SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 60, @Tennessee Tech 54
@Tennessee State 83, Western Illinois 56
Morehead State 61, @UT Martin 55
SIUE 71, @Little Rock 61
@Southeast Missouri 90, Southern Indiana 65
EASTERN ILLINOIS 60, TENNESSEE TECH 54
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois made eight straight free throws over the final 1:48 as the Panthers picked up a big road win, 60-54, on Saturday afternoon at Tennessee Tech.
EIU led 31-19 at the half and extended the lead to 40-23 with 15:48 to play in the second half as Zion Fruster capped a 7-0 run for the Panthers.
Brandon Muntu would tie the game at 52-52 for Tennessee Tech with 3:22 to play as the Golden Eagles erased the 17-point Panthers lead. It was one of only three made 3-pointers for TTU in the game as they finished 3-of-20.
Fruster put EIU back in the lead with a pair of free throws at 1:48 followed by another set of free throws by Terry McMorris to push the lead back to two possessions.
Ja'Quavian Florence cut the lead down to two with a pair of free throws with 1:11 to play.
Nazareth Fisher and Fruster converted the final four free throws for the Panthers as they improved to 10-15 overall, 6-8 in the OVC.
Fruster led three EIU players in double figures with 20 points. Meechie White had 11 points and Kooper Jacobi added ten.
JaJuan Nicholls double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds led Tennessee Tech as they dropped to 10-15 overall, 5-9 in the OVC. Jacobe Whitted added ten.
TENNESSEE STATE 83, WESTERN ILLINOIS 56
NASHVILLE - Tennessee State never trailed and used a balanced scoring effort to roll past Western Illinois 83-56 at the Gentry Center on Saturday night.
The Tigers (16-8, 10-4) had four players score in double figures, led by Antoine Lorick III, who had 18 points. Aaron Nkrumah added 16 points, six rebounds and three steals and Jabrion Spikes helped out with 16 points from the bench. Dante Harris also chipped in 11 points and dished out multiple assists to help pace the offense.
Tennessee State out-rebounded Western Illinois 39-32 in Saturday's game, led by Jalen Pitre's 10 boards. The Tigers also collected 11 offensive rebounds and scored four second chance points while controlling the paint throughout the contest.
Tennessee State's defense held Western Illinois to only 20 percent shooting from beyond the arc and 33.3 percent from the field while forcing 13 turnovers and limiting transition opportunities.
After jumping out to a 22-10 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 6-0 run with 10:03 left in the first half to increase its lead to 28-10. The Tigers then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 43-27 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 26 of its 43 points close to the basket.
Following intermission, Tennessee State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 70-43 before going on an 11-0 run to grow the lead to 81-43 with 5:56 to go in the contest. The Leathernecks narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Tigers still cruised the rest of the way for the 83-56 win. Tennessee State took care of business in the paint, recording 32 of its 40 points in the lane while its bench and defense sealed the result late.
MOREHEAD STATE 61, UT MARTIN 55
MARTIN, Tenn. - Morehead State Men's Basketball held Ohio Valley Conference leader UT Martin to just 26 percent shooting and only 15 percent on three-pointers as the Eagles gutted out a 61-55 road win over the Skyhawks at the Elam Center Saturday.
MSU improved to 13-12 overall and 9-4 in the OVC, while handing the Skyhawks just their third league loss. UTM is now 19-6 and 11-3 in the conference. MSU also prevented UTM from sweeping the season series. UTM hasn't swept the Eagles since 2005-06.
The key run came starting with 5:59 remaining as the teams were tied 43-all. For the next 2:06, MSU went on a 7-0 run and never trailed again. George Marshall, who led the Eagles with 16 points, hit a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. Vince Dawson III hit a turnaround jumper to account for the seventh point. UTM only managed to get within three the rest of the way.
UTM shot just 16-of-62 and a season-worst 6-of-39 from three-point distance. Morehead State had its struggles too but shot 48 percent in the second half (11-of-23), which led to an overall 37 percent effort. UTM's shooting percentage was the lowest for an MSU opponent in a road game in the past 15 seasons.
