SATURDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee State 67, @UT Martin 42
@Little Rock 89, Southern Indiana 70
@SIUE 77, Eastern Illinois 50
Lindenwood 91, @Western Illinois 69
@Southeast Missouri 89, Tennessee Tech 73
TENNESSEE STATE 67, UT MARTIN 42
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Tennessee State men's basketball team never trailed and delivered a dominant defensive performance to secure a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title with a 67-42 road victory over UT Martin on Saturday at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
With the win, TSU snaps a 31-year drought as the conference's top team at the conclusion of the regular season. The Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed in the OVC Tournament and will play Friday at 7 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
The Tigers (21-9, 15-5) held the Skyhawks to 32.6 percent shooting (15-for-46) from the field and just 19 percent (4-for-21) from three-point range. Tennessee State forced 19 turnovers and converted those takeaways into 20 points while limiting UT Martin to 21 points in each half.
Aaron Nkrumah led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 2-of-5 from three-point range and 4-of-4 at the free-throw line, while adding five rebounds and three steals. Travis Harper II added 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting with five rebounds, and Antoine Lorick III contributed six points, five rebounds and three blocks.
Tennessee State controlled the glass with a 39-28 rebounding advantage and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds that resulted in 12 second-chance points. The Tigers also finished with 32 points in the paint and 23 fast-break points.
The Tennessee State defense was active throughout, recording six blocks and 13 steals while holding UT Martin to just 21 points in each half.
After playing to a 6-6 tie, Tennessee State went on an 11-0 run with 14:52 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Travis Harper II, to take a 17-6 lead. The Tigers pushed the advantage to as many as 18 in the first half and entered the break with a 35-21 lead .
Following intermission, Tennessee State continued to extend the margin. An 8-0 run midway through the second half stretched the lead to 50-24 with 11:58 remaining. The Tigers later built their largest lead of the game at 33 points before closing out the 25-point victory.
LITTLE ROCK 89, SOUTHERN INDIANA 70
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock delivered one of its most complete performances of the season Saturday night, knocking down 13 three-pointers and protecting the rim with 10 blocks in an emphatic 89-70 victory over the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles at the Jack Stephens Center.
The Trojans (12-19, 9-11 OVC) seized control early Saturday in front of a boisterous Homecoming crowd, erupting for 51 first-half points while holding Southern Indiana to 31. Little Rock shot efficiently, shared the ball, and dominated defensively, limiting the Screaming Eagles to 23-of-70 shooting from the field.
Little Rock set the tone immediately, as Kachi Nzeh opened the scoring and later caught fire from beyond the arc. The Trojans stretched the lead with perimeter shooting from Joseph Thomas and Braxton Bayless, while their interior defense anchored the advantage. Little Rock recorded eight first-half blocks, frustrating Southern Indiana's offense and fueling transition opportunities.
Thomas, making his first career start, delivered the best game of his career, scoring 19 points and knocking down 5-of-10 from three-point range.
Nzeh matched him with 19 points, connecting on 5-of-8 from deep and adding two blocks. Bayless provided steady leadership, finishing a perfect 5-for-5 from the field with 12 points and seven assists, consistently creating scoring chances for his teammates.
Inside, Gatkek controlled the paint with a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double, while also contributing five assists in one of his most complete outings.
SIUE 77, EASTERN ILLINOIS 50
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The largest crowd of the year at First Community Arena saw SIUE men's basketball close out its regular season in style,as SIUE led from wire to wire in a 77-50 win over Eastern Illinois in front of 2,634 fans Saturday.
The 27-point margin of victory is the second-largest ever in an OVC game for SIUE.
The Cougars finished the regular season 19-12 overall and 12-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE is the fifth seed for the tournament and will face Eastern Illinois again Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. EIU is the eighth seed.
It will be the third time the two teams have faced off this year and the third time they have met in postseason play.
Prior to the game, SIUE recognized eight seniors. Jack Campion, CJ Hall, Ring Malith, Darius Robinson Arnas Sakenis, Myles Thompson, Kyle Thomas and Jo Valrie were all honored in a pregame ceremony.
Saturday, SIUE opened the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back. The Cougars quickly pushed the lead out to double digits and led by as many as 12 in the half. The Panthers used a 7-0 to cut the lead back to five, but SIUE led 35-26 at half.
After half, SIUE took control. A Jordan Pickett transition-three-pointer with 15:04 to play capped a 9-0 run and had the Cougars up 51-32. Later a 15-0 run pushed the lead to 68-41 after a Thomas layup with 7:32 left. The lead got to as many as 29 for the Cougars.
