SATURDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 76, @Tennessee Tech 74
@Eastern Illinois 73, Southeast Missouri 58
@SIUE 73, Little Rock 65
Morehead State 59, @UT Martin 47
@Tennessee State 74, Southern Indiana 69
LINDENWOOD 76, TENNESSEE TECH 74
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Lindenwood men's basketball team (15-16, 10-10 OVC) closed out the season with another nail-biting victory, defeating Tennessee Tech (15-16, 10-10 OVC) 76-74 on Saturday afternoon in Cookeville.
Reggie Bass had a team-high 25 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including a pair of free throws late to propel the Lions past the Golden Eagles. Jadis Jones chipped in 22 and grabbed six rebounds.
Lindenwood started the game on a 7-0 run, capped off by a Markieth Browning II three. The half turned into a back-and-forth one from there as both teams settled in on the defensive end. The Lions were up 24-23 at the 6:49 mark, but the Golden Eagles closed the half on an 8-4 run to go up 31-28 at half. Jones had a tea-leading 12 points at the break.
Jordan Wildy gave the Black and Gold their first lead of the half at 35-34 with a hook shot in the paint. Tech took their biggest lead of the second half at 48-43 with just under 14 minutes to go. The Lions hit a scoring drought midway through the final frame and Tennessee Tech went up as much as 12, 69-57 with five and a half minutes to go.
The Lions battled back, however and cut the deficit to three at 72-69 after a step back three by Reggie Bass. Bass continued his strong finish, closing the game on a personal 10-0 run. He was fouled with two seconds left and made both free throws to put Lindenwood up 76-74 with two seconds left. The Lions held on for a big road win.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 73, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 58
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s basketball sent its seniors out on a high note Saturday afternoon as the Panthers won their fourth straight to end the season while snapping OVC regular season champion Southeast Missouri’s 10-game win streak.
EIU picked up the 73-58 win at Groniger Arena to finish at 12-19 overall, 8-12 in the OVC. SEMO ends the regular season at 20-11, 15-5 in the OVC.
SEMO opened with a 5-0 run with Rob Martin scoring five of his 18 points to open the game. EIU responded with an 11-2 run as Rodolfo Bolis had a put-back basket, the first of two straight baskets for one of seven EIU seniors.
After the teams traded the lead over the next couple of minutes Malik Olafioye knocked down a 3-pointer with 10:04 to play in the first half giving EIU a lead it would not relinquish for the half. The Panthers led 36-32 at the half holding SEMO to 37 percent shooting from the floor.
The Panthers pushed the lead to double digits with 17:05 to play on a Kooper Jacobi basket. Jacobi added eight rebounds as he ended the regular season as the OVC leader in rebounds and cracked the EIU single season top ten.
SEMO closed the margin over the next ten minutes tying the game at 52-52 on a 3-pointer by Braxton Stacker. Stacker was the second Redhawks player in double figures with 12.
Senior Nakyel Shelton broke the tie sparking an 11-1 run and the Panthers never looked back. Shelton led all players with 28 points while fellow senior Artese Stapleton scored 22.
Bolis pulled down ten rebounds to go with his six points. EIU honored seniors Bolis, Shelton, Stapleton, Corey Sawyer Jr, Carson Prost, Lazar Grbovic and Sekou Kalle before the game.
SEMO was 11-of-27 from 3-point range in the game but ended overall shooting 34.6 percent from the field.
SIUE 73, LITTLE ROCK 65
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - With a 73-65 victory over Little Rock Saturday at First Community Arena, SIUE men's basketball clinched the No. 2 seed for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and a trip to the semifinals.
SIUE finished the regular season 20-11 overall and 13-7 in the OVC.
It marks the first time SIUE has won 20 or more games in the Division I era. The 13 OVC wins are the most ever since joining the conference.
Little Rock finished its regular season 18-13 overall and 12-8 in the OVC. The Trojans will be the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament.
The win played out in front of the largest crowd of the year as 2,751 packed First Community Arena.
SIUE captured a 5-2 lead out of the gate but the Trojans answered with a 5-0 run to take the lead early in the first half.
A Ring Malith jump shot gave the Cougars a one-point advantage and led the rest of the way.
