Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (14-9, 8-4 OVC) picked up their second straight road win with a 79-78 victory over Morehead State on Saturday afternoon inside Johnson Arena. Four players scored in double figures with Anias Futrell leading the way scoring a game-high 26 points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds in the win over the Eagles. Milos Nenadic also finished with 20 or more points as the Graduate Student scored 21 points on 7-10 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds. 

The first half was close almost the entire way as the biggest lead during the opening half was 11 points in favor of Morehead State. With the Eagles up 36-25 with just under four minutes to go in the half, the Lions went on an 11-3 run to close out the half and trailed by three at the break by a score of 39-36. During the late run, Anias Futrell took over offensively as he scored nine of the 11 points including two three pointers with one being right before the buzzer went off to keep the Lions within striking distance. Lindenwood shot 46.7% from beyond the arc in the first half with Futrell and Mekhi Cooper combining for all seven made three pointers as Futrell had 14 points at the break to lead all scorers and Cooper had nine points going 3-5 from three point range in the first 20 minutes of play. 

In the second half, Dontrez Williams scored five points early on to cut the Eagle lead down to 46-44 with 16:55 to go in the second half. Milos Nenadic would score the next three points for the Lions to give them the lead at 47-46 right before the media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, both teams had scoring droughts as Morehead State eventually grabbed the lead at 49-47 with 13:15 to go. Mekhi Cooper ended the drought for the Lions by connecting on his fourth three pointer of the game to put Lindenwood back in front, but the Eagles went on a 7-1 run over the next three minutes to retake the lead at 56-51 with 9:02 left in the contest. The rest of the game would stay close as the largest lead for either side over the final nine minutes was five.

Milos Nenadic scored 12 of his 15 second half points over the final nine minutes and connected from three point range with 2:15 to go to give the Lions the 71-70 advantage. Morehead State scored on their next trip down the floor and Nenadic would get fouled and converted on both of his free throw attempts to give Lindenwood a one-point lead again at 73-72 with 1:39 to go. The Eagles responded with a 4-0 run over the next minute to take a three point lead at 76-73 with 22 seconds to go, but Nenadic scored six seconds later out of a timeout to trim the Eagle lead down to one. The Lions fouled on the ensuing possession and Morehead State knocked down both free throw attempts to push their lead back out to three at 78-75 with 12 seconds to go. The Eagles fouled Mekhi Cooper with nine seconds to go and Cooper made both of his free throw attempts to once again cut the lead down to one. On the inbound play following the made free throws, Anias Futrell forced a jump ball situation that gave Lindenwood the ball back with six seconds to go on a great defensive play. Futrell got fouled underneath the basket with three seconds remaining and headed to the line for a chance to give the Lions the lead and ice the game. Futrell delivered and knocked down both of his attempts giving the Lions the lead for the final time by a score of 79-78. The Eagles had a look at a three pointer at the buzzer, but the shot was off to the right and the Lions hung on for their fourth OVC road victory of the season. 

With the win, the Lions improve to 8-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference and sit in third place in the standings.

TENNESSEE TECH 87, LITTLE ROCK 77
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech men's basketball snapped a four-game losing skid, powered by Brandon Muntu's career-high 26 points, with an 87-77 win over Little Rock Saturday at Eblen Center.

Tech moves to 8-14 overall and 3-8 in the OVC with the win, and currently sits in ninth place with the top eight making the OVC Tournament in early March. The Trojans have dropped three straight with the loss and fall to 9-13 overall and 6-5 in conference play.

Brandon Muntu shot 8-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-7 from three, and made all six of his free-throw attempts, resulting in a career-high 26 points in the 10-point win over Little Rock. The Golden Eagles snap a four-game losing streak, tying for the longest of the season, and upset the seventh-place team in the OVC.

Muntu has made nine threes in the two matchups with Little Rock, shooting 5-of-15 from distance back on Jan. 1, 2026, at LR, and making 4-of-7 from three-point range in tonight's win. It's the fourth time this season that he's made four or more three pointers in a game.  He surpasses his previous high of 22 points against Bethel (Tenn.) on Dec. 13, 2025, with the 26-point effort.

The senior from Calgary, Alberta, Canada was one of four Golden Eagles in double figures with Mekhi Cameron (17 pts) joining him on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-6 from three, JaJuan Nicholls recorded his third straight game in double digits with 16 points (6-of-9 FG) and was second on the team with seven rebounds, and Grant Slatten made his second straight start (Seventh total) of the season and posted 10 points (4-of-8 FG). Slatten has reached double digits in two of the last three games.

