(St. Louis, MO) – Ohio Valley Conference play began on New Year’s Eve. The grueling 16 game OVC schedule each team endures began with the three first encounters Thursday.
Champs Get a Road Win
Defending East Division and Tournament champion Belmont started their league season with a hard fought road win at Southeast Missouri. The improving Redhawks didn’t make it easy. The final score was 92-82.
The Bruins (9-6, 1-0) splashed down 17 threes and handed out 23 assists while pre-season OVC player of the year Craig Bradshaw scored 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out six assists. Isaiah Jones led SEMO (2-11, 0-1) with 20 points. The Redhawks had won two straight games.
Perfect At Home
Tennessee Tech ran their home record to 8-0 with a 94-84 victory over Eastern Illinois. Aleksa Jugovic scored a career high 26 points, including five three-pointers, as the Golden Eagles (9-5, 1-0) connected 13 times from deep.
Cornell Johnston – eiupanthers.com
Cornell Johnston (Ladue High School – St. Louis) and Trae Anderson (Hazelwood Central High School – St. Louis) tied for team scoring honors with 17 points for the Panthers (3-10, 0-1). Johnston added nine assists.
Tightest Game
The closest game of the trio was at Jacksonville State where the Gamecocks (5-11, 1-0) held off Southern Illinois Edwardsville 72-67. Malcolm Drumwright scored 19 points and Greg Tucker added 16 and each made three treys.
SIUE (3-10, 0-1) converted on just 29 % of their three-point attempts. Yemi Makanjuola scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds in defeat. Keenan Simmons saw more playing time than usual and led the Cougars with 10 rebounds.
New Year’s Day is a day off for the OVC but five more conference connections and one non-conference game are on tap for Saturday.
Do Good
Twitter Feed
Three more road wins so far in @ValleyHoops as @BradleyUMBB @BelmontMBB & @UIC_MBB capture road wins. Looks like @DrakeBulldogsMB will do so too. #FatherHarry
Well @RacersWBB followed the men's example and swept Iowa in the @ValleyHoops race! Racers are 6-1 & if @BelmontWBB holds on to their Iowa sweep, the Bruins and Racers will be tied for first. What a trip for those two teams! #FatherHarry
After today's action, @EIUWBB is 8-0 in @OVCSports play. 4 teams @usiwbb @TTUWBB @LRTrojans @LindenwoodWBB are tied at 6-2. Six other teams are under .500. Great race to the finish lies ahead. #FatherHarry
Really entertaining game between @BelmontMBB & @UEAthletics_MBB. Under four minutes left in a one point game. Gabriel Pozzato back in the Aces' lineup. Rogers is playing like I've expected. Triples are dropping. It's fun and @kylejpeach bringing it on #ThePlus #FatherHarry
