THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 67, SIUE 65
@Tennessee State 70, Little Rock 63
Lindenwood 73, @Southern Indiana 60
UT Martin 76, @Eastern Illinois 68
Southeast Missouri 78, @Western Illinois 74
MOREHEAD STATE 67, SIUE 65
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State's men's basketball team has grown accustomed to being in tight ballgames, and Thursday night at Johnson Area was no exception as the Eagles edged SIUE 67-65.
An apparent three-pointer by SIUE's Tyler King with 12.9 seconds remaining was reviewed and deemed he had a toe on the arc, pulling the Cougars to within 66-65. George Marshall made one of the two ensuing free throws with less than a second coming off the clock, giving MSU a 67-65 lead. King fired up a shot at the buzzer from the corner, this time again with a foot on the line, but the overtime-forcing attempt clanked the side of the rim as MSU prevailed to improve to 12-10 overall and 8-3 in the OVC.
The Eagles had rallied at SIUE (13-9/6-5 OVC) on Jan. 3 to win by one, 73-72, and Morehead State now moved to 6-1 this season in league games decided by five or less. MSU's last six wins in OVC play have come by margins or six or less. The Eagles also improved to 8-1 at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles led 62-54 with 4;25 remaining after Davion Cunningham buried a three-pointer, but King orchestrated an 8-0 run for SIUE by himself, and the Cougars knotted the battle again at 62 with 2:20 left. After another MSU bucket, King misfired on the back end of a one-and-one FT situation, and the score sat at 64-63 MSU. Jon Carroll's pair of free tosses then set the stage for the shot King and his team thought had tied the game.
MSU fell behind by as many as eight in the first half and trailed 33-27 at the half. MSU now owns six wins when it trails after 20 minutes.
Carroll led the charge with 14 points and grabbed six rebounds as MSU also edged the visitors in rebounds, 36-34. Marshall notched his 15th double-figure scoring effort with 13 points and also led MSU with eight rebounds, tying his career high. Cunningham registered 11 points, and Anouar Mellouk posted his fourth straight 10+ game with 10.
King led all players with his career-best night, scoring 24. Arnas Sekenis notched 14 points.
The Eagles managed to hit 43 percent (23-of-53) and held SIUE to 41 percent (24-of-58). But the Cougars lit it up from distance, draining 11 triples. MSU also held a 17-6 edge in made free throws.
TENNESSEE STATE 70, LITTLE ROCK 63
NASHVILLE - Aaron Nkrumah poured in a game-high 22 points and Tennessee State closed on an 11-0 run to rally past Little Rock 70-63 in Ohio Valley Conference action Thursday night at the Gentry Center.
The Tigers (14-7, 8-3) had four players score in double figures, led by Nkrumah, who finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals in an all-around performance. Travis Harper II added 16 points and eight rebounds, including a pair of late baskets that helped swing the momentum, while Carlous Williams provided a spark off the bench with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Jalen Pitre chipped in nine rebounds to pace Tennessee State on the glass.
Tennessee State shared the ball well in Thursday's game, racking up 17 assists on 25 made field goals and shooting 48.1 percent from the floor. Nkrumah and Dante Harris each handed out six assists as the Tigers consistently found scoring opportunities in transition and the paint.
Defensively, Tennessee State forced 13 Little Rock turnovers and turned those takeaways into 13 points. The Tigers also held the Trojans to 35.8 percent shooting, including 26.9 percent from three-point range. Nkrumah's five steals anchored an active defensive effort that fueled Tennessee State's late surge.
After playing to a 9-9 tie early, Tennessee State went on a 5-0 run with 13:22 left in the first half, capped by a bucket from Williams, to take a 14-9 lead. Little Rock answered with a strong stretch of its own, using second-chance points to regain control and carry a 35-30 advantage into halftime.
Little Rock continued to build its lead after intermission, pushing ahead by as many as 10 points and taking a 63-57 advantage late. Tennessee State responded with its best stretch of the night, ripping off an 11-0 run over the final two minutes to seize a 68-63 lead with 14 seconds remaining. Harper II scored five of those points, while Nkrumah iced the game at the free-throw line as the Tigers closed out the 70-63 victory. Tennessee State finished the second half with 20 fast-break points.
LINDENWOOD 73, SOUTHERN INDIANA 60
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (13-9, 7-4 OVC) picked up a big win on the road on Thursday night defeating Southern Indiana by a score of 73-60 inside of Liberty Arena. Milos Nenadic finished one rebound shy of a triple double by scoring 18 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and blocking a Lindenwood NCAA record 10 shots in the contest against the Screaming Eagles. Anias Futrell also recorded a double-double in the win over USI, scoring 20 points and pulling down a team-high 12 rebounds, while Dontrez Williams poured in a team-high 21 points to go along with six rebounds and five steals.
Futrell started off hot for Lindenwood to open the game as he scored the first seven points for the Lions to give them the early 7-3 lead just over three minutes into the contest. The Screaming Eagles responded with a 10-4 run over the next five minutes to take a 13-11 lead with 13:53 remaining in the opening half. The defense for LU stepped up after the run thanks to back-to-back steals from Dontrez Williams in less than a minute that led to two fast break dunks from Williams and Milos Nenadic to retake the lead at 15-13. Futrell converted on a layup a few possessions later to give the Lions a five point lead at 21-16 with 9:25 to go. Lindenwood went the next two minutes without allowing a bucket as Futrell, Nenadic, and Williams all recorded a block to showcase their defensive efforts. In the first half, the Black and Gold forced 12 USI turnovers that led to 11 points and finished the opening 20 minutes of play with eight blocks and eight steals to take a 36-27 lead into the locker room. Williams and Futrell combined for 23 of the 36 points while Nenadic had five blocks at the break.
