THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 71, Western Illinois 66
@Lindenwood 89, Tennessee Tech 68
@SIUE 74, Tennessee State 66
Eastern Illinois 59, @Southern Indiana 51 (OT)
@Southeast Missouri 70, Little Rock 65
MOREHEAD STATE 71, WESTERN ILLINOIS 66
MOREHEAD, Ky. - - Davion Cunningham and Tamaury Releford combined for 30 points and 15 rebounds off the bench, and the Morehead State men's basketball team out-rebounded visiting Western Illinois 50-31, but it took all 40 minutes to fend off the persistent Leathernecks as MSU prevailed 71-66 at Johnson Arena Thursday.
MSU moved to 10-10 overall and 6-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while WIU was left still searching for its first conference win at 0-9 and 4-16 overall.
Cunningham scored a team-high 18 points and also grabbed six rebounds. Releford scored 12 and pulled down nine boards for a near double-double, and Jon Carroll secured a career-high 15 rebounds (the highest single-game total for an Eagle this year and the fifth most in the past 15 seasons). Morehead State's offensive rebound total was a season-high.
Anouar Mellouk added 11 points, and George Marshall ended with 10 - his team-best 13th game scoring 10+ this year.
The Eagles' rebounding prowess canceled out a uncharacteristic 10-for-20 night shooting free throws as the Eagles entered the night with the best in-conference free throw shooting accuracy at 75 percent. MSU was also held to just 3-of-16 three-point shooting.
On the other end, the Leathernecks were draining triples to keep them in the game. WIU hit 10-of-24 from distance as Lucas Lorenzen canned five and scored a game-high 26.
MSU found itself with a 10-point first half lead (25-15), but WIU chipped away at that with an 8-0 scoring flurry. Goanar Billiew's layup with 3:40 left in the opening half had the visitors' deficit back to just one at 29-28. MSU was able to push back ahead and led 39-32 at halftime.
WIU actually led in the second half, and held a 59-55 cushion with 8:37 remaining. After that, neither team led by more than two until the final minute as the battle featured 13 ties and 11 lead swaps. Chase Dawson finally put the game in hand for the Eagles with a free throw with 10 seconds left. MSU led 69-66 before a missed a triple by WIU and an ensuing fifth foul by Lorenzen led to a pair of final free tosses by Cunningham.
Morehead State finished the night slightly ahead in the shooting accuracy column, hitting 44 percent to the 'Necks' 41 percent. MSU now leads the series 7-4 all-time and is 4-1 against WIU since it joined the OVC three seasons ago.
LINDENWOOD 89, TENNESSEE TECH 68
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood Men's Basketball (12-8, 6-3 OVC) bounced back from their previous game on Saturday with a 21 point win at home over Tennessee Tech by a final score of 89-68 inside of Hyland Arena on Thursday night. Anias Futrell picked up his second double-double of the season in the victory for the Lions, scoring a game-high 25 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Dontrez Williams, Jadis Jones, and Milos Nenadic also scored in double figures tonight as the offense shot 56.7% from the floor and 80% from the free throw line.
The first half saw the Lions come out with a lot of energy early on as Lindenwood broke the game wide open going on a 21-5 run through the first 5:30 of the opening half. Anias Futrell buried two of his first three three point attempts during the run while Jadis Jones, Dontrez Williams, and Milos Nenadic scored a combined 12 points early in the contest, all of which came inside the paint. Tennessee Tech cut the lead to eight with less than eight minutes to go, but the Lions used their second big run of the half to create distance between them and the Golden Eagles. LU ended the first half on a 20-9 run and led 47-26 at the break as the defense forced Tennessee Tech into 11 turnovers which led to 19 points for the Lions including 15 on the fast break. Futrell led the Lions with 14 points at the half and Jones added 11 points on 5-6 shooting.
In the second half, the two squads went on mini 4-0 runs to start as Lindenwood maintained a steady 21 point lead less than three minutes into the half. Lindenwood would then extend their lead to the largest of the game at 30 by a score of 67-37 after Clayton Jackson connected on a mid range jumper to end a 16-5 Lindenwood run. The defense allowed Tennessee Tech to just 35% from the field for the entire game, and forced 16 turnovers that led to 27 points for the Lions. Dontrez Williams scored 10 second half points to finish the game with 16, while Futrell continued to pour it on in the second half scoring 11 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor. The Lions handled business on their home floor and defeated Tennesee Tech by a final score of 89-68.
SIUE 74, TENNESSEE STATE 66
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Jack Campion's first career double-double and the first career 20-point game from Kyle Thomas lifted SIUE to a 74-66 win Thursday in front of 2,375 at First Community Arena and a national television audience on ESPNU.
