No. 4/5 Kentucky 102, Sam Houston State 92
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sam Houston State knocked down a record 18 three-pointers in a 102-92 loss at No. 4/5 Kentucky Thursday night at Rupp Arena. Eleven of those three-pointers were made by Bearkat guard Corey Allmond.
Allmond's 11 buckets from outside set school and Southland Conference records as well as the most by any player at historic Rupp Arena. He finished the night with a game-high 37 points in the Kats' first matchup against a top-five opponent since taking on No. 1 UCLA in 2006.
The Bearkats also set a team record for most 3-pointers with 18, which was also a Rupp Arena record for a Kentucky opponent.
The Wildcats (3-0) stormed out of the gate, jumping up on the Kats (2-1) and building a 12-point lead in the game's first three minutes. But, Allmond's outside shooting kept the game from getting away from the Bearkats. The senior from Oxon Hill, Md., knocked down eight of his outside shots in the first half, and the Kats went into the break down 53-42.
"We got off to a poor start and we fell behind, but we were able to close the gap a little bit because of our shooting in the first half," Bearkat coach Bob Marlin said. "Kentucky had too many runs. They scored on six possessions in a row. At the end of the half, they scored at the end with a three. In the second half, we let them go out and score on eight of the first nine possessions."
In the first half, the Bearkats knocked down 12 3-pointers in the game's, with just two made baskets from inside the arc. The Bearkats cooled off from outside in the second half, but still managed to put 50 points on the board in the second half. Kentucky, however, never cooled off. The Wildcats shot at a 63-percent clip in the first half and followed that up shooting 57 percent in the second half.
"How many baskets outside of three-pointers did they have at halftime? Two, so what do you think that I told them at halftime? I said, 'Make everybody drive.' Make them shoot layups," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "Let me tell you what they did. They leaked out a guy. Do you understand what leaked out a guy means? As soon as we shot, a kid ran (down the floor). So we got a guy back with him but it is not his man and we don't talk. So instead of saying, 'I got yours now you got mine.' No one speaks, so now no one knows who is who. We step up and take the guy dribbling and leave the best three-point shooter maybe in America tonight with no one on him. That is what happened."
The Bearkats pulled to 81-73 with 6:58 remaining before one last burst by the Wildcats pushed the lead to 94-77. The Bearkats never got closer than 10 the rest of the way. Kentucky was able to use their size and athleticism to their advantage, outrebounding the Bearkats by 15. The Wildcats also outscored the Kats 48-18 in the paint.
"(DeMarcus) Cousins played super and (Patrick) Patterson is a great player, obviously," Marlin said. "Those two guys made us want to shoot from the perimeter. In a lot of our offense, we go inside out, but tonight we played a lot of stuff on the perimeter. Once (Corey) Allmond got hot, we started going to him."
In addition to Allmond's 37, the Kats had two other players in double figures scoring. Gilberto Clavell scored 14 points and Preston Brown added 11 in just nine minutes on the floor.
For Kentucky, five players scored in double-figures, with DeMarcus Cousins scoring 27 points and 18 rebounds. Patrick Patterson had 20 points and nine boards and John Wall added 21 points and six assists.
The Bearkats will continue action in the Cancun Classic on Saturday when they travel to Ohio to take on Cleveland State. That game will be a 6 p.m. tip. The Kats will then head down to Cancun for two more as they take on Oral Roberts on Tuesday and either Rider or Florida A&M on Wednesday.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 77, UTPA 55
The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team scored the first 10 points of the game and used a 16-3 run late in the opening half to cruise to the team's 100th home win in school history 77-55 over Texas-Pan American Thursday night at the American Bank Center.
With the victory, A&M-Corpus Christi evens its record at 2-2 on the season. UTPA moves to 0-3 on the season.
Kevin Palmer scored six of the game's first 10 points as the Islanders jumped out to a 10-0 lead at the 13:40 mark.
The Broncs battled back to within a bucket, 14-12, on a Luis Valera drive with 7:38 left in the first half.
"It seemed early on we working really hard but didn't have a lot to show for it," Islander coach Perry Clark said. "We didn't get frustrated, but showed our maturity by keeping our composure. The guys didn't panic and played good defense.
"In the second half, Palmer was outstanding at the point. He really gave us a lot of energy."
A&M-Corpus Christi, which shot 60 percent in the opening half, seized control of the game with a 16-3 run to lead 30-15 and led by double digits the rest of the game. Horace Bond led the charge with seven of his career-high 15 points in the run. The Islanders finished the game with a 52.5 shooting percentage, while holding the visitors to 35.6 percent from the floor.
