College Basketbal Roundup -- January 17

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE never trailed after the third minute of play Thursday, earning a 66-53 road win over Austin Peay in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball.

"I thought our guys played well," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "Give them a lot of credit. I thought they made some big shots and made some plays."

Jerome Jones put the Cougars up 4-3 with 17:47 to play and the Cougars never trailed again. Austin Peay, now 5-14 overall and 1-4 in OVC play, never even tied the score again.

SIUE, who improved to 6-9 overall and 2-3 in the OVC, extended its lead to nine when Jones hit a jumper to make it 23-14 with 7:28 to play before the half. The Governors then went on a 9-0 run to cut the Cougar lead to two at 23-21 with 4:19 left. SIUE outscored Austin Peay 9-4 to end the half with a seven-point advantage (32-25).

The Cougars pushed their lead to 11 several times early in the second half, but Austin Peay made a run again. SIUE led 40-29 when the Governor again ran off nine straight points to make it 40-38 Cougars with 13:17 to play. Mark Yelovich nailed two free throws with 10:13 left to cap an 8-0 SIUE run that made it 48-38 Cougars.

The SIUE men's basketball program will be promoting Coaches vs. Cancer, an awareness and fund-raising event in correlation with the Jan. 26 game against UT Martin.
 
The SIUE coaching staff will wear tennis shoes in support of cancer research during the game which begins at 7 p.m. There also will be a SIUE College Students Against Cancer T-Shirt sale.
 
"This is a very important event," said SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester. "We're happy to be a small part of it. Hopefully our fans come out to support this worthy cause."

A silent auction to raise funds for the American Cancer Society will be run during the men's game. The list of auction items is listed below.

    8x10 photo of Steven Tyler
    11x14 photo, autographed by Blues hockey players Alex Pietrangelo, T.J. Oshie, Jaroslav Halak, and David Perron
    Stan Musial signed jersey
    Mini helmet signed by St. Louis Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis
    David Freese hand signed copy of 2011 World Series Game 6 scorecard
    Lance Berkman signed baseball
    SIUE Men's Basketball
    Two – 2013-2014 SIUE Basketball Season Ticket Packages (2 tickets each)

Murray State 70, Eastern Illinois 49

MURRAY, Ky. – A barrage of 3-pointers by Murray State in the second half helped the Racers pull away from Eastern Illinois, 70-49, Thursday night in the CFSB Center.

MSU improved to 13-4 overall, 4-1 in the OVC.  EIU dropped to 3-16, 0-6 in the OVC.  The Panthers play on Saturday night at Austin Peay with a 7:30 p.m. start

With Murray State leading 27-24 at the half, Eastern Illinois tied the game at 31-31 with 17:33 left to play as Sherman Blanford hit a jumper and then had a lay-up off a steal.

The Racers then hit six straight 3-pointers to open up the game.  Dexter Fields knocked down three of them as he finished with 12 points.  MSU’s lead hit double figures with Fields third 3-pointer in the run.  MSU was 9-of-12 from 3-point range in the second half and 11-of-25 for the game.  Isaiah Canaan was 5-of-10 from 3-point range finishing with 17 points.

Josh Piper had six points for the Panthers during the MSU run.  MSU’s lead in the run was as high as 16 points on a 3-pointer by Jeffrey Moss at 12:03.  Morris Woods scored five straight to cut margin back to ten points at 52-42 with 9:34 to play.  Woods had eight points for EIU.   MSU answered with a Canaan 3-pointer to turn away any possible EIU comeback.