The Cougars improved to 5-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 12-8 overall. Tennessee State dropped to 6-3 in the OVC and 12-7 overall. The win is the fourth straight for SIUE in the series with the Tigers.
Campion scored 14 points and tied his career high with 10 assists. He added four rebounds and a steal. Thomas landed seven of nine field goal attempts and went 6-7 at the free throw line for a career-best 20 points. Tyler King scored 13 points, including 11 in the second half.
The Cougars got off to a strong start shooting the ball and connected on their first four three-point attempts but found themselves trailing 16-8 after a three free throws by Travis Harper II.
SIUE then went on an 11-0 run to regain the lead 19-16 after a traditional three-point play by Thomas with 12:33 to play.
In all, the lead changed five times in the first half, and the two teams were tied at 34 at the break.
The Cougars opened the scoring in the second half and scored 10 of the first 12 points out of the break. An 8-0 run pushed the advantage to 44-36 following a free throw by King less than four minutes in the half.
SIUE grew its lead to 10 points twice. It was 56-46 after a Jo Valrie Dunk 10:38 to play. A layup by Jordan Pickett with 4:17 left made it 65-55.
Tennessee State got as close as four twice in the final 2:39 of the game, but never drew any closer.
SIUE shot 52 percent (25-48) for the game. The Cougar were 13-23 (57 precent) in the second half. SIUE finished with 18 assists, its most in game against a Division I opponent this year.
Tennessee State was led by Harper's 17 points. Dante Harris added 16 points. The Tigers shot just 33 percent (22-67) overall but hit 18-22 free throw attempts.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 59, SOUTHERN INDIANA 51 (OT)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Zion Fruster scored Eastern Illinois final 13 points on Thursday night as the Panthers picked up their first road win of the season with a 59-51 overtime victory over Southern Indiana at Liberty Arena.
Fruster scored 25 points with his tear drop shot with 18 seconds left in regulation tying the game at 50-50.
Fruster hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 1:12 in overtime pushing EIU’s lead to two possessions at 55-51. Fruster scored the final four points at the free throw line.
After leading most of the game, Southern Indiana scored only one point in the overtime session.
EIU did not take the lead in the game until Terry McMorris had a three-point play with 6:16 to play in the second half giving EIU a 44-41 lead.
Steven Clay tied the game for USI with a 3-pointer and a dunk by Tolu Samuels put the Screaming Eagles up until Fruster was able to tie the game in the final 18 seconds.
Meechie White had eight points and ten rebounds.
Amaree Brown led USI with 17 points. Ismail Habib had 12 points. Samuels pulled down 11 rebounds for USI as they won the battle on the glass 45-41 with 14 offensive rebounds.
EIU improved to 9-11 overall, 5-4 in the OVC. USI fell to 4-15 overall, 1-8 in the OVC.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 70, LITTLE ROCK 65
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Luke Almodovar had a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds and Landren Blocker added 13 points to lead Southeast Missouri (11-10, 6-4) to a 70-65 win over Little Rock (9-11, 6-3) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO closed out its four-game home stand with two-straight victories and ended LR's four-game winning streak in the process.
It was a two-possession game only three times in tight first half that SEMO led for a span of nearly 15 minutes.
Down, 17-16, the Redhawks put together a 7-0 run to take a six-point advantage when PJ Farmer's first career 3-pointer gave SEMO a 23-17 lead with 5:59 remaining.
Brendan Terry's layup later put the Redhawks up, 33-28, before LR pulled within three at halftime.
Blocker led all scorers with 11 points in the opening stanza.
SEMO opened the second half with a 17-7 run that ended with a 3-pointer by both Braxton Stacker and Luke Almodovar making it, 50-37, Redhawks with 14:39 to go.
After Tuongthach Gatkek's layup narrowed SEMO's margin to 58-50, Almodovar answered with a corner 3-pointer and answered another LR basket with a dunk. Two free throws by Stacker followed giving the Redhawks a 65-52 lead at the 3:50 mark.
SEMO withstood an 11-2 LR run that dropped the Redhawks lead to 67-63 with less than a minute on the clock.
BJ Ward's pullup jumper gave the Redhawks a 69-63 edge 27 seconds later and Ward scored the final point on a free throw to ice the victory.
Blocker shot 6-of-9 from the field, while Almodovar made four field goals, a pair of 3-pointers and three free throws. Ward followed with 11 points and Terry chipped in 10 points and six boards.
SEMO led for a total of 33:55 and held LR to 32.4 percent (12-of-37) from the floor in the second half. The Redhawks also outscored the Trojans, 32-18, in the paint.
Johnathan Lawson, who made the game-winner to beat SEMO in Cape Girardeau a year ago, led LR with 21 points.