The Golden Eagles owned the boards, outrebounding the Trojans 38-18, including 19 to 7 in the first half. The last time Tech won the rebound battle was vs Southern Indiana, 47-44, on January 15th. 

Little Rock held a slight edge in shooting during the first 20 minutes, going 15-of-27 (55.6%) from the field while Tech shot 16-30 (53.3%) from the field. Despite that slim advantage, the Golden Eagles led 40-35 at the halftime break. The last time Tech shot above 50% from the field as a team was 52.6% vs Tennessee State on December 30th. 

In the second half, it was all Golden Eagles, as they outscored the Trojans 47-42 and tied in shooting percentage 50%-to-50%.

Dani Pounds chipped in with eight points on 2-of-8 from the field (4-6 FT) and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, marking his first double-digit board game of the season to put him at 101 rebounds for the season. He has 277 total rebounds in his collegiate career.

Muntu scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, going 5-of-5 from the field, 2-of-2 from three, and 6-of-6 from the line. It marked the first time since Jan. 8 that Muntu has made more than one three-pointer in a single contest (2 at EIU).

Despite having 21 turnovers in the game to Little Rock's nine, the Golden Eagles found a way to stretch their lead to as large as 21 with 13:15 left. That lead was built primarily on a 12-0 run with 13:54 left in the first half and maintained by a solid 51.8 percent (29-56) performance shooting.

Jacobe Whitted splashed a pair of big threes, finishing with six points, and Ty Owens dished out five assists and added four points.

The Golden Eagles held the lead for 35:21 and trailed for only 4:03. The lead changed hands three times, and the game was tied just once. Tech scored over 80 points for the first time since an 85-74 win over SEMO to open OVC play on Dec. 18.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 77, EASTERN ILLINOIS 59
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Brendan Terry scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Southeast Missouri (13-10, 8-4) to a commanding 77-59 win over Eastern Illinois (9-14, 5-7) Saturday afternoon at Groniger Arena.
 
SEMO led the entire game en route to earning its fourth-straight victory. The Redhawks completed a road sweep of Western Illinois (Jan. 29) and EIU for the first time under Head Coach Brad Korn. 
 
SEMO's defense set the tone forcing six turnovers on EIU's first seven possessions.
 
The Redhawks scored seven points off those miscues that, in turn, led to a 12-1 run helping SEMO get an early double-digit lead.
 
Braxton Stacker and Luke Almodovar each drained a 3-pointer before BJ Ward scored, and Terry added four points with his dunk capping that stretch at the 13:40 mark in the first half.
 
EIU went 0-of-5 from the field and had more turnovers than shot attempts during a scoreless drought of 6:41. Meechie White's jumper ended the lengthy period for the Panthers' first points with 13:19 left.
 
SEMO ran its lead to 14 when Landren Blocker knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 32-18 game. The Redhawks later held a 37-24 advantage at the half.
 
The Redhawks matched their season-best of 3-pointers made in a first half with 7-of-14 for 50 percent. SEMO also made seven threes in the game's opening 20 minutes at Tennessee State (Dec. 20).  
 
EIU turned the ball over on 11 occasions in the first half.
 
SEMO continued to tame the Panthers in the second half, where it heated up to make seven of its first 12 field goals.
 
A steal by Elliot Lowndes resulted in a breakaway dunk by Stacker increasing SEMO's lead to 57-41 with 11:18 remaining.
 
Marqueas Bell then followed a Terry miss with a layup to give the Redhawks a 21-point lead (65-44) with a little under seven minutes to play.  
 
Terry's hook shot put SEMO up, 75-53, for its largest lead of the afternoon and the Redhawks coasted to their fourth Ohio Valley Conference road win of the season. 
 
Terry shot 9-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 at the free throw line. He dished out five assists and added a steal in 30 minutes.
 
Stacker followed with 17 points on 6-of-11 field goals and Almodovar pitched in 13.
 
Ward led the way with a career-high eight assists and finished off his road swing with 15 assists to only two turnovers in his Illinois starts.
 
SEMO shot 50 percent (29-of-58) and outrebounded EIU, 33-27. The Redhawks tied their season-high of 11 three-pointers. Additionally, SEMO assisted 20 of its 29 made field goals.
 
Markus Blackwell paced the Panthers with 16 points off the bench.
 
