(St. Louis, MO) – It was an active day in the Ohio Valley Conference.
All 12 teams faced off as the teams were finishing off their inter-division schedule. It was the West Division’s last chance to show the East they could compete. With four of those games on the road for the teams from the West, it was a tall order. All six home teams won.
Close Games
Eastern Illinois won its second straight game and Southern Illinois Edwardsville jumped into the win column for the first time in OVC play, and Tennessee State stayed perfect by edging Murray State.
It took overtime for the EIU Panthers (6-12, 3-3), but they knocked off Morehead State (9-8, 3-2) 84-82. Freshman Casey Teson’s (St. Charles High) 3-pointer with seven seconds left sent the game into OT and sophomore Cornell Johnston’s (Ladue High) trey with 41 seconds left in extra time that sealed the deal. Johnston finished with a double-double (15 points and ten assists). Junior A. J. Riley led the Panthers with 22 points.
Carlos Anderson – siuecougars.com
SIUE lost their last two games by a total of six points and managed to win a close game at the Vadalabene Center. The Cougars (4-14, 1-5) defeated Eastern Kentucky (11-9, 2-3) 67-65. Junior guard Burak Eslik led the way with 21 points and freshman Carlos Anderson (Alton High) scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Ten of Eslik’s points came from the free throw line, including the final three that provided the Cougars the final margin of victory.
Tennessee State escaped with a 73-71 win over Murray State. Tahjere McCall scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out six assists for the Tigers.
Blow Outs
Three other home teams won in blow outs. Tennessee Tech (13-6, 5-1) crushed Southeast Missouri (91-55); Jacksonville State (7-14, 3-3) beat UT-Martin (10-9, 2-2) by 22 points; and Belmont (13-6, 5-0) overwhelmed Austin Peay (8-12, 1-4) 76-58.
Erick Durham scored a career high 31 points in the JSU win. Austin Peay’s Chris Horton (19 points & 14 rebounds) earned his fifteenth double-double in the Governors’ loss to Belmont.
The East Division dominated the West in inter-division play winning 23 of the 32 games played between the two wings of the OVC.
Do Good
Twitter Feed
.@BustingBrackets gives a brief intro to the 5 new @ValleyHoops head coaches.
I don't blame players for leaving, but this wild fluctuation is going to kill fan interest. When the TV people's ratings go down and the attendance figures keep falling, maybe the 'Suits' will wake up and fix this.
I think I'm going to enter the portal.
New @UIC_MBB coach @RobEhsan adds three more to his staff.
