SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 77, Tennessee State 74
Eastern Illinois 67, @Morehead State 62
@Little Rock 75, Western Illinois 61
@Southeast Missouri 74, Lindenwood 58
@Southern Indiana 82, SIUE 68
TENNESSEE TECH 77, TENNESSEE STATE 74
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - An inspired second-half effort lifted the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to its second straight win in the comfort of the Hooper Eblen Center Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles topped in-state rival Tennessee State, 77-74, in a nationally televised contest on ESPNU.
The purple and gold overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half and led just under six minutes of the ball game, using a strong defensive front and timely scoring to notch a big Ohio Valley Conference victory on their home court.
The Tigers (14-15, 10-8) shot an elite rate in the opening half, firing at a 64.3 percent clip from the floor. Despite being held to just over 40 percent from the field in the same span, Tech's defense kept it in the contest, forcing eight turnovers.
In the second half, the Golden Eagles (15-14, 10-8) methodically worked their way back into the contest, cutting the deficit to four. TSU pushed its advantage back to 10 one last time with 14:32 to play, but the Tech defense took over from that point on.
Over the next seven minutes, the Cookeville crew held the visitors to just two points erasing the hole and taking its first lead of the contest on a Kyle Layton triple. The Tigers tied the contest twice, evening things at 58-58 one more time before the Golden Eagles jumped back on top for good with six minutes to play.
Tech built its own lead to as high as nine points with 56 seconds to play, but Tennessee State refused to go down without a fight. TSU trimmed the deficit to three with 33 seconds left on the clock and even forced a turnover on Tech's next inbounds play.
The Golden Eagle defense held strong, gathering a clutch defensive rebound and sinking three of the final four free throws of the game to secure its three-point victory.
Leading the way for the purple and gold was senior forward Rodney Johnson Jr., dropping a game-high 20 points while tying for the team lead with eight rebounds. Junior guard Jaylon Johnson tacked on 15 points with seven assists, sinking 10-of-14 attempts from the charity stripe.
Junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe connected for 11 points while hauling in eight boards. He didn't finish stuffing the stat sheet there either, accumulating three assists and a whopping five steals. Layton rounded out Tech's double-digit scorers, contributing 10 points with a pair of steals.
Local Rickman native Matthew Sells buried a trio of treys on his way to nine points off the bench while junior forward Ola Ajiboye produced three points, six rebounds, and two dimes.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 67, MOREHEAD STATE 62
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Eastern Illinois rallied from 12 points down with just over ten minutes to play to pick up a 67-62 road win Saturday afternoon at Morehead State.
Kade Ruegsegger pushed the Eagles lead to 47-35 with 10:16 to play in the game knocking down a 3-pointer. Morehead State was hot from 3-poitn range early in the second half hitting five of their first nine in the second half expanding what had been a 25-22 halftime lead.
EIU went on an extended 14-3 run to take the lead on a driving lay-up by Artese Stapleton giving EIU the lead with 2:47 left in the game. Stapleton had 13 points, one of three Panthers in double figures.
Tyler Brelsford stopped EIU’s extended run to put the Eagles back in front by two. Stapelton scored seven of the Panthers next ten points coupled with a steal and dunk by Terry McMorris. Stapleton was 9-of-9 at the foul line as EIU hit 18-of-22 at the stripe for the game.
Nakyel Shelton iced the game with free throws in the final seconds scoring a game-high 25 points.
Obadiah Curtis provided 14 points off the bench for EIU which improved to 10-19 overall, 6-12 in the OVC.
MSU finished 10-of-27 from 3-point range as they fell to 14-15 overall, 9-9 in the OVC. Kenny White Jr and Brelsford finished with 14 points each to lead MSU.