Lindenwood came out of halftime with energy and extended their lead to 11 at 45-34 behind blocks from Robert Lewis and Nenadic and four points each from Williams and Nenadic with just over 16 minutes to play. The Screaming Eagles cut the lead down to six with 14:18 left after responding with a 6-0 run, but Nenadic put a stop to the USI run by scoring six of Lindenwood's next eight points to push the lead back out to 11. With the Lions clinging to a 57-48 lead with 10:24 to go, Mekhi Cooper found Anias Futrell all alone on the fast break along the right wing as Futrell buried a three pointer that sparked a 12-1 run over the next four minutes to give Lindenwood their largest lead of the game at 69-49 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game. USI would cut the deficit to 13 points with less than a minute to go, but the Lions held the Screaming Eagles to 28.6% from the floor in the second half to pick up their third conference road win of the season.
Lindenwood was able to hold Southern Indiana to 30.9% from the field for the entire game and limited them to 60 points which was the least amount of points the Lions have given up in a conference game this season. The defense finished with 15 steals and a season-high 15 blocks while forcing 21 turnovers that led to 23 points for LU.
UT MARTIN 76, EASTERN ILLINOIS 68
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team held a lead for over 37 minutes of clock time this evening as the Skyhawks soared to a 76-68 road victory against Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois.
After the game was knotted at 37-all at the halftime break, the UT Martin defense clamped down to hold the host Panthers to 28.1 percent (9-of-32) shooting with a 1-for-8 success rate from three-point range in the second half. That allowed the Skyhawks to build a 15-point advantage with 7:20 to go on the way to the victory, improving their record to 16-5 with an OVC-best 8-2 record in the league standings.
Andrija Bukumirovic accounted for a game-high 21 points and team-best nine rebounds tonight while freshman Damien King was nearly perfect from the floor (7-of-8) on the way to a career-best 17 points in 24 minutes. Afan Trnka chipped in 10 points with Filip Radakovic (nine points) and Matas Deniusas (eight points) following closely behind. Filip Petkovski distributed a game-high five assists for UT Martin, who shot 53.1 percent (26-for-49) and splashed 11 triples.
Eastern Illinois (9-13, 5-6 OVC) was guided by Terry McMorris' 15 points while Meechie White (14 points) also scored in double figures. The Panthers were held to 28.1 percent (9-of-32) for the contest and were outrebounded by a 42-30 margin.
UT Martin scored the first nine points of the contest, capped off with three-pointers from King and Deniusas. After Eastern Illinois pulled within four points at the 15:15 mark, another King trey nudged the Skyhawk advantage out to double digits (25-14) midway through the half.
The Panthers scored eight unanswered in the waning stages of the opening half and briefly took a 35-34 lead before Bukumirovic buried a three-pointer to close UT Martin's first-half scoring. King's game-high 13 points at the break came on 5-of-5 shooting while Kooper Jacobi's nine points led Eastern Illinois.
Bukumirovic canned a trifecta to ignite the Skyhawk scoring in the second half and UT Martin never trailed from that point forward. The Panthers trimmed their deficit to five points (49-44) with 12:13 left to play but longballs from Trnka and Bukumirovic extended the Skyhawk advantage back out to double digits with a little over 11 minutes to go.
A pair of Bukumirovic free throws at the 7:20 mark gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the night at 63-48. The Skyhawks' 15-point lead remained intact with 4:32 remaining and despite a late 7-0 Eastern Illinois run, UT Martin knocked down enough free throws in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 78, WESTERN ILLINOIS 74
MACOMB, Ill. - Brendan Terry scored 16 points, including six in the final 52 seconds to lift Southeast Missouri (12-10, 7-4) to a 78-74 win over Western Illinois (4-18, 0-11) Thursday night.
SEMO dropped WIU to its 11th-straight loss in a tight game that wasn't decided until Terry's big push at the end.
WIU scored nine points in less than three minutes to bring the game to a 38-38 tie at the start of the second half. Lucas Lorenzen's 3-pointer then gave the Leathernecks a 43-41 edge with 15:04 to go. Marqueas Bell countered with a burst of eight-straight points to grab SEMO a 49-46 advantage ahead of a media timeout with 11:38 left. Terry later scored on a layup to extend the Redhawks lead to 55-49.
Following a 3-pointer by BJ Ward, SEMO led 63-56 with just under six minutes left. WIU again responded, this time scoring the next four points to make it a one-possession game at 63-60. Both teams continued to trade baskets and the Leathernecks pulled within two on three occasions.
Ahead, 69-67, with 2:19 on the clock, Braxton Stacker split two free throws and Lorenzen buried a 3-pointer to tie things up at 70-70. On SEMO's ensuing possession, Bell got an offensive rebound and scored to put the Redhawks up, 72-70, at the 1:30 mark. Danny Stephens was fouled and added two free throws to give the game its seventh tie. SEMO, however, answered with a layup by Terry to pull ahead, 74-72, with 52 seconds to play.
The Redhawks defense got a stop on WIU's next trip down the floor. Terry was fouled and hit two free throws to stretch SEMO's lead to 76-72 with 22 seconds left. A pair of free throws by Francis Okwuosah got the Leathernecks within two once more before Terry was fouled again nine seconds later. Terry came up big with another two free throws and Luke Almodovar rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Isaiah Griffin to secure the victory.
Terry shot 5-of-8 from the field and did not miss at the free throw line going 6-of-6. He had 14 of his points in the second half. Bell and Stacker followed with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Bell also had eight boards. Almodovar rounded out SEMO's four double-digit scorers with 11 points.
Additionally, Ward matched a career-high seven assists.
The Redhawks shot 54.3 percent (25-of-46) from the field and outrebounded WIU, 33-26.
Lorenzen finished with a game-high 20 points for the Leathernecks.