Ohio Valley Conference

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Aaron Nkrumah collected 22 points and Travis Harper II added 21 and the Tennessee State men's basketball team took down the Little Rock Trojans 84-79 on the road Saturday.

Nkrumah and Harper II's stellar scoring performances led the Tigers (9-5, 3-1 OVC) in the contest. Nkrumah tacked on five assists and five steals, finishing 8-of-17 from the floor and a perfect 5-of-5 at the free-throw line, while Harper II added eight rebounds and three steals to go along with his 21 points. Antoine Lorick III also helped out with 11 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double, as Tennessee State placed three players in double figures.

Tennessee State out-rebounded Little Rock 40-39 in Saturday's game, led by Lorick III's nine boards and strong interior play throughout the afternoon. The Tigers also pulled down 14 offensive rebounds and scored 18 second-chance points, repeatedly extending possessions and capitalizing around the rim.

The Tennessee State defense was a problem in Saturday's game, forcing 14 Little Rock turnovers while committing 11. Those takeaways turned into 16 points on the offensive end of the floor, including multiple fast-break opportunities late. Nkrumah's five steals led the way individually for the Tigers, while the team added 10 total steals in the contest.

After falling behind 3-2, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 16:47 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Kavien Jones, to take an 8-3 lead. The Tigers then lost some of that lead as Little Rock responded with timely shooting, but Tennessee State maintained control and entered halftime with a 33-32 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first-half damage in the paint, scoring 18 of its 33 points close to the basket.

The Tigers coasted to the win from there, increasing their margin of victory by outscoring the Trojans 51-47 in the second half. Tennessee State used a strong stretch midway through the half to push the lead to eight and answered every Little Rock run down the stretch. The Tigers took care of business in the paint, recording 32 of their 51 second-half points in the lane, while also knocking down key free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.

UT MARTIN 65, EASTERN ILLINOIS 61
MARTIN, Tenn. - A swarming defensive presence bookended the University of Tennessee at Martin's 65-61 victory over Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center today.

The Skyhawks held the Panthers to 0-for-12 shooting with four turnovers in the opening 10:50, racing out to a nine-point lead in the opening half. Eastern Illinois then bounced back to lead by seven at the halftime break and eventually took a 58-50 advantage with 6:32 remaining. UT Martin's defense then took over once again, holding the Panthers to 1-of-6 shooting with four turnovers over the final 5:43 to end the contest on a 15-3 run.

Matas Deniusas scored 11 consecutive points in a 5:37 span down the stretch for the Skyhawks – including a go-ahead three-pointer with 59 seconds to go. The freshman out of Vilnius, Lithuania posted 19 points and a career-best nine rebounds while Pedro Santos and Afan Trnka tallied 11 points apiece for the Skyhawks (11-4, 3-1 OVC).

Andrija Bukumirovic was a key factor in UT Martin's defensive success today, compiling a final stat line of seven points and career-highs of 14 rebounds, six blocks, four assists and four steals. The Skyhawks shot 84.6 percent (22-of-26) from the charity stripe and limited Eastern Illinois to 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) shooting from the field in the second half.

The Panthers fell to 4-10 and 1-3 in OVC play as they were guided by the bench duo of Zion Fruster (17 points, four assists) and Kooper Jacobi (16 points, seven rebounds). Meechie White additionally came away with 12 points and five steals in a game that featured 10 lead changes and seven tie scores.

Santos carried the Skyhawks early, scoring 11 of UT Martin's first 13 points of the game. Deniusas followed with a trifecta at the 10:37 mark in the first half, extending the Skyhawk lead out to 16-7.

Eastern Illinois scored the next nine points but a pair of Filip Radakovic free throws pushed UT Martin's advantage back out to 25-19 with 6:41 to go before the halftime break. The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run and later scored seven unanswered points in a 61-second span to take a 41-34 lead into the locker room. Santos and Fruster each had game-highs of 11 points apiece to lead their respective squads.

An old-fashioned three-point play by Deniusas and six straight points from Trnka opened the Skyhawk scoring in the second half. A Deniusas floater in the lane with 9:23 left to play gave UT Martin its first lead of the second half at 50-48.

Eastern Illinois came back with 10 consecutive points to match its biggest lead of the day at 58-50 with 6:32 to go. Deniusas soon went off while the Skyhawk defense made plays left and right – including a pair of shot-clock violations before a Trnka steal with UT Martin clinging to a 63-61 lead with nine seconds to go.

Ty Price calmly knocked down a pair of huge free throws to make it a four-point game with 1.3 seconds remaining, icing the comeback victory for UT Martin.

LINDENWOOD 83, SOUTHERN INDIANA 80
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood Men's Basketball (10-5, 4-0 OVC) picked up their fourth conference win of the season on Saturday afternoon in Hyland Arena with an 83-80 win over Southern Indiana. Milos Nenadic and Dontrez Williams led the charge offensively for the second straight game, as Nenadic scored a game-high 22 points on 9-14 shooting while Williams finished with a career-high 21 points. 

In the first half the Lions were up 15-12 with 13:33 to go after USI's Ismail Habib converted on both of his free throw attempts. The Black and Gold quickly went on a 7-0 run to go up by 10 after Kevin Anthony, Robert Lewis, and Anias Futrell all scored in the paint with Futrell also adding a free throw to make it a 22-12 game. Lindenwood got up by as much as 11 in the first half after Dontrez Williams scored on a layup to make it a 32-21 LU lead with 8:06 to go, but the Screaming Eagles kept chipping away and eventually took a 45-43 lead into the locker room. Milos Nenadic led the Lions in the first half with 14 points on 6-9 shooting, while Futrell had nine points with two three pointers. Southern Indiana shot 51.5% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play and were led by Habib who had 11 points on 4-8 shooting. 

