(St. Louis, MO) – March and ‘the Madness’ has begun in Nashville. The first wo games of Music City Madness were like the curtain going up on a Broadway play. Great music and drama and excitement from the opening moment of the show!
And these are preliminary rounds!
Two games and three overtimes at Municipal Auditorium could leave one breathless, but there are two more games today and more drama to unfold.
Southeast Missouri 78 – Tennessee State 75 (OT)
SEMO (15-17) came from behind after trailing by double digits early in the second half to force overtime on a traditional three-point play by all-conference guard Antonius Cleveland.
Then the freshmen took over.
OVC ‘Freshman of the Year’ Denzel Mahoney led the Redhawks with 34 points, and fellow rookie Tahj Eaddy, who had a dreadful, one for eight shooting night until the final two seconds of the game, buried a three-pointer for the win.
Tennessee State (17-13) dominated the boards (49-30) but turned the ball over 27 times. Wayne Martin led the Tigers with 19 points and eight rebounds. Three Tigers fouled out prior to the end of the game including All OVC guard Tahjere McCall, Martin and Jordan Reed.
SEMO head coach Rick Ray says his freshmen came up huge.
“I thought our guys really battled here. These two freshmen sitting beside me (Tahj Eaddy, Denzel Mahoney) comprise the best freshman class in the OVC,” said Ray. “I thought we did a good job when we recruited them, but they’ve really assimilated to college basketball quickly.”
The Redhawks play Jacksonville State Thursday night.
Murray State 85 – Tennessee Tech 84 (2OT)
So if Municipal Auditorium fans weren’t worn out from the first game, they had this epic game waiting for them. A double overtime victory for Murray State behind 41 points from all-OVC guard Jonathan Stark. The Tulane transfer set a Murray State (15-16) scoring record for the OVC tournament and hit a game-winning triple with six seconds left in the second overtime, to send the Racers into a Thursday quarterfinal match up with Morehead State.
See Stark’s winning bucket, courtesy of the OVC DN!
Jonathan Stark hit this 3-pointer to lift @RacersHoops to a 2OT victory over Tennessee Tech in the 1st Round of the#OVCTourney pic.twitter.com/vn9qTzWLNV
— OhioValleyConference (@OVCSports) March 2, 2017
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