LITTLE ROCK 75, WESTERN ILLINOIS 61
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Senior guard Jordan Jefferson promised he'd "show out" on senior day against Western Illinois Saturday. And he did, it just took him a bit to get going. Jefferson scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half and Little Rock overcame a 17-point first half deficit to roll past the Leathernecks, 75-61, as a large homecoming crowd of more than 2,000 watched on.
Not only was the day festive celebrating the careers of Jefferson and fellow senior Mwani Wilkinson, but the victory also marked the 100th win of head Coach Darrell Walker's seven-year tenure at Little Rock.
After trailing by 17 points late in the first half, the Trojans cut the deficit to 39-36 at halftime.
WIU led by five early in the first half, but that's when Jefferson started heating up. He made a floating jumper and was fouled and hit the free throw.
Moments later Wilkinson, who finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, hit a three-pointer to give the Trojans a 45-44 lead with just over 15 minutes left, and they never relinquished it.
A 12-0 run, which also included a Jefferson 3-pointer, was capped by a Wilkinson jumper in the lane that gave Little Rock a 53-45 lead with 13:13 remaining.
The lead hovered around 10 points the next few minutes, and WIU star guard Marco Maletic, who was held to seven points, hit two free throws to cut the margin to 57-49 with 10:39 remaining.
That's as close as the Leathernecks got as the Trojans went on an 11-2 run. Jefferson's bucket in the lane with 4:30 remaining gave Little Rock a 68-51 lead. Jefferson's final hoop of the game was a triple with 48 seconds left.
Jefferson's second-half heroics may not have mattered had Tuongthach Gatkek not sparked the team in the first half. The 6-foot-9, springy forward practically dug the Trojans out of a hole himself in the first half.
With Little Rock trailing 34-17 with 5:41 to play in the half, Gatkek responded with an 8-0 run by himself. His easy fast-break hoop following a turnover, cut the margin to 37-32 with 1:22 left in the half. Jefferson's jumper cut the lead to three with 34 seconds to go, but WIU went back up 5. Ante Beljan, who contributed 10 points and four rebounds, dunked home a miss with no time left to make it 39-36 at halftime.
Gatkek finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74, LINDENWOOD 58
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Rob Martin scored a game-high 26 points and Brendan Terry pitched in 22 to lead Ohio Valley Conference leader Southeast Missouri (19-10, 14-4) to a 74-58 win over Lindenwood (14-15, 9-9) Saturday in its home finale at the Show Me Center.
SEMO and LU played in front of an electric crowd of 3,920, the Redhawks largest home attendance of the season.
After the Lions pulled within one, 52-51, on Jadis Jones' layup with 8:53 left to play, SEMO overpowered LU, 22-7, the rest of the way en route to nailing down its ninth-straight win.
The Redhawks heated up to make four-straight field goals to jumpstart their decisive stretch punctuated by a Martin 3-pointer that put SEMO up, 65-56, with 3:38 remaining.
Forty-five seconds later, Martin drained another three to get the Redhawks lead back to double figures (68-68) and that was it for the Lions.
In the first half, LU went on a 7-0 run to take an early 11-6 lead.
After SEMO missed seven-straight field goals and went scoreless for over five minutes, Teddy Washington, Jr. drove in for a layup, TJ Biel followed with a jumper and Terry scored to give the Redhawks a slight 12-11 edge with 8:32 remaining in the first half.
BJ Ward hit a jumper to extend SEMO's lead to 20-13 with 6:34 to go before the Lions answered with seven of the next eight points and went ahead by one.
Martin then rallied to score eight consecutive points in the last 2:31 to grab SEMO a 28-24 advantage at the half.
The Redhawks came out strong in the second half scoring nine of the first 11 points to secure their first double-digit lead of the contest. Terry capped the surge with a fast break dunk that widened SEMO's margin to 37-26 just 3:16 in.
Ward put SEMO up 12 when he buried a 3-pointer to give the Redhawks a 50-38 lead at the 12:45 mark.
Shortly after the Redhawks led by 12 again (52-40) following two free throws by Terry, LU countered with its 11-0 run to pull within a point.
