True team effort in Edwardsville nets hefty road win for Tech
February 22, 2011

True team effort in Edwardsville nets hefty road win for Tech

Thirteen Golden Eagles saw action on the court in Tuesday night’s game against the Cougars of SIU-Edwardsville, 11 of whom scored points in Tennessee Tech’s 92-69 win on the road.

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Thirteen Golden Eagles saw action on the court in Tuesday night's game against the Cougars of SIU-Edwardsville, 11 of whom combined to log 92 points in Tennessee Tech's 92-69 win on the road.

The Cougars started off the game with a quick three to give them the first points of the game, but the Golden Eagles responded with a tip-in by Alfred Jones and a steal that transitioned into a lay-in by Jud Dillard to give Tech their first lead of the game, 4-3, and they never looked back.

Their hold on the game narrowed to one point only one other time, with 16:06 left on the clock, before the Golden Eagles went on a 36-10 run over the remainder of the half to stretch their lead out to the largest of the first half, 27 points, with 2:26 left on the clock.

Seven players put together the first 49 points of the game for Tech, led by Jud Dillard with 10 points and followed closely by Kevin Murphy with 9 and Zac Swansey, Alfred Jones and Dennis Ogbe with seven points apiece.

Cornelius Chatt, who went for 30 on the night for the Cougars, had eight of SIUE's 26 first-half points. Mitchell Anthony scored his six points of the game within the final two minutes of the half to help the Cougars chip away at Tech's lead, and Chatt's layup with one second left in the half made the score 49-26 headed into the locker room.

Tech continued to dominate, especially in the paint, throughout the second half, outscoring SIUE 36-16 down low. Dillard added two more points but pulled down 10 rebounds total on the game to notch his second consecutive double-double. Murphy chipped in with nine more points to make it 18 on the day to lead Tech, while Swansey with 13 and Jones and Ogbe with 11 each joined in with double figure scoring performances.

The Cougars, put on a 15-8 run fueled by Chatt with 10 points over the course of about seven minutes from 18:26 – 11:38 in the second half. The run cut the Golden Eagles' lead to the lowest of the half, 17 points, before Bassey Inameti's layup stretched it back out to their largest lead of the game, 28 points, with 7:03 left on the clock.

Tech never led by less than 23 for the final seven minutes, and Chatt's final two points of the game with 35 seconds left on the clock left the final score sitting in favor of the Golden Eagles, 92-69.

Nikola Bundalo joined Chatt, who finished with 30 points and two boards in double-figure scoring with 11 points on the night, and also added two rebounds. 

On the game, Tech shot a combined 68.5% (37-54) from the floor for a new season high and scored 62 points in the paint to SIUE's 26. 

The Golden Eagles will head back to Cookeville to their final regular season game of 2011 on Saturday, when they'll face off against the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State. The first 300 fans who visit Eblen Center wearing PURPLE will be admitted free. Please call the Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center (931-372-3940) for more details.