THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 87, Western Illinois 69
Southeast Missouri 80, @Morehead State 51
Lindenwood 52, @UT Martin 51
Little Rock 74, @Southern Indiana 56
SIUE 75, @Tennessee Tech 58
TENNESSEE STATE 87, WESTERN ILLINOIS 69
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team had four players score in double figures, led by Aaron Nkrumah, who had 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals on the way to an 87-69 win against Western Illinois at home Thursday.
Travis Harper II added 13 points and two steals and Justus Jackson chipped in as well with 13 points off of the bench.
Ronald Jessamy pulled down four offensive rebounds to pace the Tennessee State (11-13, 7-6) offense which grabbed 19 boards and turned them into 22 second chance points.
The Tennessee State defense was effective at taking away the basketball in Thursday's game, forcing 19 Western Illinois turnovers while committing 10. Those takeaways turned into 33 points on the offensive end of the floor. Nkrumah's two steals led the way individually for the Tigers.
After falling behind 31-29, Tennessee State went on a 7-0 run with 3:37 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Jackson, to take a 36-31 lead. The Tigers then maintained that lead and entered halftime with a 38-33 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 20 of its 38 points close to the basket.
Tennessee State started tacking on points in the second half almost immediately, going on an 8-0 run, finished off by Carlous Williams' layup, to grow the lead to 46-33 with 15:27 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 87-69 win. Tennessee State capitalized on eight Western Illinois turnovers in the period, collecting 15 points off those turnovers.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 80, MOREHEAD STATE 51
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Rob Martin dropped in a game-high 27 points as Southeast Missouri (14-10, 9-4) crushed Ohio Valley Conference leader Morehead State (14-10, 9-4), 80-51, Thursday night at Johnson Arena.
SEMO won its fourth-straight game in its largest OVC win of the season
The Redhawks handed MSU only its eighth home loss since the 2020-21 campaign. After tonight, the Eagles are now 61-8 on their home court during that span.
SEMO's 29-point victory marked the largest by an OVC opponent at Johnson Arena since Jan. 21, 2006, when MSU dropped an 88-65 decision to then-league member Jacksonville State. Additionally, the Redhawks came away with a win for the third time in four trips to Morehead.
BJ Ward set the tone by scoring eight of his team's first 12 points and SEMO jumped out to an early 12-4 lead a little over four minutes in.
Ward knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and scored on a second-chance layup before Troy Cole, Jr. threw down a dunk off an alleyoop pass by Martin capping the surge.
Teddy Washington, Jr. split two free throws giving the Redhawks a 15-6 advantage with 12:55 remaining in the first half.
MSU answered with the next five points and used two Tyler Breisford free throws to get within four at 15-11.
SEMO then put together a 14-5 run to fueled by eight points from Martin. Martin's pullup jumper extended the Redhawks margin to 29-16 at the 4:15 mark. MSU made just one field goal in nearly seven minutes.
Martin later scored the final five points of the first half and drained a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer sending SEMO into the intermission with a 38-22 lead.
A native of St. Louis, Martin missed just three field goals and scored 17 points in the first half, where the Redhawks shot a red-hot 58.6 percent.
SEMO continued to have its way with the Eagles in the second half and never let its lead dip below double figures.
MSU cut the Redhawks lead to 40-29, but SEMO responded with a 12-3 run to go up by 20.
Ward's 3-pointer and Elliot Lowndes' tip-in then put the Redhawks up by 30 on two occasions in the final 3:49 of action.
SEMO led for all but 1:49 and dominated in all facets.
The Redhawks shot 54.8 percent (34-of-62) from the field and outrebounded MSU, 38-28. It was the fourth game in a row, where SEMO shot 50 percent or better.
Martin finished with 11-of-19 field goals, 3-of-6 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws en route to his fourth 20-point effort of the season. He dished out five assists, as well. Martin has scored double figures in nine-straight starts.
Ward followed with 16 points on 6-of-12 from the field. Four of his makes were from 3-point range.
LINDENWOOD 52, UT MARTIN 51
MARTIN, Tenn.- Lindenwood men's basketball (11-13, 6-7 OVC) gets their first road victory of the season after tonight's heroic effort by Reggie Bass to lift the Lions to a 52-51 win over UT Martin (9-15, 5-8 OVC) in Martin, Tenn. The Lions now tied their Division I record in wins (11) and Ohio Valley Conference wins (6).
The biggest play of the night came with 16 seconds remaining when Bass hit a three-pointer down three points plus the foul where he completed the four point play to put the Lions up one. Lindenwood's defense would hold on the rest of the way to pick up the win. Bass finished with seven points while adding three steals.
Clayton Jackson was the Lions' leading scorer posting a career-high 16 points on 6-12 shooting including three three-pointers. It marked his first double-digit scorer effort since December 4th against East-West. Jackson was second on the team in minutes played with 30.
His freshman counter-part Jadis Jones had his third double-double of the season after scoring 11 points while grabbing 11 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass. Despite going 2-7 from the field, Jones went 7-9 at the foul line. LU as a team shot 13-19 from the free throw line.
Both teams shot below 30.0% from the floor on Thursday including Lindenwood shooting 16-59 (27.1%) which marked their lowest field-goal percentage in a win in program history (NCAA era). UT Martin was not much better shooting 28.6% from the field and 16.7% from three. The Skyhawks were held to just one double-figure scorer in Tarence Guinyard.