Coming out of the break, the Lions went on an extended 14-7 run thanks to four points each from Futrell and Williams. The end of the run came after Mekhi Cooper found Futrell in transition for a dunk to put Lindenwood up by five at 57-52 with 13:50 to go in the contest. Lindenwood went up by as many as nine in the second half, but every time the Lions tried to pull away, the Screaming Eagles would respond. With 11:44 to go, USI cut the deficit to three after a made free throw from Sheridan Sharp. Nenadic and Williams scored back-to-back buckets to push the lead to seven with 10:20 to go, but the two teams kept trading baskets as the Lions hung on to a five point lead with 8:21 to go. Later in the half, Williams connected on a three pointer with less than three minutes to play to push the lead back out to nine at 80-71. However, the Screaming Eagles clawed their way back into it and went on a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 83-80 with six seconds to go. Southern Indiana got possession of the ball off a missed free throw by the Lions and had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but the three point attempt was no good and the Lions hung on to take the victory. 

Lindenwood was able to limit the Screaming Eagles to 18% from the three point line in the second half and scored 30 of their 40 points in the paint to establish a presence down low. Dontrez Williams scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half and was 7-11 from the floor in the last 20 minutes of play.

MOREHEAD STATE 73, SIUE 72
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -  Morehead State Men's Basketball erased a 15-point second-half deficit and pulled out an incredible 73-72 victory at SIUE Saturday afternoon at First Community Arena.

MSU improved to 7-8 overall and 3-1 in the OVC, while SIUE fell to 9-6 and 2-2 in the league.

A close game at halftime turned into a double-digit cushion for the Cougars in the final half. SIUE outscored the Eagles 11-0 from 10:40 to 5:47 and built its lead to 67-52. But SIUE went 1-for-10 in the final 3:51 of the game and MSU finished the game on an 11-1 run. That was part of a larger 18-2 run.

MSU trailed 71-64 with 3:37 left but started the comeback shortly after. Vince Dawson III nailed a transition three at 1:24 to cut it to 71-67. George Marshall then drilled a three-ball with 47 seconds left to make it a one-point deficit (71-70). After Davion Cunningham forced a turnover, he pushed the ball up the floor, passed to Marshall, who then hit Chase Dawson in the corner for what was the game-winning three-pointer with just 15 seconds left.

Marshall fouled SIUE's Jack Campion with 8.7 seconds left, but Campion was forced the leave the floor with an injury. The sub, Darius Robinson, only made one of the two free throws. But, the Eagles turned it back over on the inbounds play. However, with 0.5 seconds left Jon Carroll swatted CJ Hall's final shot attempt.

MSU led 13-6 with 12:07 left in the opening half after Tamaury Releford's bucket in the paint, and the Eagles led 17-10 with 9:27 left when Tyonne Farrell got a steal and a coast-co-coast layup. But the Cougars went on a 13-2 scoring flurry over the next four minutes and pulled ahead 23-19. A triple by Dawson put MSU back ahead 33-32 with 25 ticks in the half, but Jack Campion sank a three-ball as time expired to give SIUE a 35-33 halftime advantage.

Carroll paced the Eagle offense for the second straight game as he finished with 17 points and eight rebounds (along with three blocked shots). Dawson also contributed 17 points, his highest output since Nov. 22.

Darrion Baker led the home team with 15 points. 

The Eagles ended up shooting 53 percent for the game against SIUE's defense, which was only allowing 39 percent to its previous opponents.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 73, WESTERN ILLINOIS 50
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - BJ Ward scored a career-high 23 points to lead Southeast Missouri (8-7, 3-1) to a 73-50 win over Western Illinois (4-11, 0-4) Saturday in Ohio Valley Conference action at the Show Me Center.
 
SEMO won its third-straight game and picked up its sixth victory in seven contests.
 
The Redhawks blew the game open in the second half running their lead to 62-40 on a layup by Braxton Stacker with eight minutes remaining.
 
WIU, at one time, went a span of 8:05 without a field goal until Francis Okwuosah's baseline jumper at the 6:44 mark.
 
SEMO outscored the Leathernecks, 39-23, and held WIU to just 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from the field in the second half. Meanwhile, the Redhawks made over 61 percent of their shots in the final 20 minutes of play.
 
The Redhawk led for the last 28:07 of the game and 32:23 of clock time.
 
Neither team made a field goal for nearly five minutes from the opening tip.
 
Once things settled down, SEMO later went on a 7-0 run to build a double-digit lead.
 
Marqueas Bell made two free throws, Ward drained a 3-pointer and Bell followed with a driving layup to put the Redhawks ahead, 32-21, with 1:50 left in the first half.
 
Ward's second chance layup gave SEMO a 10-point advantage with 25 seconds remaining before Lucas Lorenzen made a 3-pointer cutting SEMO's lead to 34-27 at the intermission.
 
Lorenzen's 3-pointer was WIU's first field goal in over six minutes at the end of the first half. 
 
Ward shot 8-of-13 from the field and did not miss from 3-point range (3-of-3) or the free throw line (4-of-4) in his first 20-point game of the season. He also had nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.
 
Three others, including Luke Almodovar, Bell and Brendan Terry joined Ward in double figures. Almodovar scored 13 points, Bell added 11 and Terry chipped in 10.
 
SEMO man-handled WIU in the paint outscoring the Leathernecks, 44-18. The Redhawks forced 17 turnovers and shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field, as well.