By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – This one was pretty much over as soon as Aleksa Jugovic touched the ball.
Southeast Missouri (2-16/0-6 OVC) had no reply for Tennessee Tech's sophomore long-range bomber, nicknamed "Serbian Sugar," as he drained seven 3-pointers in a first half rainstorm and had 25 points at the intermission.
Tennessee Tech (13-6/5-1 OVC) opened a gaping 51-21 lead by halftime, then emptied the bench over the final 20 minutes on the way to a 91-55 Ohio Valley Conference victory in Eblen Center Saturday night.
Jugovic, who was within one trey of tying the school record, attempted just one more shot in limited second-half action and finished the night with 27 points. Anthony Morse added 15 points on 6-for-7 accuracy and Mason Ramsey scored 10. Ramsey made his first career start, filing in for Ryan Martin who was injured in the last game and played just six minutes against SEMO.
Another school record that was threated came when Torrance Rowe collected 12 assists, but the senior also saw little court time after halftime in the lopsided affair. He had five point and six rebounds.
Tech shot nearly 60 percent in the opening half, including 10-for-20 from long range, to open the huge lead. The Golden Eagles defense limited SEMO to 23.5 percent shooting in the first 20 minutes.
The Redhawks finished the night hitting 33 percent, including 3-for-22 from long distance.
Trey Kellum topped SEMO with 18 points and five rebounds, hitting 8-for-12 from the field. Tony Anderson also reached double figures with 10 points, while Jaylin Stewart posted eight points and the same number of rebounds.
Tech roared out to a 12-0 lead, and Jugovic hit four of his first five 3-pointers to push the difference to 26-9 with 12:09 to play. The lead ballooned to 35 points with two minutes left in the half, 51-16 on a layup by Morse.
The largest Tech margin of the night came at 39 points when Savonte Frazier's 3-pointer made it 88-49 with 1:47 to play in the game.
The win bumped Tech's record at home this season to 10-0, the best start in Eblen Center since a 13-0 beginning to the 2004-05 season. It also improved the all-time Tech record at home against Southeast Missouri to 21-5.
Now the Golden Eagles head out on the OVC's most notorious road trip, nicknamed "Death Valley," with stops at Morehead State on Thursday night and Eastern Kentucky Saturday.