SEMO polished off its second two-game sweep in OVC play this season and finished January with a 7-3 record. The seven victories are the most January wins in any season with Korn at the helm. Korn also improved to 9-2 all-time against EIU.
 
The Redhawks started and ended January with a win over the Panthers.

UT MARTIN 84, WESTERN ILLINOIS 44
MACOMB, Ill. - The largest margin of victory in the University of Tennessee at Martin's Ohio Valley Conference history now belongs to the 2025-26 Skyhawks as UT Martin throttled Western Illinois by an 84-44 score this afternoon.

The 40-point triumph was nine points better than the Skyhawks' previous record, which was set just last season in a 77-46 win at Southern Indiana on Dec. 21, 2024. UT Martin never trailed and led by as many as 44 points in one of its most dominant performances of the season.

Filip Petkovski paced the Skyhawks in scoring for the first time in his blossoming career as the freshman out of Kranj, Slovenia unleashed game- and career-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds. He connected on seven of his 11 field goal tries while sinking three treys in 28 minutes of playing time.

Andrija Bukumirovic tallied 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting while Matas Deniusas (11 points, seven rebounds, career-highs of five assists and three steals) and Pedro Santos (10 points, six rebounds, three assists, four steals) delivered impressive all-around performances for UT Martin. The Skyhawks – who improved to 17-5 overall with a 9-2 mark in OVC play – held a 41-20 edge in rebounding, outscored the Leathernecks 40-14 in the paint and held Western Illinois to 26.5 percent (13-of-49) shooting.

The Leathernecks (4-19, 0-12 OVC) were led by Lucas Lorenzen's eight points as UT Martin turned 14 Western Illinois turnovers into 26 points while manning a 19-7 advantage in fast break points.

UT Martin scored eight of the first 10 points of the game and never looked back. The Leathernecks got within one point at the 15:20 mark of the first half but the Skyhawks responded with 15 unanswered points that included six points from Petkovski, two free throws by Filip Radakovic, back-to-back dunks by Deniusas and a three-pointer from Santos. Western Illinois would not get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way as UT Martin took a 38-20 lead into the halftime break.

Petkovski and Deniusas each had a game-high eight points in the first 20 minutes as the Leathernecks had the lowest first-half scoring output of any Skyhawk NCAA Division I opponent this season.

Deniusas swished a three-pointer on UT Martin's opening possession of the second half as the Skyhawks stayed hot. UT Martin used a 25-3 run over a stretch of 9:18 to put the game out of reach – limiting Western Illinois to 0-for-12 shooting with three turnovers in that span.

Santos buried a mid-range jumper with 1:49 to go to stretch the Skyhawk advantage out to 84-40 – their biggest lead of the day.

SIUE 58, SOUTHERN INDIANA 46
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - SIUE men's basketball turned up the defensive pressure to deliver Head Coach Brian Barone a milestone win Saturday night. The Cougars downed Southern Indiana 58-46 for Barone's 100th career win.

The 46 points allowed is the fourth fewest allowed by SIUE in an OVC game.

SIUE improved to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference. USI dropped to 5-17 overall and 2-10 in the league.

Barone becomes the fourth head coach in program history to win at least 100 games. He joins Larry Graham (146 wins), Jim Dudley (144) and Jack Margenthaler (112) as Cougar head coaches with 100 or more wins.

The Cougars struggled early, opening the game by going just 2-10 from the field.

USI connected on five three-pointers in the first half and too a 27-23 lead at halftime.

The Screaming Eagles pushed the lead out to 30-23 early in the half, but a 10-2 run for SIUE moved the Cougars in front 33-32, forcing a USI timeout with 14:13 to play. SIUE never trailed again.

Layups on back-to-back possessions by Tyler King made it 45-36 with 8:32 to play.

Former Screaming Eagle Jack Campion, playing his first game back at Southern Indiana, sealed the deal for the Cougars, scoring the final eight points for SIUE over the final 2:45.

SIUE shot 59 percent (13-22) in the second half and 46 percent (21-46) for the game. The Cougars outrebounded USI 36-31 and scored 30 points in the paint.

Campion led the Cougars with 15 points. He was 4-8 from the field and 7-7 at the free throw line. Arnas Sakenis followed with 13 points and added seven rebounds. Tyler King scored 11 points. Darrion Baker led the way with eight rebounds.

The Cougars held Southern Indiana to just 19 points and 19 percent (5-26) shooting in the second half. The Screaming Eagles shot just 28 percent for the game.

Devin Curtis led Southern Indiana with 11 points.