Leading 36-23 at the intermission, the Islanders maintained their advantage in the second half as UTPA managed to get no closer than 11, 50-39, on a Ben Smith three-point basket. After committing 11 first half miscues, A&M-Corpus Christi had two in the second half.
A 19-7 run capped by a thunderous dunk by Bond gave the Islanders a 23-point lead at 69-46 with 3:39 left. A&M-Corpus Christi extended its lead to 24 points on a lay-in by Jacob Warnell with 33 seconds left.
Palmer led the Islanders in scoring for the third time in four games with 17 points and swiped five of the team's eight steals. Bond added 15, while Justin Reynolds netted a season-high 12 as A&M-Corpus Christi outscored the Broncs 50-24 in the second half. Reynolds led the Islanders with nine rebounds as the won the war on the boards 40-32.
Valera led the visitors with 10 points.
The Islanders play host to St. Edward's Saturday at 2 p.m.
No. 1/1 Kansas 94, Central Arkansas 44
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Seldom does one find positives in a 50-point loss, but Central Arkansas' 94-44 loss at No. 1/1 Kansas had some on Thursday night, according to Bears' coach Rand Chappell.
Central Arkansas (1-2) faced one of the perennial national powers in front of a full house of 16,300 at storied Allen Fieldhouse. The Bears trailed for all but the opening two minutes and shot just 25.5 percent for the game
(14-of-55). Still, Chappell said it was a worthwhile trip.
"When you get beat 94-44, it's kind of hard to spin it that you played pretty good," Chappell said. "But I don't know that we played bad. We played an awfully, awfully good team that has a lot of weapons. I thought our guys competed hard and they learned some things. We won some individual battles here and there and we learned, "hey, we can guard a good player and get up and put pressure on him.
"I definitely think we'll take some positives from it."
The top-ranked Jayhawks, two years removed from a national championship, made 11-of-19 from 3-point range and shot 56.9 percent overall. Four players scored in double figures for Kansas and all four had 12 points.
All-American guard Sherron Collins, Marcus Morris, Xavier Henry and Tyrel Reed had 12 apiece, with Reed hitting 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Central Arkansas got 11 points from junior guard Jared Rehmel, who scored the Bears' first seven points of the game. Sophomore forward Chris Henson came off the bench and scored six consecutive points in the second half and finished with eight. Junior forward Tadre Sheppard also came off the bench and had back-to-back dunks in the second half and finished with six points and six rebounds. The Bears outrebounded the Jayhawks 38-36 and held All-American center Cole Aldrich to seven points and five rebounds.
"We came in with some enthusiasm, we were excited about competing here," Chappell said. "We competed hard and at times we got some stops defensively. I thought we won some possessions against a very, very good team. We didn't score the ball well enough or make enough shots, but we competed hard.
"They made 11-of-19 from the three. We had hoped to take away the inside game and make them make some shots, and as any great team does, they proved that they have many different weapons and many different directions they can go."
The Bears scored first on a driving shot by Rehmel, but then saw the Jayhawks go on a 31-3 run over the next 15 minutes to take a 31-5 lead.
Rehmel scored Central Arkansas' first seven points, including a three-pointer and another driving layup. The Bears did finally find the range in the final two minutes, outscoring the Jayhawks 8-3 down the stretch. Junior guard Imad Qahwash hit a pair of free throws, junior center Carlos Dos Santos made a layup and senior guard Mike Pouncy scored the final four points with two free throws and a rebound basket at the buzzer to make it 37-15.
Central Arkansas shot just 19.2 percent in the first half (5-of-26) but did outrebound Kansas 21-19. The Jayhawks shot 46.7 percent (14-of-30) with eight different players scoring.
The Jayhawks, coming off a closer-than-expected 57-55 win over Memphis on Tuesday night, pushed their lead to as much as 52 points in the second half as they shot 67.9 percent overall and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from 3-point range after halftime.
"Every time we made a mistake, they seemed to hit a three on us," Chappell said. "Or you miss a block out, they get a tip dunk. Sometimes we play a team where you miss an assignment, they still miss the shot. But teams like this, at this level, they obviously make you pay every time."
Still, Chappell said the experience was worth the lopsided final margin.
"In the end, we'll talk about this for the great experience it was," he said. "To come in here and play against a big-time team, not everyone gets to do that. I told our guys after the game, there are a lot of older men paying $15,000 to go to fantasy cambit of what this was. To come in here and play in this arena, with the crowd like it was, it was nice. I think we will definitely take some positives away from it."
Central Arkansas plays host to Western Illinois at the Farris Center on Saturday.
Texas Tech 94, Northwestern State 75
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Mike Singletary's 25 points led five Texas Tech players in double figures as the Red Raiders pulled away after halftime and knocked off Northwestern State 94-75 Thursday night in college basketball at United Spirit Arena.
