By GREG MENGELT

MIAMI, Fla. — Three days ahead of its showdown with Florida Atlantic for first place in the Conference USA East Division, Josh Jefferson and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders took care of business with a 71-65 victory over Florida International at Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Thursday.

On the heels of a 30-point outing in a 78-63 win over Charlotte on Sunday, Jefferson had a team-best 15 points on 5 of 13 shooting in Thursday’s triumph. The New Albany graduate made a pair of 3-pointers on nine attempts and finished with four assists, three steals and a pair of rebounds in the victory, which is Middle Tennessee’s fourth straight and ninth win in its last 10 games.

Middle Tennessee led 37-33 at halftime when Jefferson knocked down a 3 with 8 seconds left. The Panthers cut the deficit to 48-47 with 12:42 to go, but the Raiders responded with a 10-0 run, which capped by a Jefferson layup with 6:43 remaining.

Sophomore guard Eli Lawrence added 14 points and junior forward Deandre Dishman had nine points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Raiders, who improve to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in conference play. Middle Tennessee now leads Florida Atlantic by a game and a half atop the East Division after the Owls (15-10, 8-4) dropped a 54-51 decision at West-leading North Texas on Thursday. The Raiders and Owls meet Saturday at 4 p.m.

Florida International junior guard Tevin Brewer led all scorers with 17 points. The Panthers are 14-12 overall, 4-9 in Conference USA and have lost five of their last seven games.

By GREG MENGELT

COLORADO SPRINGS — Boise State continued to show its NCAA worthiness with an 85-59 win over Jake Heidbreder and the Air Force Falcons in Colorado Springs on Wednesday evening.

Heidbreder, an Air Force freshman and former Floyd Central Highlander, was two shy of his career high with 18 points in the loss. He also had three rebounds, including two on the offensive end, and an assist for the Falcons, who fall to 14-10 on the season and 3-10 in the Mountain West conference.

Air Force senior A.J. Walker, who led the Falcons with 19 points and three assists, hit a jumper to tie the game at 23-apiece, but the Broncos responded with a 22-8 run the rest of the half to lead 45-31 at the break.

It was all Boise State after halftime, thanks in large part to senior star Marcus Shaver Jr., who finished with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots. The Broncos shot 68.8 percent from the field (33 for 48), were 10 for 18 from deep (55.6 percent) and made all nine of their free throw attempts. Boise State is now 20-6 overall and 11-2 in the MWC, a half-game ahead of Wyoming and a full game ahead of Colorado State at the top of the standings.

Air Force goes to Wyoming (21-4, 10-2) on Sunday for a 4 p.m. start. The Cowboys, who are a 7-seed in Jerry Palm’s latest bracketology on CBS Sports, had their 6-game winning streak snapped at New Mexico on Tuesday.

By GREG MENGELT

CONWAY, Ark. — Bellarmine moved into a first-place tie in the Atlantic Sun West with a 79-69 victory over Central Arkansas on Wednesday at the Farris Center.

The Knights are now 16-11 overall and 10-3 in conference play. They’re now tied with Jacksonville State (17-9, 10-3), which is Bellarmine’s opponent at Freedom Hall on Sunday at 7 p.m., with three games left in the regular season.

The Knights took the lead for good on a jumper by senior guard CJ Fleming at 14-13 with 8:18 left in the first half, but the Bears didn’t go away. Central Arkansas nearly eliminated a 5-point halftime deficit to get within 32-31 with 17:05 to go the contest.

A 3-pointer by former Providence star Juston Betz kickstarted a 22-12 run that help Bellarmime clinch its third straight win. Betz had a big another night with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. He was 4 for 7 from the field and made three of his four 3-point attempts.

Senior guard Dylan Penn (Evansville/Memorial) led the Knights with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals and Fleming (Cincinnati) contributed 20 points and four boards.

Central Arkansas (8-17, 5-7 A-Sun) was led by freshman guard Camren Hunter, who had 25 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Sunday’s showdown with Jacksonville State will air on ESPN Plus. The Gamecocks had lost two straight before a 78-67 victory at Lipscomb on Wednesday evening.

By GREG MENGELT

NEW ALBANY — In the fourth month of the 2021-22 season, Jeffersonville finally looked like they were supposed to when they were the preseason pick to win the Hoosier Hills Conference and the Seymour Sectional.

The defending sectional champions were 5-9 heading into Wednesday night’s rivalry game at New Albany, but the Red Devils put together their best performance of the season in a 70-58 victory at the Doghouse.

