Ohio Valley Conference

MACOMB, Ill. - Behind an explosive scoring performance from Ryan Myers and dominant efforts from Trey Deveaux and Marko Maletic, Western Illinois Men's Basketball surged in the second half to secure a thrilling 72-67 victory over Morehead State at Western Hall on Saturday afternoon.

Myers delivered a career-best outing, pouring in 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including four three-pointers. He also contributed six made free throws in eight attempts, keeping the Leathernecks steady at the line. Myers' ability to score in clutch moments proved crucial as Western Illinois overturned a halftime deficit.

While Myers took center stage offensively, Trey Deveaux imposed his presence on the glass and from beyond the arc. The forward notched a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, including a perfect 4-for-4 performance from three-point range. His defensive rebounding also played a key role in limiting second-chance opportunities for Morehead State.

Maletic rounded out the trio of standouts with 14 points, displaying his scoring versatility. The guard connected on two three-pointers this afternoon, adding to his total on the season. Maletic has made 87 threes this season, which is a program record for three pointers made in a single season. The previous record was 86 held by Ceola Clark III who did it in the 2011-2012 season. 

Western Illinois (10-17, 4-12 OVC) trailed 33-30 at the break but used a 42-point second half to swing the momentum. Morehead State (14-13, 9-7 OVC) was led by Anouar Mellouk's 13 points and Kenny White Jr.'s 12, but the Eagles couldn't withstand the Leathernecks' second-half surge.

Western Illinois shot an efficient 46% from the field and drained 10 three-pointers in the game, with Myers, Deveaux, and Maletic combining for all 10 of those makes. The Leathernecks also capitalized on their free throw opportunities, making 16 of 23 attempts.

LINDENWOOD 81, SOUTHERN INDIANA 78 (OT)
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood men's basketball (13-14, 8-8 OVC) ended their 2024-25 home slate with a overtime victory over Southern Indiana (9-17, 4-12 OVC) by a final score of 81-78. The Lions had an 11-3 record at home this season including a 7-3 mark against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. Lindenwood's 13 wins are the most in a single season since the 2018-19 season.

Jadis Jones broke his career-high in scoring for the second time against Southern Indiana after dropping 27 points on 10-14 shooting while going 7-9 at the foul line. The nine-time OVC Freshman of the Week added seven rebounds while adding two steals and two assists.

Jordan Wildy on senior day had his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the win. Wildy shot 6-9 from the floor while adding one of LU's three blocks. LU took care of business down low in the paint out-scoring USI 54-44 in the painted area.

Reggie Bass was the hero again for the Lions hitting the game-tying three at the end of regulation to put the Lions in a position to win. Bass finished with 14-points, his third straight game with double-figures. He ended the game with two threes while going 4-4 at the line.

Markeith Browning II was the fourth line to get to double-figures scoring 14 points during his last game at Hyland Arena. Browning shot 6-15 from the field adding four rebounds and a team-high six assists. Lindenwood assisted on 13 of their 31 made field-goals.

Lindenwood shot 48.4% from the field during the overtime win while shooting 15-22 at the foul line. Southern Indiana shot 30-71 from the field while making seven threes. Both teams were forced into some turnovers (16 for Lindenwood and 14 from USI) resulting in 21 points off turnovers for the Screaming Eagles to 11 from Lindenwood.

It was a defensive battle throughout the first 14 minutes of the game. Lindenwood found themselves leading 19-16 with 6:12 left after a Jones layup. Southern Indiana ended the half on a 17-4 run as they went into the locker room leading 33-23.

Lindenwood in the first half was held to 35.7% shooting while USI shot 13-30 from the floor. Wildy and Jones both had a team-high six points but the Lions found themselves down 10 with 20 left to play in Hyland.

The Lions fought their way through the first seven minutes of the quarter trying to get the lead cut to under 10 points, but the Eagles found their stride eventually taking a 16-point lead with 13:25 left in the second half.

Lindenwood built up some momentum with a 21-6 run to cut the lead to one point with 4:29 remaining. Jadis Jones gave Lindenwood their first lead since early in the first half after making two free throws. USI clawed their way back to take a three-point lead with 12 second left before Bass nailed a three-pointer with four seconds left to send the game to overtime.

