NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Ian Clark scored 22 points and Blake Jenkins added 21 as Belmont held off Eastern Kentucky 83-76 Thursday night in a contest between two of the three undefeated Ohio Valley Conference teams.
The Bruins (14-4, 5-0) won their fifth straight game and share the league lead with Tennessee State (5-0).
Belmont led by as many as 17 and 33-24 at halftime. But the Colonels opened the second half with a 17-6 spurt, including four 3-pointers, to lead 41-39 with 17:02 remaining
The lead changed hands five more times, with Belmont using a 12-0 run to pull ahead 77-69 with 3:26 left. Mike DiNunno, whose season-high 24 led Eastern Kentucky (14-4, 4-1), hit back-to-back treys to get within two with 2:38 remaining, but the Colonels couldn't make another basket and saw their four-game winning streak end.
Eastern Kentucky shot 12 of 36 from long range while Belmont was 8 of 20.
| Scoreboard | |||
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
| Eastern Kentucky (14-4) | 24 | 52 | 76 |
| Belmont (14-4) « | 33 | 50 | 83 |
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| Eastern Kentucky Colonels | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| E. Stutz, F | 18 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| D. Muff, F | 8 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| M. DiNunno, G | 39 | 7-14 | 6-6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 24 |
| C. Walden, G | 29 | 2-5 | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| T. Johnson, G | 21 | 3-6 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| M. Lewis | 26 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| O. Williams | 23 | 4-8 | 0-0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| T. Knipp | 22 | 5-9 | 0-0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| J. Johnson | 6 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| R. Parsons | 4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R. Stenzel | 4 | 0-1 | 3-3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Totals | 26-54 | 12-14 | 19 | 13 | 24 | 76 | |
| 48.1% | 85.7% | ||||||
| Belmont Bruins | |||||||
| STARTERS | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| T. Noack, F | 32 | 2-5 | 4-6 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| B. Jenkins, F | 25 | 8-9 | 5-6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| I. Clark, G | 37 | 7-10 | 3-4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| K. Johnson, G | 33 | 4-13 | 7-8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| J. Mann, G | 33 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 5 |
| BENCH | M | FG | FT | TR | A | PF | PTS |
| B. Baker | 13 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| R. Chamberlain | 13 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| C. Bradshaw | 11 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| A. Barnes | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 28-54 | 19-24 | 38 | 15 | 13 | 83 | |
| 51.9% | 79.2% | ||||||
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