COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Ray'Sean Taylor scored 28 points, Brian Taylor II added 19 points for the Cougars, who took over sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference thanks to a 75-58 win at Tennessee Tech Thursday.
The Cougars improved to 10-4 in the OVC and 17-8 overall while sweeping the season series from the Golden Eagles.
SIUE's 10 wins established a new program high for OVC wins. The Cougars now lead Morehead State, Little Rock and Southeast Missouri by one-half game with six games to play in the regular season.
Tennessee Tech fell to 12-12 and 7-6 in the OVC.
Tornado warnings in Cookeville forced the game to start two hours after original start time.
Once the game began, it took little time for SIUE to get going. The Cougars used an 8-0 run to lead 10-4 and force a Tennessee Tech timeout with 15:59 to play in the first. A three-pointer from Ray'Sean Taylor extended the lead to 13-4.
The Golden Eagles used a run of their own to pull ahead 16-15 with 9:19 before halftime. The Cougars used another run to get back on top. SIUE led 36-27 with the ball and time expiring ahead of halftime. Following a timeout, Ray'Sean Taylor buried his fifth three-pointer of the half just before the halftime buzzer to send SIUE to break with a 12-point lead.
The Cougars quickly pushed the lead to 17 points in the second half and never trailed again in the game.
Tennessee Tech got as close as eight points, but never any closer. A Brian Taylor free throw with 59 seconds left gave SIUE its largest lead at 75-57.
Ray'Sean Taylor finished 10-18 from the field overall and 7-10 from three-point range to lead all scorers. Brian Taylor was 9-11 overall. Kyle Thomas added 10 points and Declan Dillon scored eight points. Ring Malith pulled down 14 rebounds and added four points for the Cougars.
The Cougars shot 57 percent in the second half and 52 percent (33-63) for the game.
JuJaun Nichols led Tennessee Tech with 16 points.
SIUE limited Tennessee Tech to just 41 percent shooting for the game. The Golden Eagles came into the game averaging 9.7 three-pointer per game, but finished with just three in 19 attempts.
SIUE returns to First Community Arena Thu., Feb. 13 to face UT Martin.
