The Tennessee Tech men’s basketball team can take a breath of relief as the Golden Eagles’ 4-game losing streak was broken Saturday by a narrow 62-60 win at Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau.
The win bumps Tech to 6-19 overall with a 3-9 Ohio Valley Conference record. SEMO drops to 1-11 in the OVC while Tech sits in a 3-way tie with UT Martin (7-16, 3-9) and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (6-19, 3-9) for ninth in the conference.
SEMO never led in the contest, even after tying the score at 60-60 with one minute, 40 seconds remaining. Instead, Tech forced the Redhawks into a missed 3-pointer with 37 seconds left, and freshman Dane Quest knocked down the game-winning free throws.
“We worked really hard on the play from the end of the Tennessee State game in practice. This wasn’t exactly the same play, but we came up with the stop,” TTU head coach John Pelphrey said. “That’s one of those situations where things weren’t going well for us, but we stepped up and made the plays we needed to win it. That’s very positive for our team, our program, and something to build confidence off.”
Most of the game didn’t have nearly as much pressure as the final minutes with Tech holding dominant leads throughout the middle. SEMO came back from an 8-point deficit with seven minutes left in the first half, but the Golden Eagles finished the period on a 14-4 run to take a 37-26 lead into the locker room.
Tech was able to keep its 7-11-point lead in tact until the final 10 minutes of the game, but 10 straight SEMO points cut the deficit to two points at 48-46 with 8:37 on the clock. From there, the teams battled back-and-forth until the 60-60 tie.
“We’re still a young basketball team with a lot of self-inflicted wounds, and the second half was a totally different game from the first half,” Pelphrey said.
“In the first half, we held (SEMO) to 26 points, and I thought we did really well defensively for the most part.”
Most of the team stats were nearly identical with the exception of SEMO winning the turnover battle 18-14 and Tech pulling down more rebounds at 34-29. Amadou Sylla controlled the boards with seven rebounds.
An unfamiliar face led the scoring for Tech as Garrett Golday put up a career-high 13 points.
Most of his help came from Jr. Clay with 11 points, but Keishawn Davidson and Darius Allen each added eight. Davidson also dished out four assists.
“We’ve seen this stuff from (Golday) in practice, and tonight, we don’t win the game without him doing what he did,” Pelphrey said. “He got post catches, stayed on balance, got himself to the middle of the floor, shot with both hands, and he was a nice low post presence. His challenge now is can he duplicate this?”
Up next, the Golden Eagles return home for a OVC doubleheader Thursday. The Tech men tip off against Jacksonville State at 6 p.m.
2020-02-09 06:06:00Z
http://www.herald-citizen.com/stories/tech-men-slip-by-semo,40283
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