With 2:52 remaining in OT, Lindenwood had jumped out to a 6-1 run leading 79-74. Southern Indiana then went on a 4-0 run to trim the lead back to one point. The final two minutes of the game saw no scoring before Bass was fouled and made both free throws sealing the Lions 13th victory of the season.

UT MARTIN 72, EASTERN ILLINOIS 68
CHARLESTON, Ill. - In a wild game with multiple second-half scoring runs on both sides, the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team hung on for a big 72-68 triumph over Eastern Illinois this afternoon at Groniger Arena.
              
UT Martin led by as many as 20 points late in the first half before taking a 41-24 advantage into the locker room at the intermission. The Panthers answered right back with a 21-0 run in the second half, eventually leading by six points with five minutes to go. It was then the Skyhawks' turn to seize the momentum back, tallying nine unanswered points down the stretch before making just enough free throws in the final 24 seconds for a season sweep of Eastern Illinois.
              
Afan Trnka came up just shy of his first career double-double with career-highs of 18 points and nine assists to go along with a game-high three steals for UT Martin (12-15, 8-8 Ohio Valley Conference). Vladimer Salaridze registered his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds while Tarence Guinyard poured in 11 of his 13 points in the first half for the Skyhawks.
              
The Panthers (8-19, 4-12 OVC) were led by Nakyel Shelton's game-high 25 points. Artese Stapleton (16 points), Zion Fruster (13 points) and Kooper Jacobi (11 rebounds) also led Eastern Illinois, who was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line but was outrebounded by a 39-28 margin.
                            
Guinyard scored the first five points of the contest, doing so in just 59 seconds. Moments later, Salaridze pumped in seven points as part of a 14-2 Skyhawk run that opened up a 23-10 UT Martin advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half.
              
Four different Skyhawks (Filip Radakovic cutting layup, Matija Žužic left-wing three-pointer, Guinyard strong take to the hoop and Lamine Niang dunk) scored as part of a separate 9-0 run just before halftime as UT Martin took a 41-24 advantage into the locker room. The Skyhawks shot 51.4 percent (18-for-35) from the floor while holding the Panthers to 30.8 percent (8-of-26) shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
              
After a Guinyard driving layup stretched UT Martin's lead out to 18 points early in the second half, Eastern Illinois pieced together 21 unanswered points to take its first lead of the day.
              
Trnka buried a straightaway trey at the 10:28 mark to snap a Skyhawk scoring drought that lasted a little over eight minutes. He then followed that with a steal and fast break dunk to give UT Martin the lead right back at 50-48.
              
Another Trnka triple shortly thereafter gave the Skyhawks a 54-51 advantage with 7:58 remaining but the Panthers went on another run – this time an 11-2 surge – to take a 62-56 lead at the 5:10 mark.
              
Salaridze scored seven of UT Martin's next 10 points, including a pair of free throws that nudged the Skyhawks ahead by a score of 66-64 with 1:31 to go. Following a defensive stand, Andrija Bukumirovic muscled up to convert a tough, contested layup on the other end. Trnka and Žužic then sank four free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal UT Martin's third straight victory in the last eight days.

SIUE 84, TENNESSEE STATE 72
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball kept itself in the Ohio Valley Conference race, scoring a come-from-behind 84-72 win over Tennessee State Saturday in front of 2,112 fans at First Community Arena.

The Cougars stayed one game behind OVC-leader Southeast Missouri and improved to 11-5 in OVC play, also assuring themselves of the program's first-ever winning record in OVC play. SIUE is 18-9 overall. TSU fell to 9-7 in the league and 13-14 overall.

The Cougars swept the season series from Tennessee State for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

The Tigers started quick and built a double-digit lead before the halfway point of the first half. By the 9:37 mark, TSU had its largest lead at 26-13 following a free throw by Travis Harper.

The Cougars chipped away several times, only to have the Tigers hit a shot to take the lead back up.

A steal and a dunk by Brian Taylor II made it 39-32 with 1:26 to play before half. A turnover followed by two free throws by Brian Taylor trimmed the lead to five (39-34) with 1:04 to play. A Ray'Sean Taylor steal led to a Myles Thompson dunk which got the Cougars within three (39-36) with 37 seconds to play. TSU pushed it to four with a free throw, but Ray'Sean Taylor found Brian Taylor on the left wing for a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 41-40 at halftime.

