Saturday, January 26

Middle Tennessee 72, WKU 53
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Marcos Knight scored 15 points and Middle Tennessee extended its winning streak to seven games, beating Western Kentucky 72-53 on Saturday.

Neiko Hunter finished with 13 points for the Raiders (18-4, 10-1 Sun Belt Conference). Bruce Massey scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out six assists and had four steals.

Middle Tennessee never trailed in the contest, going into halftime with a 30-23 lead. The Raiders had their lead trimmed to 42-36 in the second half when Western Kentucky's Kevin Kasper knocked down a 3-pointer with 14:01 left.

But Middle Tennessee distanced itself from the Hilltoppers (11-11, 5-6), outscoring them 19-3 over the next seven minutes to claim a 22-point advantage. Massey's layup with 5:43 remaining gave the Raiders a 63-40 lead -- their largest of the game.

Kasper was the only Western Kentucky player to score in double figures with 14 points and four turnovers.

UALR 62, North Texas 57
DENTON, Texas -- Will Neighbour, Josh Hagins and James White scored 11 points apiece and UALR defeated North Texas 62-57 Saturday night.

Neighbour also led UALR with six rebounds and four steals. The win was the third straight for the Trojans (14-9, 8-4 Sun Belt) and gave them a season sweep of the Mean Green.

Jordan Williams led all scorers with 22 points, and Roger Franklin had 20 points and 12 rebounds for North Texas (8-14, 3-8). Tony Mitchell had 13 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for the Mean Green.

The Trojans won the earlier meeting between the schools 67-53 on Jan. 10 in Little Rock, Ark. White was the top scorer for UALR in that game with 16 points.

Troy 71, Louisiana-Monroe 64 (OT)
MONROE, La. -- Hunter Williams scored 15 points to help Troy complete a season sweep of Louisiana-Monroe, beating the Warhawks 71-64 in overtime Saturday in a Sun Belt Conference game.

Emil Jones added 13 and Jeff Mullahey chipped in 10 off the bench for Troy, which defeated Louisiana-Monroe 64-55 on Jan. 10.

Troy (9-12, 4-6), which has beaten Louisiana-Monroe (3-13, 2-8) eight straight times, extended its lead to 10 points, 38-28, on Tevin Calhoun's 3-pointer 3:40 into the second half. But Louisiana-Monroe trimmed the lead to 57-54 before Trent Mackey's 3-pointer with 2 seconds left sent the game into OT.

In overtime, Jones sandwiched two jumpers around an Amos Olatayo layup and Ray Chambers hit a jump shot to give Troy the lead for good, 63-59.

Olatayo led Louisiana-Monroe with 26 points. His layup with 1:51 left in overtime made it 63-61 but Troy outscored Louisiana-Monroe 8-3 the rest of the way.

Arkansas State 63, Florida Atlantic 38
JONESBORO, Ark. -- Brandon Peterson had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Arkansas State held Florida Atlantic to its second-lowest point total in 17 years, defeating the Owls 63-38 Saturday night.

The Red Wolves (12-8, 6-5 Sun Belt) took control from the outset, jumping out to a 15-4 lead en route to a 30-18 halftime advantage. Arkansas State then scored 20 of the first 27 points in the second half to put the game out of reach.

Greg Gantt led Florida Atlantic (10-12, 5-6) with 13 points. The Owls shot just 32 percent from the floor, missed all 10 of their free-throw attempts and committed 21 turnovers. It was their lowest point total since a 79-35 loss to Virginia Tech on Feb. 4, 1995. They also scored 38 points in a 40-38 loss to Arkansas-Little Rock on Jan. 7, 2012.

Marcus Hooten added 14 points for Arkansas State, while Trey Finn and Kelvin Downs each had 11.