2025 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals

3/6/2025 7:45:03 AM

#4 LITTLE ROCK 82, #8 UT MARTIN 77
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Little Rock held off a pesky UT Martin club in an 82-77 win in an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night at the Ford Center.

The Trojans advance to the semifinals to play No. 1 seed Southeast Missouri at 7 p.m., Friday. Little Rock split two games with the Redhawks in the regular season.

Hitting shots wasn't a problem Thursday night. The Trojans shot 29-of-58 (50%) from the field and 11-of-22 (50%) from the three-point line.

Senior LSU transfer Mwani Wilkinson came out hot scoring 17 of his game-high 29 points in the first half. He was 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. Junior Johnathan Lawson hit 3-of-6 from the three-point line on his way to 21 points. Lawson also totaled 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Senior forward Tuongthach Gatkek recorded another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He also dished out 5 assists.

UT Martin star guard Tarence Guinyard, who scored 17 points, gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the second half at the 9:46 mark when he made three free throws after being fouled while shooting a three-pointer. UT Martin led 62-61 and were up five less than a minute later after hitting a three-pointer following a turnover.

Little Rock wouldn't allow the Skyhawks to gain control and cut the led to 66-65 on a Lawson hoop with just over eight minutes to play.
The lead see-sawed and UTM was up 72-70 when Vladamir Salaridze, who scored 15 points, answered Lawson's three with a triple of his own.

However, the Trojans did take over down the stretch when Gatkek tied the game on a whirling jumper in the paint with 4:39 remaining. Little Rock outscored the Skyhawks 10-5 from that point on and Lawson's two free throws at the 1:29 mark put the Trojans up 79-73. UTM didn't threaten after that as Little Rock made 3-of-4 free throws to seal it.

#3 TENNESSEE STATE 69, #6 LINDENWOOD 55
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Carlous Williams and Aaron Nkrumah combined for 29 points to lead the Tennessee State men's basketball team over Lindenwood 69-55 in the quarterfinals of the OVC Tournament.

The Tigers (17-15) had two players score in double figures, led by Williams, who had 15 points and three blocks. Nkrumah added 14 points and seven rebounds and Josh Ogundele added eight points and eight rebounds. The Tigers knocked down 8-of-18 attempts from beyond the arc, shooting 44.4 percent from deep in the win.

Led by Ogundele's two offensive rebounds, Tennessee State did a great job crashing the offensive glass, pulling down 12 boards that resulted in 13 second chance points.

Tennessee State did a great job disrupting Lindenwood shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Williams' three rejections led the way individually for the Tigers.

After falling behind 13-9, Tennessee State went on a 10-0 run with 11:24 left in the first half to take a 19-13 lead. The Tigers then added one point to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 31-24 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 16 of its 31 points close to the basket.

Tennessee State kept its lead intact before going on a 7-0 run, finished off by Justus Jackson's three, to grow the lead to 57-43 with 6:49 to go in the contest. The Tigers held onto that lead for the rest of the game for the 69-55 win. Tennessee State got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 10 of its 38 total points.