Martin, who scored 16 of his points in the second half, shot 9-of-16 from the field and went a perfect 5-of-5 at the free throw line. He dished out eight assists and went over 250 in his career. Martin has scored double figures in 13-straight starts.
Terry made a near-perfect 8-of-9 field goals, had five rebounds and hit 6-of-8 free throws. He scored over 20 points for the second-straight game.
Washington, Jr. followed with 15 points in his final home game as a Redhawk.
SEMO shot just under 50 percent (.490) as a team and made 15-of-20 free throws. The Redhawks shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) and made 12 of their free throws in the second half alone.
The Redhawks nine-game winning streak is their longest since the 1989-90 team won 11 in a row. SEMO's 14 conference wins also tied the 1999-2000 team (14-4) for the second most OVC victories in a season in program history.
SEMO concluded the year with a 12-3 record at home, its most home victories in a season since the 1999-2000 team finished at 14-1.
Today's win gave the Redhawks a +10 increase in the win column from last season. SEMO finished the 2023-24 season at 9-22 overall and improved to 19-10 this year. It matches the best one-year turnaround in terms of wins since the 2015-16 team went 5-24 and 2016-17 team followed that up with a 15-18 record.
Additionally, SEMO's 19 victories match the most in a season under Head Coach Brad Korn.
Seniors Washington, Jr. and TJ Biel were recognized prior to tip-off.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 82, SIUE 68
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Men's Basketball snapped its losing streak with an 82-68 Senior Night win over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Saturday evening at Liberty Arena. The Screaming Eagles are 10-18 overall and 5-13 in OVC action, while the Cougars go to 19-10, 12-6 OVC.
USI started Senior Night off on the right foot with a quick 7-2 lead before two minutes were gone. The Eagles would hang onto the lead for 10 more minutes when the Cougars grabbed a brief 26-25 advantage before USI jumped back in front 28-26 on a three by junior guard Braxton Jones with 7:36 left in the half.
The USI lead would grow back to five points, 33-28, with just under seven minutes to play on an old-fashioned three-point play by sophomore forward Stephen Olowoniyi. The lead expanded to double-digits, 42-31, on back-to-back buckets in the paint by junior center Alex Horiuk and a three-pointer by junior guard Ryan Hall that forced an SIUE timeout.
USI junior guard Jack Campion sent the Eagles into the locker with the first-half's largest of 13-point lead, 46-33. Hall had a team-high and season-high 11 points during the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, USI briefly took the lead to 15 points, 50-35, before SIUE used a 7-2 surge to close the gap to nine points, 52-43, with 14:40 remaining in the game. Junior forward Jadyn Shider took the lead back to 11 points with a bucket, while junior guard Jayland Randall pushed the lead back to 12 points, 59-47, on a three-pointer from the right corner.
SIUE closed the gap to seven points, 59-52, with 9:37 to play in the contest and to five points, 60-55, with 8:34 remaining. USI took back the momentum with an 8-2 run, pushing the lead back to double-digits, 68-57, with 6:00 on the clock.
After the Eagles and the Cougars traded buckets for two minutes, graduate forward Jack Mielke hit a big three-pointer with 3:04 remaining to keep the Eagles in front by 11 points, 73-62. The three-pointer ignited a 7-0 run for a 77-63 advantage and put the Eagles back in command for good. USI finished out the game on a 12-6 run for an 82-68 victory.
On the scoreboard, USI had five players in double-digits and was led by the 20-point performance by Randall. He was five-of-11 from the field, including a three-pointer, and nine-of-10 from the line.
Mielke and Jones followed with 12 points each, while Hall and Campion rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points and 10 points, respectively. The 11 points was a season high for Hall.
In addition to his 12 points, Mielke also grabbed a team-high and career-high 13 rebounds. The double-double was the second of Mielke's career at USI.