Courtesy of Tennessee State Athletics
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee State men’s basketball team suffered a 77-67 overtime loss to Eastern Illinois on Thursday night in a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network. Wayne Martin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored a team-high 16 points and had a key block on EIU’s final possession of regulation to force overtime.
Tennessee State (13-10, 4-6 OVC) held a 31-19 lead at the half, but the Panthers (11-12, 3-7 OVC) outscored the Tigers by a 58-36 margin in the second half and overtime.
In addition to Martin’s 16 points, Delano Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) tallied 13 points to go with 11 from Tahjere McCall (Philadelphia, Pa.).
The game went back and forth in the early going with the Tigers trailing EIU by an 8-7 margin six minutes into the contest. Over the next eight minutes, TSU embarked on a 17-3 run to steal the momentum and gain the upper hand on the scoreboard.
The Tigers were able to close out the strong first half with a 31-19 edge. It was the third time holding an opponent under 20 in a half this season. Martin led the way with 11 first half points.
TSU maintained a double-digit lead for the first eight minutes of the second half until the Panthers battled all the way back, taking the lead at 51-50 on a three from Montell Goodwin with 9:16 remaining.
The scoring would seesaw from there when Martin finished a layup for a two-point edge at 61-59 with two minutes left.
Demetrius McReynolds went on to level the scoring at 61-61 with 49.1 seconds left. After a stop on the other end, Martin came up with a block on EIU’s final shot to force overtime.
In the five-minute overtime, the Panthers connected on 4-of-6 shots and outscored TSU, 16-6, to pull away.
McReynolds led all scorers with 22 points to lead four EIU players in double figures.
Thursday’s game featured six ties and 10 lead changes with both teams leading by double digits at some point.
Next on the schedule for TSU is a road test at Austin Peay on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES: Tennessee State is 27-23 versus Eastern Illinois in the all-time series… The Tigers held their opponent to fewer than 20 points in the first half for the third time this season… TSU is 0-3 in overtime games this season.
Leave a Reply