Marshall also grabbed a career-high nine rebounds. UTM, the leader in the league in rebounding, led on the boards 44-40 and had 24 offensive rebounds. Dawson III, who had scored a career-best 13 against UTM in the first meeting, tied his career-high with seven boards and also scored eight. Chase Dawson registered 11 points, including six in the second half in the final six minutes.
Matas Deniusius led UTM with 15 points and had a team-high nine rebounds. MSU also helped itself at the free throw line, hitting 16-of-18.
SIUE 71, LITTLE ROCK 61
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - SIUE men's basketball won its third consecutive game, knocking off Little Rock 71-61 Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center.
It is the second three-game winning streak this season for the Cougars who have won six of their last seven games overall. SIUE improved to 9-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 16-9 overall. The Cougars are in a four-way tie for third place in the league.
SIUE also improved to 8-5 in true road games to establish a new program record at the Division I level.
Little Rock dropped to 9-16 overall and 6-8 in the OVC.
The Cougars limited Little Rock to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, while holding a double-digit lead for much of the period.
SIUE led 14-10 before pulling away with a 13-0 run. The Cougars led 27-10 after a three-pointer by Tyler King. Following a Little Rock bucket, King hit a jumper and followed with another three, to push the run to 18-2 overall and push the SIUE advantage to 32-12 with 3:28 to play in the half.
The Trojans used an 11-1 run to end the half to pull within 10 and SIUE led 33-23 at the break.
The Cougars hit four of their first six shots to open the second half and had the lead back to 15 (43-28) at the first media timeout in the second half.
Little Rock used a 9-0 run to get to get back to within six at 43-37 with 10:10, but that is as close as the Trojans would come.
A technical foul was assessed to Little Rock's Jonathan Lawson and Jack Campion hit both free throws to make it 59-49 SIUE with 4:43 left. Little Rock never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Campion finished within striking distance of a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. King led the Cougars with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Darrion Baker scored 12 points and added six rebounds.
SIUE shot 50 percent in the second half and 46 percent (25-55) for the game.
Little Rock shot 33 percent (23-70) from the field. Lawson scored 18 points to lead Trojans.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 90, SOUTHERN INDIANA 65
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Brendan Terry dropped in 22 points, Luke Almodovar had 21 and Southeast Missouri (15-10, 10-4) used a 19-0 run in the second half to get by Southern Indiana (5-19, 2-12), 90-65, Saturday at the Show Me Center.
SEMO came away with its sixth-consecutive win and currently remains as the hottest team in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks also completed their third two-game sweep of a league opponent this year.
Tied, 48-48, Marqueas Bell jumpstarted the decisive surge when he scored on a hookshot. Terry, Braxton Stacker and Almodovar all followed with baskets before Terry made two free throws to give SEMO its first double-digit lead.
BJ Ward then drained a 3-pointer to end a stretch of nine-straight missed threes by the Redhawks. The Redhawks scored six more points with a massive highlight-reel dunk on a fast break by Almodovar giving his team a 67-48 advantage with 8:59 to go.
USI went 0-of-9 from the field, turned the ball over four times and was scoreless for over eight minutes while SEMO pulled away for good.
SEMO outscored USI, 51-23, in the second stanza.
In the first half, SEMO trailed 14-10 and went on a 9-0 run to take a five-point lead with a little over 10 minutes remaining.
Troy Cole, Jr. followed up a miss by Bell with a dunk to tie the game and later added a tip-in before Terry made two free throws to put the Redhawks ahead, 19-14.
After Steven Clay's layup gave the game its third tie at 21-21, USI managed to build a seven-point advantage when Ismail Habib made a 3-pointer to give the Screaming Eagles a 34-27 lead at the 4:04 mark.
USI led for the final 7:56 of the first half and held a 42-39 lead at the half.
The Redhawks overpowered the Screaming Eagles, 52-28, inside the paint.
Terry shot 9-of-13 from the field, 4-of-4 at the free throw line, pulled down eight rebounds, dished out five assists and two blocks. Almodovar made 6-of-12 field goals and a near-perfect 9-of-10 free throws.
Bell and Ward also scored double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Redhawks shot a scorching 65.4 percent (17-of-26) from the field in the second half.
SEMO improved to 8-1 all-time in its series against USI.
Additionally, the Redhawks recorded their 10th OVC win of the season marking the third time they won 10 or more conference games with Brad Korn as their head coach.