Ohio Edges Illinois, College Scores

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Ohio State is heavy on freshmen and sophomores but needed it most experienced player to hold off Illinois 75-73 for its sixth straight win on Sunday.

Marc Loving, who had a career-high 27 points, had six straight points to carry Ohio State from a 61-59 deficit to a 65-61 lead with 2:21 to play thanks to a dunk, a 3-pointer and a foul shot.

He also added three free throws after that to seal the win for the Buckeyes (10-5, 2-0 Big Ten).

''As your lone upperclassman on the basketball team you hope that's something you can continue to count on,'' Ohio State coach Thad Matta said.

While Loving was only 5 of 8 from the floor, he made a career-best 14 free throws on 19 attempts.

''It's just the confidence my teammates have in me,'' Loving said. ''They put me in the right positions and I'm able to take advantage of those opportunities.'

Illinois coach John Groce lamented the disparity in free throws. The Buckeyes hit 28 of 39 fouls shots off of 23 Illinois fouls. The Illini made 9 of 11 and were fouled 18 times.

''The things I have to look at on the film is we're the 11th-ranked in the nation in defensive free throw rate and fewest fouls and there's a 28 free-throw differentiation in the game,'' Groce said. ''Three of those times we fouled late and I understand six of the free throws. We've got to play a lot harder without fouling.

''That's the highest number of free throws an opponent has shot against us this year. That was the difference in the game.''

Ohio State held a five-point lead when Michael Finke's tip-in made it 70-67 with 23.3 seconds left. Jae-Sean Tate's slam with 12.6 seconds left made 72-67 before Jalen Coleman-Lands hit a trey to pull Illinois (8-7, 0-2) within 72-70.

A pair of Loving free throws upped the score to 74-70 but Malcolm Hill hit another 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. Loving made one of two foul shots and a desperation shot from midcourt by Hill at the buzzer missed.

EIU 75, Jacksonville State 64

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Eastern Illinois rode the hot hand of Demetrius McReynolds who scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half as the Panthers came from behind to win 75-64 at Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon.

EIU improved to 4-10, 1-1 in the OVC.  It was the first road win of the season for the Panthers.  EIU will host Tennessee State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena.  JSU fell to 5-12, 1-1 in the OVC.

EIU shot 70 percent in the second half knocking down 19-of-27 shots from the floor.  McReynolds was 9-of-11 from the floor in the second half finishing as one of three EIU players in double figures.

JSU led by as many as ten points late in the first half as Malcolm Drumright connected for a pair of free throws to put the Gamecocks in front 32-22 with 1:41 to play.  EIU closed the half with a 6-0 run as Marshawn Blackmon had two lay-ups and McReynolds hit a jumper with two seconds remaining to cut JSU’s halftime lead to 32-28.

Drumright hit a jumper with 18:01 to play in the game as JSU ran its lead back out to seven points at 39-32.  Drumright had 19 points for JSU.

McReynolds answered with a 3-pointer and lay-up to cut the lead to three.  The Panthers tied the game with 14:49 to play as Trae Anderson’s lay-up tied the game at 40-40.

The two teams traded baskets over the next seven minutes.  Anderson hit a lay-up with 7:56 to play followed by a McReynolds jumper with 7:31 to play and EIU never trailed again.

EIU took its first double digit lead with 2:36 remaining on a McReynolds lay-up.  The Panthers closed the game with free throws and a lay-up by Casey Teson in the final 52 seconds.  Teson opened the game 3-for-3 on 3-pointers and finished the game with 14 points.

A.J. Riley rounded out the double figure scorers for EIU with ten points while Cornell Johnston had ten assists and nine points.  EIU finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor.

JaQuail Townser and Jared Hamilton added double digit scoring efforts for the Gamecocks.  Townser had 15 points and Hamilton finished with 12.  

Jacksonville State 60, EIU Women 52

Jacksonville State used a huge first quarter performance to distance themselves from Eastern Illinois holding on to earn a 60-52 victory over the Panthers.

With the loss EIU drops to 1-13 on the season and 0-2 in the OVC as Jacksonville State improves to 6-8 and earn their first conference win.

JSU jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter starting the period on a 10-2 run finally broken by a three-point shot from Phylicia Johnson at the 5:55 mark. It was all Gamecocks in the first period as JSU's Chloe Long scored 10 points with Courtney Strain adding another nine in the first quarter.

Jacksonville State outscored EIU 23-9 in the first quarter as the Gamecocks went 11-of-18 and shot 61.1 percent from the field.

Tennessee Tech 86, SIUE 63

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Three SIUE players finished with season-highs in scoring Saturday but it came in a losing cause. The Cougars fell to Tennessee Tech 86-63 in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball at the Eblen Center.

SIUE has dropped four straight games and is now 3-11 overall and 0-2 in the OVC. Tennessee Tech improved to 10-5 and 2-0.

The Cougars fell behind by 17 early in the first half before making a run at the Golden Eagles. A three-pointer by Aleksa Jugovic at 9:34 made it 27-10. Yemi Makanjuola made a short jumper with 4:47 to play in the half to cap off a 17-5 run by SIUE and trim the TTU lead to 32-27. It was as close as the Cougars came the rest of the way.

"I give credit where it is due first of all," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "Tennessee Tech is a good basketball team. They came to play. They competed a little bit harder and set the tone early in the game and it kind of snowballed from there."

Tennessee Tech finished the half with a 10-2 surge and led 42-29 at the break.