Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State outscored Tennessee State 57-45 in the second half and the Eagles posted a 94-86 victory over the Tigers Saturday in Johnson Arena.
 
Morehead State (15-12, 11-5 OVC) scorched the nets in the second half, hitting 17 of 25 (68%) from the floor, including seven of their 11 three-point attempts. Josiah LeGree led the Eagle outburst, scoring 20 of his team-high 25 points in the final 20 minutes. LeGree hit five of eight from the field, including four of seven from beyond the arc. He also canned six of eight from the free throw line in the second stanza.

LeGree finished the game hitting seven of 12 from the field and four of eight from distance. He also went seven of nine from the free throw line. John Carroll just missed his seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and nine rebounds. Davion Cunningham added 16 points for MSU.
 
Morehead State led by as much as 17 when John Carroll dunked with 5:18 to play. Tennessee State made a late surge of its own: an 11-0 run capped by two free throws by Dante Harris cut the Eagle lead to six at 85-79 with 2:14 to go.
 
An old-fashioned three-point play on another Carroll flush and free throw at the 1:17 mark got the MSU lead back to nine at 88-79. The MSU lead never got below six the rest of the way. Morehead State sank six of eight free throws down stretch to seal the victory.
 
Tennessee State (17-9, 11-5 OVC) was led by Travis Harper II with 30 points. Aaron Nkrumah added 20 and Harris chipped in 12.

UT MARTIN 81, SIUE 76
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Back in sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings is the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team, who prevailed in a wild 81-76 victory at SIUE this afternoon.
               
The Skyhawks held a 44-32 halftime advantage but the defending OVC Tournament champion Cougars began the second half on a 22-0 run to build a double-digit lead. UT Martin tallied its first points of the second half at the 12:27 mark and later seized control behind an 18-2 run of its own, building up a 77-67 lead with 39 seconds remaining on the way to the win.
               
Five Skyhawks scored in double figures today, led by Andrija Bukumirovic’s 19 points with a game-high nine rebounds. Pedro Santos added 15 points while the trio of Matas Deniusas, Filip Radakovic (career-best four steals) and Afan Trnka (4-of-4 shooting, game-high five assists) each scored 13 points apiece. AJ Hopkins added eight points for UT Martin (20-7, 12-4 OVC), who won its seventh straight decision over SIUE and notched its sixth 20-win campaign of the school’s NCAA Division I Era (since 1992).
               
Reigning OVC Player of the Week Tyler King scored 27 points while Jack Campion tacked on 21 points to guide the Cougars. Arnas Sakenis also had 15 points and nine rebounds for SIUE, who is now 17-10 (10-6 OVC).
               
The Cougars started the game on an 8-2 run before triples from Radakovic, Deniusas and Bukumirovic on three straight possessions gave UT Martin an 11-8 lead. The Skyhawks soon engineered 12 unanswered points to take a 29-18 edge after Hopkins drilled a trifecta with 9:42 to go in the first half.
               
Santos knocked down a pair of free throws at the 5:49 mark to give the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the contest at 36-23. A three-pointer from Deniusas wrapped up the first-half scoring and provided UT Martin with a 44-32 lead at the break. Bukumirovic had 13 points to lead all scorers in the opening half as the Skyhawks shot 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the floor and 58.3 percent (7-for-12) from three-point range. Campion and King each generated 10 points to top SIUE.
               
A driving layup by Santos broke UT Martin’s second-half scoring drought but the Cougars maintained an eight-point advantage (63-55) with 7:25 left to play. Hopkins, Santos and Bukumirovic followed with three-pointers over a 1:38 span to help the Skyhawks get back in the game.
               
Bukumirovic had six points during a 12-0 UT Martin run that occurred over a stretch of 3:21, flipping a four-point Skyhawk deficit into a 73-65 advantage. Trnka, Santos, Radakovic and Deniusas combined to go 8-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final 52 seconds to ice the comeback win for UT Martin.

TENNESSEE TECH 82, SOUTHERN INDIANA 74
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -  JaJuan Nicholls scored 15 points, and Tennessee Tech placed five players in double figures Saturday afternoon as the Golden Eagles pulled away late for an 82-74 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Southern Indiana at Liberty Arena.

Tennessee Tech (11-16, 6-10 OVC) shot 54.4% from the field and outscored Southern Indiana 47-42 in the second half snap a two-game losing skid and grab a series split against USI.

Nicholls finished 6 of 9 from the floor and added six rebounds, including several key second-chance buckets during a pivotal stretch midway through the second half. C.J. McPherson also scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while Mekhi Cameron added 15 points, Ty Owens chipped in 13 and Dani Pounds had 14 points and nine rebounds to round out the Golden Eagles' balanced attack.

Tech led 35-32 at halftime after closing the opening period on a 10-3 spurt. Cameron buried a 3-pointer in the final minute of the half to give the Golden Eagles a three-point edge at the break.