“We feel like we’re starting to turn a corner now,” said Jeffersonville senior Kobe Stoudemire. “We’re playing way better than we were. Getting this win was huge because last year they beat us at home. So it felt good to get a win here.”

Jeff (6-9, 3-3 HHC) is now 83-80 all-time against the Bulldogs. The Red Devils have also won back-to-back games at New Albany for the first time in over 25 years.

“Tonight I thought we improved from last time,” Jeffersonville head coach Andrew Grantz said. “The big thing has just been communicating and trusting each other. … We still have a long way to go. We still have a lot of stuff to clean up. We still have a lot of time to make up that we’ve missed. What I’m really proud of these guys of is that all the craziness we’ve been through so far, that they’ve continued to stay committed. … Last week was the first week that we had a full week (of practice) since November and they came in every day with an attitude to improve every day and that’s all you can ask.”

The rest of the Sectional 15 field probably hoped the Red Devils would never recover from their string of bad luck. Jeff has dealt with a suspension, an illness to its head coach, multiple Covid pauses, a couple of canceled games and multiple snow days in which they aren’t allowed to even practice.

“To me, the team they brought here tonight was a top-10 team,” New Albany coach Jim Shannon said. “I don’t care what’s happened in the rear view mirror. Out of the windshield, I saw a really good team tonight.”

In the first half, Jeff showed off its defense, holding New Albany star Tucker Biven to zero field goals and limiting the Bulldogs to 22 points on 8 of 21 shooting (38.1 percent).

In the second half, Jeff’s offense took over. The Red Devils were 10 for 12 from the field, including 3 of 5 on its 3-point attempts, with no turnovers in the third quarter when they outscored New Albany 27-17 to take control of the contest.

“I was very pleased with their mindset, their attitude tonight to continue to attack,” Grantz said of his squad. “Just happy with them playing to win instead in playing not to lose.”

Stoudemire had four assists in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter. He finished the period with six points on a pair of 3-pointers and with four assists. The Jeff senior, who began high school basketball playing at New Albany, finished with 12 points, six assists and six rebounds in his final game at the Doghouse.

“I was just seeing gaps in the defense and my guys were getting open and knocking down shots,” Stoudemire explained his explosion of assists early in the second half. “It was fun.”

Jeff took an early 14-7 lead thanks to six points from senior Will Lovings-Watts in the first period. However, New Albany senior Jayden Thompson hit a 3 at the first-quarter buzzer to cut the deficit to 14-10 after 8 minutes.

Stoudemire’s first 3 gave Jeff its largest lead at 20-12 with 4:55 left before halftime.

“Kobe Stoudemire’s been stepping up,” Grantz said. “He’s been staying and getting a lot of extra shots up after practice. That paid off for him.”

Junior wing Josten Carter’s fourth dunk of the first half got New Albany within 22-20, but a 3-pointer from Jeff senior Brandon Rayzer-Moore gave Jeff a 27-20 lead at the break.

New Albany trailed 54-39 after three quarters but got back within six at 62-56 after a Biven 3-pointer with 3:22 to go. Biven was quiet in the first half, but scored 16 and nailed four 3-pointers after intermission to keep his team in the game.

A 3-point play by Rayzer-Moore, who finished with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, took back momentum for Jeff. A Rayzer-Moore dunk with 1:45 made the lead an insurmountable 67-56.

“Really hard to extend your defense against that team,” Shannon said. “They’re really athletic, quick. The Stoudemire kid’s highly intelligent. He did a nice job tonight running the floor, getting the ball where it needed to go and defending. You just have to take your hat off to the other team. They were better than we were tonight.”

Biven was the leader for New Albany (10-9, 2-3) in points with 18 and in rebounds with seven. Carter finished with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists and Thompson had 14 points and four boards. The Bulldogs, who are 7-4 at home this season, host Bedford North Lawrence (9-9, 1-4) on Friday before a trip to Evansville to face Central (7-12) on Saturday evening.

“Our kids fought really hard,” Shannon said. “We were in there, obviously, for a half. … It’s no embarrassment to lose to that team.”

Sophomore Brenton Moore had 11 points, all in the second half, and senior Isaiah Florence went 3 for 4 and added seven points for Jeff, which goes to Evansville for a game against Reitz (9-7) on Friday.

The Red Devils have won four of their last five games. A 3-point loss at Jennings County, one of the HHC’s top teams this season, is the only defeat in that span.

