COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE men's basketball clinched its fourth consecutive trip to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 78-77 road win at Tennessee Tech Thursday.
SIUE improved to 16-12 overall and 9-6 in the OVC, matching the school record for OVC wins set last season. The four straight tournament bids also is a first at SIUE.
The win is only the second for SIUE in nine all-time trips to Tennessee Tech.
"That is a big win for us right there," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. We came down here and got ours."
Despite leading for more than 32 minutes in the game, the Cougars were forced to hold off the Golden Eagles down the stretch.
SIUE led by seven at halftime and built its lead to as many as 13 points (59-46) with 12:30 left in the game. Tennessee Tech battled and tied the game at 65 on a three-pointer by Jayvis Harvey with 6:00 to play. The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the second half when Josiah Davis grabbed a steal at mid-court and then finished with a dunk to put TTU up 70-68.
Ray'Sean Taylor knocked down one of two free throws in two separate trips to the line in the game's final 13 seconds to put SIUE up 78-75. Tennessee Tech got the ball back with five seconds to play. Davis brought the ball across the timeline, where he was double-teamed and then fouled before he had a chance for a game-tying three-pointer. Davis hit both free throws for the final margin.
"That's a team that is thinking the game right there," Barone said. "We bottled (Davis) up at half court. He turned his back, and then we fouled him. It was smart and we executed."
SIUE connected on 30-59 (51 percent) of its shots for the game and hits 9-23 (39 percent) of its three-point attempts.
Taylor led four SIUE players in double figures with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He went 5-10 from three-point range. It marked Taylor's second consecutive 20-point game and the 24th of his career at SIUE. Damarco Minor and Shamar Wright each scored 15 points and Lamar Wright added 10 points. Lamar Wright led SIUE with eight rebounds as SIUE outrebounded Tennessee Tech 32-31.
"I am really proud of our guys for making enough plays down the stretch to put us in position to win," Barone added. "We lost the lead, but we didn't hang our head."
Davis led Tennessee Tech with 24 points. Harvey added 23 for the Golden Eagles.
SIUE stays on the road to face Tennessee State in Nashville Saturday afternoon. The Tigers also are 9-6 in OVC play. The two teams are tied for fifth in the league.