After five ties and four lead changes in a full-throttle first half that saw Tech surge over the final three minutes into a 52-44 advantage at the break, the Red Raiders (4-0) opened the second half with a 20-7 run.
That built the Raiders' lead to 72-51 and the Demons (1-1) got no closer than 17 afterward.
"They rammed it down our throats, really," said Demons' 11th-year coach Mike McConathy, talking about the decisive stretch. "They capitalized on some matchups and our margin for error was slim. I've seen all three of their previous games, and tonight they played as well as I've seen them look so far."
Northwestern got a career-high 19 points by junior guard Dominic Knight, who sank 6-of-9 shots from the floor. Senior guard Damon Jones added 14, making 3-of-4 on 3-pointers, while junior guard Devon Baker chipped in 10 points.
D'Wayan Roberts of Texas Tech had 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The Red Raiders got 11 points and nine rebounds by Darko Cohadarebic, while Brad Reese and David Tairu each scored 10.
Tech outrebounded Northwestern 37-29 and shot 53 percent (33-62) overall. The Red Raiders outscored the Demons 52-18 in points in the paint, including 16-2 on fast break points.
Northwestern sank 44 percent (24-54), including 54 percent (7-13) on 3-pointers, and made 20 of 27 free throws (74 percent). The Demons committed 22 turnovers while forcing 17 from Texas Tech.
James Hulbin led the Demons with 6 rebounds while scoring eight points.
"We didn't rebound as well as I would have liked," McConathy said. "Our bigs got saddled with some foul problems and that restricted us to some degree. But we competed a lot better in a big-time environment than we did at any point last season, which hopefully we can continue to improve upon."
Northwestern returns to the court in a home game next Wednesday against Houston Baptist at 7:45 p.m.
Middle Tennessee 74, Lamar 68
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Anthony Miles scored a game-high 19 while Charlie Harper posted his second career double-double but it wasn't quite enough as Lamar fell to Middle Tennessee, 74-68 at the Murphy Center Thursday night.
Lamar (2-1) lost its first game of the season as it opened a four-game road trip.
Harper had 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 15 rebounds, while Kendrick Harris added 14 points for the Cards, who shot 47.3 percent in the game with five 3-pointers, but struggled from the free throw line to the tune of 9-of-19.
Middle Tennessee (2-2) shot 47.2 percent from the field and 69 percent from the free-throw line, converting 20-of-29 attempts.
The Blue Raiders used a 23-6 run midway through the first half to take a 29-20 lead over the Cardinals. Lamar had used their height advantage and two trey from Miles to take a 14-6 lead, before a 12-0 run gave the Blue Raiders an 18-14 advantage. Montarrio Haddock had the last seven points in the run, and 17 in the game.
Middle Tennessee led 37-31 at the half, and maintained a lead of four to eight points throughout the second half. After Lamar cut the deficit to five at 52-47, the Blue Raiders went on a 14-5 run, culminated by a long three-pointer by James Washington and a tip-in by Theryn Hudson to take a 66-52 lead, their largest of the game.
Lamar would cut the lead to 68-63 with 16 seconds left, but Washington and Rod Emanual hit six consecutive free throws down the stretch secure the win for Middle Tennessee.
The Blue Raiders out-rebounded the Cardinals, 36-33, while both teams had 15 turnovers as the fast pace of the game took its toll.
Lamar will continue its road trip at Texas Tech on Saturday. Tip-off at the United Spirit Arena is set for 7 p.m.
Mississippi State 82, Southeastern Louisiana 67
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Jarvis Varnado scored 20 points to lead five players in double figures while adding nine rebounds and eight blocked shots as Mississippi State opened with a 23-9 run and defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 82-67, Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
Ravern Johnson added 17 points and Barry Stewart 13 as Mississippi State (1-1) built a 41-29 lead at halftime. Dee Bost chipped in with 10 points for the Bulldogs while Phil Turner posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Southeastern (2-1), which was led by Patrick Sullivan with 20 points, got as close as eight points twice in the second half - the last on a 3-pointer by Gary Dixon with 9:38 remaining.
A putback by Sullivan closed the Southeastern deficit to 66-57 with 6:12 remaining, but Mississippi State answered with a 13-4 run that was capped by a Johnson tip-in for a 79-61 lead with 1:19 left.
Trent Hutchin added 14 points for Southeastern while Dixon and Rodney Jones added eight. The Lions shot 36 percent (12-for-33) in the first half and 39 percent (26-for-66) for the game and were outrebounded, 47-30.
Southeastern will return to action on Tuesday when it returns home to face Jacksonville State in a 7 p.m. contest at the University Center.
Courtesy: Southland.org
