and was followed by back-to-back layups from Robert Lewis and Talton as the Lions started to seize control. Talton ended the first half tied for the team lead in points with 13 on 5-7 shooting, while Jones also had 13 points going 6-8 from the field and recording three blocks in the opening 20 minutes of play. Cooper led the team with six first half assists as the Lions recorded 14 assists on 22 made shots and shot 55% from the floor.
In the second half, Robert Lewis scored 10 points to lead Lindenwood offensively. Tidiane d'Almeida finished right behind Lewis scoring a career-high nine points, all of which came in the second half of play. Lindenwood had an 8-0 run in the middle of the half sparked by Lewis who scored four of the eight points during the run to put the Lions up by 40 at 77-37 with 12:29 to go in the game. Mekhi Cooper scored seven second half points, and had a stretch in which he converted on an and one layup in transition that led to another big Lions run. During the 17-0 run, Cooper assisted on two baskets as Lindenwood extended the lead to 96-42 with less than six minutes to play. Seven Lions scored in double digits in the victory, with Anias Futrell leading the offense as he scored 16 points including a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
Lindenwood finished the contest with 55 rebounds and were led in rebounding by Futrell who had nine. Cooper finished with seven rebounds and was three rebounds shy of recording a triple-double, while Milos Nenadic had 10 points and seven rebounds. Kevin Anthony had an efficient game for LU, scoring six points on 3-4 shooing and grabbing six rebounds in 15 minutes played.