SIUE connected on 54 percent of its shots overall, the highest shooting percentage this year against a Division I opponent. The Cougars hit 17-27 (63 percent) of their shots in the second half
SIUE knocked down 12 of 27 three-point attempts (44 percent). The 12 made threes were the second most in a game this year for the Cougars.
SIUE also collected 21 assists on 31 made shots. The 21 assists also are a season high against a Division I opponent.
Sakenis scored 16 for SIUE to lead all scorers. He added five rebounds, two steals and a block in his final home game. Tyler King scored 15 and led SIUE with a career-best seven rebounds. Campion scored eight points and added nine assists.
With the win, SIUE improved to 10-5 at home, marking the third consecutive year that the Cougars have won at least 10 games at home.
LINDENWOOD 91, WESTERN ILLINOIS 69
MACOMB, Ill. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team (17-13, 11-9 OVC) got back into the win column on Saturday afternoon with a 91-69 win over Western Illinois on the road. With the victory, the Lions have won their most games in a single season in the Division I era with 17. The 11 OVC wins and seven road wins is also the most conference wins and road wins in the Division I era as well.
After trailing 6-2 early in the first half, Anias Futrell scored eight points on two three pointers that quickly sparked a 13-0 run as the Lions jumped in front by a score of 15-6 with 13:57 to go in the opening half of play. Lindenwood went on their second big run of the half a few minutes later behind six points from Dontrez Williams and four points from Milos Nenadic to push the lead out to double digits by a score of 29-17 with just over nine minutes to go. Futrell would knock down two more three pointers and Clayton Jackson added a three of his own as the Lions made five first half three pointers and shot 55% from the field to take a 22 point lead into the locker room by a score of 50-28. Defensively, the Lions forced 11 Leatherneck turnovers in the first half and scored 15 points off those turnovers to establish a large lead heading into the second half.
In the second half, WIU trimmed the deficit to 17, making it 62-45 with 12 minutes remaining. However, Lindenwood quickly responded, stretching the lead back to 23 after Mekhi Cooper knocked down a three-pointer with 9:26 to play. The Lions maintained a lead of 20 points for most of the final nine minutes and took care of business on the road to secure their sixth conference road win of the season.The 22 point victory marked the second highest margin of victory on the road this season and Lindenwood was led in scoring by Anias Futrell, who scored a game-high 21 points.
Dontrez Williams finished the contest with his second career double-double as the Sophomore scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while Jadis Jones notched his team-leading ninth double-double of the season behind 12 points and 10 rebounds. Lindenwood outrebounded WIU 41-29 for the game and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, which was the most in a game on the road since January 29 at Southern Indiana (14). Sophomore Guard Clayton Jackson was the fourth Lion to score in double digits as he scored 13 points on 4-5 shooting and tied his season-high for three pointers made in a single game with two.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 89, TENNESSEE TECH 73
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Brendan Terry and Luke Almodovar each scored 21 points to lead Southeast Missouri (19-12, 14-6) to an 89-73 victory over Tennessee Tech (13-18, 8-12) Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
SEMO will head to next week's eight-team Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the #3 seed and face the winner of #6 Lindenwood and #7 Little Rock in the quarterfinals on Thursday, Mar. 5. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m., CT at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
The eight-team field includes #1 Tennessee State, #2 Morehead State, #3 SEMO, #4 UT Martin, #5 SIU Edwardsville, #6 Lindenwood, #7 Little Rock and #8 Eastern Illinois.
At one point, TTU made six-straight field goals and built a 23-14 lead when Jacob Whitted knocked down a 3-pointer with 12:07 remaining in the first half.
Ty Owens later made a jumper off a turnover to widen the Golden Eagles' margin to 27-16 at the 10:10 mark.
Braxton Stacker made two free throw and Troy Cole, Jr. followed with a layup to cut TTU's lead to 33-30.
Luke Almodovar was then fouled with three seconds left and made two free throws to make it a two-point game, 36-34, at the intermission.
After BJ Ward's layup gave SEMO a one-point edge in the second half, the Redhawks did not trail the rest of the way.
SEMO made six field goals in a row of its own and went ahead, 55-49, on Almodovar's layup with 13:26 to go.
Almodovar then rebounded his own missed 3-pointer and stepped behind the arc to bury a three giving the Redhawks a double-digit lead at 59-48 with 11:19 left.
After TTU used a 13-2 run to narrow SEMO's lead to 70-67, the Redhawks countered by scoring 19 of the game's final 25 points to nail down the win.
Terry made 5-of-8 field goals and 9-of-12 free throws and Almodovar was 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Stacker followed with 15 points and Cole, Jr. added 14 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
SEMO shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) from the field and made 20-of-25 free throws. The Redhawks also outscored the Golden Eagles, 46-30, inside the paint.