By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech weathered a barrage of 3-pointers by Belmont, and countered with a power game that lifted the Golden Eagle men's basketball team to an 89-79 victory over the previously perfect Bruins in a packed Eblen Center.
The win kept Tech (16-7/8-2 OVC) unbeaten at home this season at 12-0, and pulled the Golden Eagles within one-half game of the league-leading Bruins. Belmont (16-7/8-1 OVC) suffered its first conference loss of the season.
The 3-pointers that had carried Belmont for most of the game just weren't there at the finish. Shooting a crisp 50 percent for the game, including 17-for-38 from long range for 45 percent, the Bruins couldn't find the range in the final two minutes, missing eight treys in a row.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles had several standouts on the way to the win. Senior Torrance Rowe led all scorers with 26 points and Hakeem Rogers came off the bench to score 20. Senior Ryan Martin added his seventh double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Sophomore Mason Ramsey added another spark off the bench with 10 points, five rebounds and three big steals. Anthony Morse contributed seven points, six rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals.
Belmont had five players in double figures. Taylor Barnette led the parade with 14 points, going 4-for-9 from long range. Nick Smith had the exact same numbers from the arc and finished with 12 points while Kevin McClain and Amanze Egekeze each netted 11. Craig Bradshaw had 10 points and eight assists. Evan Bradds led Belmont on the boards with nine, to go with eight points and five assists.
Tech improved to 11-2 all-time in Eblen Center against Belmont.
Neither team could get a foothold in the first half, as the margin grew to more than four points just once, when Belmont went up 28-22. The game was tied six times, including 36-all with 1:29 to lay as Martin made two free throws. The Golden Eagles used a 3-pointer by Rowe with 57 seconds left to forge a three-point edge at halftime, 39-36.
The Bruins seemed to be pulling away midway through the second half, building a nine-point lead at 64-55 with 11:17 to play on a layup by McClain.
But the Golden Eagles answered with a 10-0 run including back-to-back baskets by Morse and finished with four points by Rogers.
Once again, the teams took turns jabbing at the lead before Tech got layups from Rogers and Martin and began to establish control.
A dunk on a putback by Bradds with 1:25 left accounted for the final points of the night for Belmont, making it a three-point Tech lead at 82-79. The Golden Eagles continued to push the ball inside, and used 7-for-10 free throw shooting to pry open the lead to the final 10 points.
The Golden Eagles get a week off from competition, with their next game Saturday at Jacksonville State with a 4:30 p.m. tipoff. That's followed by a Feb. 10 game at Tennessee State, before returning to the excitement in Eblen Center on Saturday, Feb. 13, with an OVC doubleheader against Jacksonville State.
GOLDEN NUGGET: With three more blocked shots tonight, Morse has now moved into fourth on the career chart with 99 in 102 games…the attendance was 4,428…fans were dazzled in the pregame as Tech introduced an on-court projection system...Tech is now off to its best start to a season (16-7) since going 27-7 overall in the 2001-02 season...Tech's 12-0 start at home is the best by a Golden Eagle team since the 2004-05 team went 13-0....Tech had just nine turnovers in the game and didn't allow a single steal by the Bruins.