“We’ve won four of our last five. It started with Columbus East and we felt like we’ve kind of gotten better every game. Even with the loss to Jennings, we still felt we played better,” Grantz said.

JEFFERSONVILLE 70, NEW ALBANY 58
Jeffersonville 14 13 27 16—70
New Albany 10 12 17 19—58
Jeffersonville (6-9, 3-3 HHC): Tre Singleton 0-0 0-0 0, Will Lovings-Watts 10-17 2-3 22, Kobe Stoudemire 4-6 0-0 12, Isaiah Florence 3-4 0-0 7, Michael Cooper 0-1 2-4 2, Brandon Rayzer-Moore 6-10 2-2 16, Brenton Moore 4-4 2-2 11. Totals 27-42 8-11 70.
New Albany (10-9, 2-3): Josten Carter 4-9 6-8 14, Jeremy Rose 0-1 2-2 2, Tucker Biven 6-13 2-2 18, Chase Loesch 1-3 1-2 3, Jayden Thompson 6-13 0-0 14, Future Brooks 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 20-43 11-14 58.
3-point field goals: Jeffersonville 8-13 (Stoudemire 4-4, Rayzer-Moore 2-3, Moore 1-1, Florence 1-2, Lovings-Watts 0-2, Cooper 0-1); New Albany 7-20 (Biven 4-11, Thompson 2-6, Brooks 1-1, Rose 0-1, Loesch 0-1).
Rebounds: Jeffersonville 20 (Lovings-Watts 6, Stoudemire 6); New Albany 24 (Biven 7).
Assists: Jeffersonville 15 (Stoudemire 6); New Albany 5 (Carter 2).
Steals: Jeffersonville 5 (Lovings-Watts 3); New Albany 4 (Rose 2).
Blocked shots: Jeffersonville 4 (Rayzer-Moore 3); New Albany 2 (Thompson, Carter).
Turnovers: Jeffersonville 6, New Albany 7.
Personal fouls: Jeffersonville 8, New Albany 11.
Fouled out: None.
Technical fouls: None.

By GREG MENGELT

HANOVER — Former New Albany star Isaac Hibbard had season highs of 28 points and 10 assists but it wasn’t enough in Hanover’s 86-81 loss to visiting Transylvania on Wednesday evening.

It’s the Panthers’ first loss at John Collier Arena this season. Hanover (18-4, 14-3 HCAC) had already clinched the conference championship and still has a 4.5 game lead atop the standings with one regular-season game left to play. That’s a 7:30 p.m. start Friday at Mount St. Joseph (10-13, 6-10) in Cincinnati.

In his final home game at Hanover, Hibbard put up 28 points, going 13 for 19 from the field and 1 for 2 from behind the 3-point line, with 10 assists and a couple of rebounds. The Hanover senior played all 40 minutes in the loss.

Junior forward Ty Houston (Union, Ky./Cooper) added 16 points. Noah Williams (Jeffersonville/Christian Academy), also a senior, finished with five points in 16 minutes.

Transylvania (14-8, 9-6 HCAC) shot 70.4 percent (19 of 27) in the first half to build a 44-37 lead at intermission to stop the Panthers’ 3-game winning streak. The Pioneers were led by senior forward Zach Larimore (LaGrange, Ky./Oldham Co.) and freshman forward Hunter Penn (Versailles, Ky./Woodford Co.), who had 21 points apiece.

By GREG MENGELT

KOKOMO — Twenty-fifth ranked IU Kokomo blew past IU Southeast for a 69-48 victory, ending the Grenadiers’ 8-game winning streak in the process.

IUK (26-3, 16-1) will be the top seed in the River States Conference Tournament next week. The Cougars have won the West Division and hold a 2-game lead over Alice Lloyd (24-3, 14-3).

IU Southeast (14-15, 11-6) shot just 34.6 percent (20 for 58) in Tuesday’s loss. Glenn Hill Jr. (Louisville/Southern) and Jared Osborne (Mt. Washington, Ky./Bullitt East) were the only Grenadiers who shot well. Hill finished with 18 points on 9 of 13 shooting, while Osborne added 17 and was 5 for 11 from the floor.

Senior guard Allante Harper (Indianapolis/Warren Central) led IUK with 18 points, while senior forward Desean Hampton (Speedway) had 13 points and 21 rebounds.

IU Southeast closes out its regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. start at Oakland City (11-17, 9-8). The RSC Tournament begins next week at Midway (Ky.).