SAM HOUSTON 88, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 54
PURDUE FORT WAYNE 74, EASTERN MICHIGAN 67
LOUISIANA STATE 73, AKRON 58
NOTRE DAME 82, BOWLING GREEN 66
EAST CAROLINA 86, TOLEDO 75
ESTERO, Fla. – Senior JT Shumate scored a game-high 25 points and junior RayJ Dennis added 21 on Tuesday morning but that wasn't enough for the Toledo men's basketball team in an 86-75 loss to East Carolina on the second day of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Hertz Arena.
Senior Setric Millner Jr. also was in double figures for the Rockets (3-2) with 11 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Javon Small topped the Pirates (4-1) with 24 points and seven assists. ECU's Brandon Johnson also recorded a double-double (14 pts.-10 reb.) to help the Pirates register a 35-23 advantage on the boards.
Both teams shot similar percentages from the field with ECU's 47.5 mark slightly better than the Rockets' 44.3 figure. The big difference in the contest was the Pirates converting 12-of-25 three-point attempts compared to Toledo's 6-of-16 totals.
Toledo was 15-of-18 (.833) at the free-throw line, while ECU was 18-of-22 (.818).
The Rockets fell behind 23-10 midway through the first half before rattling off 18 straight points to take a five-point lead. Toledo held a one-point lead at intermission, but a 10-2 spurt gave the Pirates a 64-55 advantage with 6:42 to play that was too large to overcome.
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Sam Houston shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the field, including 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from three-point range, as the Bearkats topped the Northern Illinois, 88-54, on Tuesday at the Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
Zarique Nutter scored a team-high 11 points while David Coit added 10 and Zion Russell chipped in a career- high 10 points.
An early 9-0 run gave Sam Houston (5-0) a 12-4 lead six minutes into the first half. After a pair of free throws from Russell, the Bearkats knocked in two triples to extend their advantage to 18-6 with 12 minutes left before the intermission.
Back-to-back baskets from Keshawn Williams and Nutter helped the Huskies trim the Sam Houston advantage back to single-digits, 19-10, just past the midway point of the half.
Williams finished with nine points in the contest.
The Bearkats used a 10-0 run to take a 34-12 lead before a basket from Russell ended the run. NIU (1-4) scored six of the final eight points of the half as Sam Houston took a 41-22 lead into the intermission.
Nutter and Russell each had a half-dozen to pace the Huskies in the opening 20 minutes, Qua Grant and Donte Powers both had 10 for Sam Houston. The Bearkats shot 50 percent (15-of-30) from the field in the first half, including 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from three-point range. Sam Houston forced 15 first half NIU turnovers, converting them into 20 points.
In the second half, the Huskies shot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) from the field but were unable to slow down the Bearkats, who shot 54.5 percent (18-of-33) in the second 20 minutes.
Taku Youngblood tied his career-high with seven points, all seven of which came in the second half. Anthony Crump grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
Grant led all scorers with 19 points for Sam Houston, Lamar Wilkerson added 15 and Powers finished with 13 points. The Bearkats finished the contest with 34 points off 22 Huskie turnovers.
CANCÚN, Mexico (EMUEagles.com) -- Eastern Michigan dropped its opening game of the 2022 Cancun Challenge inside the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Tuesday as a hard-fought battle went to Purdue University Fort Wayne, 74-67, in the first game of the event.
The Eagles (1-4), who out-rebounded the Mastodons (3-2), were led by Emoni Bates and Jalin Billingsley, who tallied 16 and 10 points, respectively.
The Eastern Michigan defense was effective at taking away the basketball in the game, forcing 13 Purdue Fort Wayne turnovers. Those takeaways turned into eight points on the other end of the floor. Tyson Acuff led the way individually for the Eagles with two steals.
How It Happened
After falling behind, 8-2, Eastern went on a 6-0 run with 16:58 left in the first half to tie the game at eight. Purdue Fort Wayne then pulled ahead, sending the Eagles into halftime down, 33-30.
Purdue Fort Wayne kept widening its lead after intermission, constructing a 48-38 advantage before Eastern Michigan went on a 7-0 run, finished off by Farrakhan's layup, to shrink the deficit to 48-45 with 12:33 to go in the contest. Purdue Fort Wayne responded and outscored the Eagles the rest of the way, ending the game with a final score of 74-67. Eastern Michigan took care of business in the paint, recording 26 of its 37 points in the lane.
Game Notes
» Eastern was 28-of-53 from the field (52.8 percent), its best shooting performance of the season. Additionally, the 28 makes rank as the fifth-most in an overseas game for the Eagles.
» Six of the made baskets came from behind the arc, which ranks as the fifth-most in an international game for EMU.
GRAND CAYMAN – The Akron men's basketball team held a two-point lead at halftime, but couldn't overcome an 8-2 run to open the second half as LSU defeated the Zips 73-58 in the semifinal round of the 2022 Cayman Island Classic at John Gray Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Senior Xavier Castaneda (Chicago, Ill.) led Akron (3-2) in scoring with a game-high 28 points while adding six rebounds and four assists. Junior transfer Sammy Hunter (Nassau, Bahamas) followed with 13 points and junior Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. Akron won the battle of the glass, outrebounding LSU (5-0) 36-31.
The first half showcased five lead changes and four tied scores, with Akron's largest lead coming at the 4:21 mark, 33-25. Akron used a 12-3 run to take over the scoreboard sparked by freshman Tavari Johnson 3-pointer. Castaneda added five points with an old-fashioned 3-point play and a pair of free throws, while sophomore Garvin Clarke and Hunter scored in the paint.
With 4:21 remaining in the half, LSU answered with an 8-2 run to close out the half, but Akron still held onto the lead at the break, 35-33. Castaneda notched 15 first-half points to lead the Zips while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists.
The Tigers carried the momentum into the second frame, outscoring the Zips 11-6 in the initial four minutes. The Tigers built the lead to as many as 11 points by the 9:12 mark (55-44). Akron's second-half shooting slump aided in the scoreboard overhaul as the Zips shot only 20-percent from the field in the second stanza (5 of 25). The Zips connected with a 33.3-percent rate from beyond the arc (3 of 9), but couldn't get the deficit under six points for the remainder of the game.
Adam Miller led the LSU offense with 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the field, including a 5 of 9 clip from downtown. KJ Williams added 19 points Justice Hill contributed 14 points to the win.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Bowling Green hung with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish deep into Tuesday night's contest. The Falcons held a 61-59 lead with just under 11 minutes to go in the game and were within one at 65-64 with under nine minutes remaining in the game. A late 11-0 run for Notre Dame created a gap, leading to the 82-66 final to move BGSU to 2-3 on the young season.
Samari Curtis led the way for the Falcons with 14 points while Leon Ayers III and Rashaun Agee followed closely with 13 points each. Agee added a team-high nine rebounds, coming one shy of a double-double, as well as a career-high three blocks. Sam Towns chipped in a career-high nine points for the Orange and Brown while Chandler Turner added seven, both doing so in their first starts with Bowling Green.