Lindenwood jumped out to a 10-5 lead with 15:31 remaining in the first half after Nathan Johnson Jr. got to scoring underway with a three-pointer. The Lions continued to hold that lead with 13:!3 left at 16-11 after a Jordan Wildy made layup.
Both teams had stretches in the first half with long scoring droughts, but Lindenwood kept pushing, ending the half on a 7-2 run thanks to two three-pointers from Jackson. LU and UTM shot double-digit free throws in the first half with LU going 9-13 and UT Martin going 6-10. Lindenwood shot 8-31 through the first 20 minutes of action while UT Martin shot 28.0%. Jackson led all scorers with nine points.
Coming out of halftime, UT Martin responded with a 5-0 run of their own to cut the lead to two, but that was ended after a layup by Markeith Browning II who ended with eight points. The Skyhawks would eventually take their first lead of the night with 15:26 remaining after a tip-in layup by Guinyard made it 34-33.
Lindenwood would find themselves down by as many as seven second half points with 9:20 remaining before the Lions had to find some offense. Jackson hit another three with 6:52 remaining helping the Lions cut the lead to one at 45-44.
UT Martin found themselves up four with 1:06 remaining before Jackson made a floating jump shot with 50 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 50-48. After a Lindenwood foul put Josue Grullon at the line, where he went 1-2, Browning II grabbed the rebound and pushed it up the floor where Bass made the three-pointer plus the foul.
Bass would make the free throw putting the Lions up one with 16 seconds. Grullon got a look with three seconds left, but his attempt was blocked by Browning. Martin had one last look but it was off the mark as the Lions pulled off the road victory in Martin, Tenn.
LITTLE ROCK 74, SOUTHERN INDIANA 56
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Little Rock took the lead in the first two minutes of the game and never lost it in a 74-56 win against Southern Indiana Thursday night at Liberty Arena.
The Trojans (15-9, 9-4) led by as many as 18 points in the first half, and held a 37-24 halftime lead. Once the lead grew to double digits, the Screaming Eagles (9-14, 4-9) were never able to knock it back to single digits. The closest they came was 10 with 11:17 to go in the game, but the margin was back to 12 moments later.
Johnathan Lawson hit his first three three-pointers in the first half to finish 5-of-8 from behind the arc for a game-high 19 points. Jordan Jefferson came off the bench to score 17 points, and he also nabbed four steals and added two assists. Mwani Wilkinson recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds with 4 assists. Ante Beljan added 10 points.
The Trojans shot 49% from the field and 55% from the three-point line. They converted on 9-of-10 free throws and only committed 10 turnovers. Meanwhile, USI shot 34.6% from the field and a frigid 5-of-23 (21.7%) from the three-point line. They committed 14 turnovers with the Trojans scoring 16 points off the miscues.
With 5:20 to play in the first half, USI only trailed 23-16. However, the Trojans rattled of an 11-0 run that included a four-point play from Jefferson and a three-pointer by Wilkinson on back-to-back possessions. A jumper by Lawson with 3:03 to play in the half gave the Trojans a 34-16 advantage.
SIUE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 58
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Ray'Sean Taylor scored 28 points, Brian Taylor II added 19 points for the Cougars, who took over sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference thanks to a 75-58 win at Tennessee Tech Thursday.
The Cougars improved to 10-4 in the OVC and 17-8 overall while sweeping the season series from the Golden Eagles.
SIUE's 10 wins established a new program high for OVC wins. The Cougars now lead Morehead State, Little Rock and Southeast Missouri by one-half game with six games to play in the regular season.
Tennessee Tech fell to 12-12 and 7-6 in the OVC.
Tornado warnings in Cookeville forced the game to start two hours after original start time.
Once the game began, it took little time for SIUE to get going. The Cougars used an 8-0 run to lead 10-4 and force a Tennessee Tech timeout with 15:59 to play in the first. A three-pointer from Ray'Sean Taylor extended the lead to 13-4.
The Golden Eagles used a run of their own to pull ahead 16-15 with 9:19 before halftime. The Cougars used another run to get back on top. SIUE led 36-27 with the ball and time expiring ahead of halftime. Following a timeout, Ray'Sean Taylor buried his fifth three-pointer of the half just before the halftime buzzer to send SIUE to break with a 12-point lead.
The Cougars quickly pushed the lead to 17 points in the second half and never trailed again in the game.
Tennessee Tech got as close as eight points, but never any closer. A Brian Taylor free throw with 59 seconds left gave SIUE its largest lead at 75-57.
Ray'Sean Taylor finished 10-18 from the field overall and 7-10 from three-point range to lead all scorers. Brian Taylor was 9-11 overall. Kyle Thomas added 10 points and Declan Dillon scored eight points. Ring Malith pulled down 14 rebounds and added four points for the Cougars.
The Cougars shot 57 percent in the second half and 52 percent (33-63) for the game.
JuJaun Nichols led Tennessee Tech with 16 points.
SIUE limited Tennessee Tech to just 41 percent shooting for the game. The Golden Eagles came into the game averaging 9.7 three-pointer per game, but finished with just three in 19 attempts.