The Cougars scored the first seven points of the second half to led 46-40 on a dunk by Desmond Polk at 17:18. The Tigers fought back, pulled ahead and led 55-50 after a three-pointer by Knute Wood with 13:00 left.

Two free throws by Brian Taylor with 8:45 left capped off an 11-2 SIUE run and the Cougars never trailed again in the game. Two more free throws by Brian Taylor gave SIUE its first double-digit lead (70-60) with 6:08 left.

Brian Taylor led all scorers with 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting and a perfect 10-10 day at the free throw line. Ray'Sean Taylor scored 15 points. He was 3-5 from three-point range. He also added a season-high eight assists. Ring Malith (13) and Kyle Thomas (10) also finished in double figures for the Cougars.

On the defensive end, Arnas Sakenis finished with five blocks.

SIUE connected on 49 percent (26-53) of its shots overall and knocked down 8-20 (40 percent) from three-point range. The Cougars were 24-30 (80 percent) at the free throw line.

Tennessee State was 25-62 (40 percent) from the field and 11-27 (41 percent) from deep. The Tigers were 11-17 (65 percent) at the free throw line.

The Tigers turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 21 points for SIUE. The Cougars also outscored TSU 34-22 in the paint, despite the Tigers holding a 41-30 edge in rebounding.

Justus Jackson scored 15 points to lead five Tigers in double figures.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 83, TENNESSEE TECH 69
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Teddy Washington, Jr. scored a game-high 21 points and had 14 in the second half to lead Southeast Missouri (17-10, 12-4) to a dominating 83-69 win over Tennessee Tech (13-14, 8-8) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
 
SEMO picked up its seventh-consecutive win to match its longest winning streak in its NCAA Division I era. The Redhawks also won seven in a row during the 2004-05 campaign under then-Head Coach Gary Garner.
 
The Redhawks also polished off their first home-and-home sweep of TTU in a season since 1999-2000 and gave Brad Korn his career-best 10th home victory as SEMO's head coach.
 
SEMO fell behind 8-2 early before putting together an 11-0 run to take a five-point lead.
 
Brendan Terry's turnaround jumper gave the Redhawks their first advantage. After Teddy Washington, Jr. followed with a jumper of his own, Terry added a layup to put SEMO ahead, 13-8, with 11:30 remaining in the first half.
 
Ahead, 18-17, SEMO scored its next six points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Ward and Braxton Stacker to widen its lead to 26-17 with less than seven minutes left.
 
Another 3-pointer by Stacker, this time from the left corner, gave the Redhawks their first double-digit advantage at 29-17 at the 5:14 mark. TTU went scoreless for over four minutes and SEMO cashed in with another 11-0 surge to get its 12-point lead.
 
The Redhawks then headed into the half ahead, 31-21, for their sixth halftime lead in seven contests. TTU's 21 points marked the fewest in a first half by any opponent against SEMO this year.
 
SEMO came out hot in the second half making six of its first seven field goals to increase its lead to 43-26 in the first 3:18.
 
Two free throws by Washington, Jr. gave his team a 19-point lead and the Redhawks didn't let up.
 
The baskets kept coming with Stacker burying his third 3-pointer and Elliot Lowndes making a tough shot underneath to put SEMO's lead over 20 (60-36) with 11:31 to go.
 
Ward's pullup jumper gave the Redhawks their largest lead at 68-41 before the Redhawks finished off their Ohio Valley Conference leading 12th league win. The 12 OVC wins are third-most in a season in program history.
 
SEMO shot a scorching 75.9 percent from the field in the game's final 20 minutes, missing just seven times (22-of-29).
 
Washington, Jr. made 8-of-19 field goals and made 4-of-4 free throws en route to his fourth 20-point effort of the season.
 
Martin followed with 17 points, his 12th consecutive double-digit game. 
 
Terry added 15 points, Stacker chipped in 14 and Ward finished with 10.
 
SEMO played in front of its biggest home crowd of the season officially listed as 2,692.