In the midst of a 9-2 run Ray'Sean Taylor buried a three pointer to extend the Cougar lead to 10 (22-12) with 8:20 left in the first half.
The Trojans' Mwani Wilkinson connected on a three pointer to trim the Cougar lead to 33-22, but Ray'Sean Taylor answered his three with one of his own to take a 14-point lead (38-24) lead into halftime.
SIUE snatched its biggest lead of the game (45-28) on a pair of free throws by Ring Malith early in the second half.
Little Rock crawled back and cut the lead to nine (47-38) on a Jordan Jefferson three-pointer. Another Jefferson three-pointer made it a six-point contest with 8:40 to go in the second half.
The Trojans closed the margin to three (62-59) with 3:47 left to play on a steal by Johnathan Lawson who dished it to Caleb Pennyfeather for a layup.
Sparked by free throws from Arnas Sakenis, the Cougars would salt away the victory on a pair of three-pointers by Desmond Polk and Rink Malith.
The Cougars were led by Ring Malith who poured in 21 points and added seven rebounds plus four assists. Malith finished 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Ray'Sean Taylor logged 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists. It was Taylors 28th time he scored in double figures this season.
Off the bench, Arnas Sakenis tied his career high with nine points while grabbing three rebounds. Sakenis also added three blocks.
Brian Taylor II filled the stat sheet with eight points, five rebounds, and five assists.
SIUE finished from the field 23-of-52 (44 percent) and 8-of-22 (40 percent) from three-point range.
The Cougars connected on 70 percent (19-of-27) of their free throws.
Jordan Jefferson led the charge for Little Rock with 21 points. Jefferson recorded a rebound and three assists.
Isaiah Lewis contributed 15 points and added a career-high nine rebounds.
Little Rock connected on 23-of-52 (44 percent) attempts from the field and 8-of-20 from three-point range.
MOREHEAD STATE 59, UT MARTIN 47
MARTIN, Tenn. - Morehead State Men's Basketball took a lead late in the first half and never gave it back to UT Martin Saturday as the Eagles ended the regular-season on a high note with a 59-47 road win over the Skyhawks at the Elam Center.
MSU (15-16/10-10 OVC) guaranteed the program's fifth straight .500 or above OVC finish as the Eagles will be the No. 7 seed in the upcoming OVC Tournament and play No. 6 Lindenwood at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, March 5 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. MSU's win also put the kibosh on the team's longest losing streak (eight games) since 2017-18.
MSU has now won nine of the last 11 games in the series with UTM (13-18/8-12).
Morehead State had three players reach double figures in points, led by Tyler Brelsford and Jerone Morton with 13 each. Anouar Mellouk had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds as the Eagles out-rebounded the hosts 33-30.
For Brelsford it was his 17th double figure game this winter, while Morton scored 10+ for the 14th time. Morton added four assists.
The teams jockeyed for supremacy all throughout the first half before a bucket from Dieonte Miles gave the Eagles a 22-20 lead with 1:30 left in the half. The second half saw MSU score the first seven points to build a 31-22 lead. The margin only increased as the Eagles pushed the lead out to as much as 18 (49-31) with 9:09 left. Brelsford hit four straight free throws, including two for a technical foul on a UTM player.
The Skyhawks never trimmed the Eagle lead to below 10 the remainder of the game.
Morehead State shot 43 percent (20-of-47) while holding UTM to just 36 percent (18-of-50).
TENNESSEE STATE 74, SOUTHERN INDIANA 69
NASHVILLE - Travis Harper II collected 28 points and Carlous Williams added 21 and the Tennessee State men's basketball team knocked off Southern Indiana. 74-69, at home Saturday.
The Tigers (16-15, 12-8) had three players score in double figures, led by Harper II, who had 28 points, six rebounds and two steals. Williams tacked on 21 points and Justus Jackson chipped in as well with 13 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
After jumping out to a 9-7 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 13:55 left in the first half to increase its lead to 15-7. The Tigers then added three points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 39-28 advantage. Tennessee State got a great contribution from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 11 of its 39 total points.
Tennessee State kept its lead intact before going on a 7-0 run to grow the lead to 64-52 with 6:12 to go in the contest. The Screaming Eagles narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still held on for the 74-69 win. Tennessee State got out on the break in the period, scoring 10 fast break points.