By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
RICHMOND, Ky. – A track meet more than a basketball game, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team turned in arguably its best offensive performances of the season Saturday night, but the effort went unrewarded as Eastern Kentucky outscored the Golden Eagles, 90-80.
A torrid pace early, the purple and gold were spectacular from downtown in the first half, draining 10-of-19 attempts from beyond 3-point range. Ten of the team's 14 first-half makes came from deep. Overall, Tech drained a season-high 15 triples on 31 tries, the most by the team since last year's victory over Jacksonville State.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the Colonels matched the performance from behind the arc, sinking 16-of-37 attempts. Both sides took their turns on top during the night, with a whopping 14 lead changes featured in a contest that saw the largest lead at just 10 points for EKU with 14:25 to go in the second half.
Tech roared back and took its final lead of the game with under four minutes to play and had the contest tied with 2:49 on the clock, but Eastern Kentucky drilled a pair of triples from the corner on back-to-back possessions to ice the game.
"It was certainly a fun night for the fans watching the game," Tech head coach John Pelphrey said. "Both teams hit 80 points. We knew we were going to have a lot of great opportunities in this game from an offensive standpoint because of the way they play. But tonight, I thought they really shot the lights out of it. We had some breakdowns, but it seemed like they really made us pay for every one of them.
"We made 15 threes in the game and they made 16. You really just have to tip your hat to them. That's one of the better teams in the league right now and they were better than us tonight."
Sophomore point guard Keishawn Davidson tied his career-high showing with 18 points, scoring eight straight during a 9-0 run by the Golden Eagles to put them back in the contest late. He also dished out five assists.
Fellow backcourt mate Jr. Clay turned in yet another spectacular performance, recording his second career double-double with 15 points and 10 assists. He scored in double figures for the 59th time in his career, tying former Tech greats Bobby Porter and Damien Kinloch for 17th all-time in program history.
The Chattanooga native also made a 3-pointer in his 23rd-consecutive contest. With his 15 points, Clay now sits just eight away from becoming the 37th member of Tech's 1,000-point club.
"I thought our guys really competed" Pelphrey expressed. "This weekend, if you just look at the record it doesn't show how well we played, how together we are and how much progress we're making. I'm really proud of the guys and hopefully we'll be able to get a few more defensive stops down the stretch. That's a very talented offensive basketball team."
JUCO transfer Damaria Franklin drilled four triples on his way to 14 points while also hauling in five boards. Graduate transfer Shandon Goldman also connected on four treys, producing 12 points off the bench. Sophomore Dane Quest contributed a career-high nine points with a team-high-tying six boards off the bench as well.
"We've played 13 games now, which is the magic number [to qualify for the NCAA Tournament]," Pelphrey explained. "Congratulations to our athletic department, our President [Dr. Phil Oldham], all the faculty and staff, and all of our health care people for keeping us safe and healthy and for helping to provide these young men with the opportunity to play. There aren't a lot of teams that have played 13 games yet, so I'm really proud of the guys for getting that done."
The Golden Eagles return to Cookeville and the comfort of the Hooper Eblen Center Thursday, Jan. 14 for an in-state battle with Belmont. Tip is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. CT with coverage available on ESPN+ and 106.1 The Eagle.
"We really haven't had a lot of home games," Pelphrey added. "It will be good to get back home, have some good, hard practices on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and see how much improvement we can make, both from a player development side and as a basketball team."
Photo by Steve Fohl, EKU Athletics
