By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team is back in the Hooper Eblen Center for some more Ohio Valley Conference action Thursday evening, playing host to Southeast Missouri in a 7:30 p.m. CT affair. The evening will serve as Academic Excellence Night, celebrating the academic achievements of all Golden Eagle student-athletes.
The action can be followed live via radio with Roger Ealey and Frank Harrell on the call on 106.1 The Eagle while Dylan Vazzano and Steve Smith will provide video coverage of the contest on ESPN+.
Thursday's match-up marks the 62nd in program history between Tech and Southeast Missouri. The Golden Eagles own a 39-22 advantage in the series, including a dominant, 26-5 lead when competing in the Hoop. The two sides have traded victories over the last eight match-ups, with Tech boasting the last winning streak in the series with three straight dubs in 2020.
During last year's first meeting, a Jan. 13 tilt in Cookeville, the purple and gold dominated the second half on the way to a 70-59 victory. Daniel Egbuniwe delivered a double-double in the contest, securing 14 points and team-highs of 10 rebounds, and five assists.
In the rematch in Cape Girardeau on Feb. 8, SEMO used an electric opening stanza to all but put the game away, using a 49-28 first-half advantage to pick up an 88-69 win on its home floor. Rodney Johnson Jr. turned in 14 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench in the tilt.
Southeast Missouri enters Thursday's contest following a difficult home loss at the hands of Little Rock on Tuesday. The Trojans edged the Redhawks 73-71, with Jonathan Lawson hitting a go-ahead jumper with 1.1 seconds to play.
SEMO trailed 13-0 right out of the gate, but tied things back up thanks to a 15-2 run. In the second half, the Redhawks held Little Rock without a field goal for more than seven minutes, slowly pecking away at another double-digit deficit, but the Trojans came out on top with the game-winner.
Tech takes on the Redhawks after suffering its first loss of the new year, with SIUE snapping the Cookeville crew's five-game winning streak. The Cougars limited the purple and gold to its lowest, first-half point total of the year and went on to secure a 67-59 win on their home floor.
SIUE held the Golden Eagles a season-low six makes from beyond the arc, with Tech using a 17-for-21 display at the free-throw line to stay in the ball game. The purple and gold shot just 32.1 percent for the contest, the team's second-lowest mark behind the Vanderbilt game, and a 22.2 percent clip from downtown, the lowest percentage of the season.
Junior guard Ray Glasgow paced the purple and gold with a brilliant effort in 20 minutes off the bench, finishing 5-for-7 from the floor and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe on his way to 19 points and six rebounds. Fellow junior guard Jaylon Johnson dropped in 16 points, including a trio of triples, while mixing in three steals.
Junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe turned in seven points and a team-high seven rebounds while sophomore forward JaJuan Nicholls dropped in six points and five boards. SIUE's Ray'Sean Taylor led all scorers with a game-high 25 points.
Photo by Jim Dillon
