The Tennessee State men’s basketball team got a key conference victory Thursday night against SEMO. Although the Tigers only shot 39% (20-51) from the floor and 27% (3-11) they were able to get to the free throw line 42 times, where they connected on 36 of those attempts.
Despite a host of turnovers early, Tennessee State was able to take an early lead and showed the way until Luke Almodovar’s three-pointer put SEMO up 15-13 with 11:23 remaining in the opening half. Tennessee State briefly tied the game at 17, 19, 22, and 24 before a 14-4 burst pushed SEMO’s lead to 38-28 with 1:23 left in the half. TSU scored 5 points in the last 0:41 to cut the lead to 38-33 at halftime.
Falling behind by as much as 9 points, TSU played from underneath, trimming SEMO’s advantage to a single point on multiple occasions. A pair of Antoine Lorick III free throws put the Tigers in front 52-51 with which was their first lead since being up 21-19 at the 8:31 mark of the first half. The contest then featured a trio of ties and a pair of lead changes before another pair of Lorick III free throws put TSU up 61-60 with 6:54 remaining in what turned out to be the game’s final lead change. Over the game’s final minutes, SEMO could draw no closer than 3 points as they went on to secure the 79-71 victory.
Antoine Lorick III led a quartet of Tigers in double figures with 22 points, his second-highest scoring output of the season. Dante Harris also turned in a strong performance with 20 points, his fourth game of the season scoring 20 or more, to go along with 4 assists. Travis Harper II added 18 points and Aaron Nkrumah had a near double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds.
The Tigers conclude the regular season Saturday against UT Martin at 1:00 pm CST. A win will clinch the no.1 spot in the OVC Tournament, a feat not achieved since 1995.