Southern Indiana (5-21, 2-14) battled back and briefly regained the lead midway through the second half. After the Screaming Eagles went in front 50-45, Tech answered with a 7-0 run highlighted by a Cameron 3-pointer and a transition layup from McPherson to seize a 52-50 advantage.

The game featured 10 lead changes and nine ties before the Golden Eagles created separation in the final four minutes. Cameron converted two free throws and McPherson followed with a jumper to stretch the margin to six. Pounds then punctuated the surge with a dunk off an assist from Owens, pushing the lead to 74-66 with 2:26 remaining.

Tech dominated inside, outscoring Southern Indiana 48-28 in the paint and holding a 37-28 rebounding advantage. The Golden Eagles also received 32 points from their bench.

Ismail Habib led Southern Indiana with 17 points, while Amaree Brown added 15.

Tennessee Tech sealed the win at the foul line, going 15 of 19 from the stripe, including key makes in the final minute.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 78, LITTLE ROCK 72
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men's basketball got to the free throw line 30 times on Saturday afternoon converting 22 of those attempts as the Panthers collected a 78-72 win over Little Rock at Grongier Arena.
 
Meechie White made six free throws in the final 53 seconds when the game was in the balance as part of his 19 point night.  Zion Fruster converted the final two free throws with a second remaining for the final points as he scored 17.
 
EIU held a 34-30 lead at the half and played in front most of the second half building an 11 point lead with 14:38 to play on a White 3-pointer.  EIU knocked down 6-of-16 from behind the arc.
 
Little Rock slowly worked their way back in the game with four straight points by Braxton Bayless and a 3-pointer by Truman Clayton IV with 10:18 to play to whittle the lead down to five points.  Claytor led the Trojans with 17 points, Bayless added 12 as five Little Rock players scored in double figures.
 
Bayless was a big part of a Trojans 12-3 run midway through the second half with his jumper with 7:18 to play putting the Trojans up four at 60-56.
 
Kooper Jacobi tied the game at 60-60 with 5:57 to play as part of his ten point night as the two schools had four lead changes and three ties over the next four and a half minutes.
 
Terry McMorris gave EIU its final lead with 1:26 to play converting a driving lay-up and EIU went 9-for-10 at the line over the final 90 seconds to earn the win.
 
Nazareth Fisher just missed a double-double for EIU with ten points, nine rebounds as EIU improved to 11-16 overall, 7-9 in the OVC.
 
Kachi Nzeh (13 pts), Johnathan Lawson (12 pts) and Cameron Wallace (10 pts) rounded at the Trojans double figure scorers as they fell to 10-17 overall, 7-9 in the OVC.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 73, LINDENWOOD 61
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - . – Marqueas Bell scored a career-high 25 points off the bench and Southeast Missouri (16-11, 11-5) outscored Lindenwood (16-11, 10-6) by 15 in the second half to pick up a big 73-61 road win Saturday afternoon at Hyland Arena.
 
SEMO avenged a loss to LU earlier this season and gave Brad Korn his first victory over the Lions in St. Charles as head coach.
 
In a chippy game that involved 14 ties and 19 lead changes, the Redhawks trailed, 54-53, with less than nine minutes to play when they used a 9-0 run to start pulling away.
 
BJ Ward's two free throws capped the surge giving SEMO a 62-54 lead with 6:18 remaining.
 
After Jadis Jones' free throw made it a five-point game, Bell later made a layup to put the Redhawks ahead by double figures, 67-57, at the 3:20 mark.
 
Bell again helped SEMO regain another double-digit lead when his free throw gave the Redhawks a 69-59 advantage with a little over a minute to go.
 
Braxton Stacker's free throws then put the game on ice.
 
SEMO and LU traded leads eight times and battled to seven ties in a tightly-contested first half.
 
The Redhawks went ahead, 12-7, on a free throw by Bell for their biggest advantage. LU led by no more than three points just two minutes into the game.
 
After Anias Futrell's free throw tied the game at 25-25, LU scored three of the next four points to carry a 29-26 edge into the intermission.
 
SEMO (11-of-17) and LU (7-of-16) combined for 15 missed free throws in the game's opening 20 minutes. 
 
The Redhawks also limited Jones (1) and Dontrez Williams (2) to only three points during the first half.
 
SEMO matched a season-high 28 free throws made on 39 attempts. The Redhawks, who outscored the Lions, 47-32, in the second half, held a +8 margin (36-28) in the paint.
 
Additionally, the Redhawks outrebounded LU, 44-31.
 
Bell shot 8-of-10 from the field and 9-of-14 at the free throw line. He pulled down five rebounds, as well.

Ward followed with 17 points and five assists, while David Idada and Landren Blocker finished with 11 and eight rebounds, respectively. 
 
Futrell paced LU with 22 points. Jones and Williams were both held under double figures after scoring 20 and 22 against the Redhawks in Cape Girardeau on Jan. 15.