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LOGAN, Utah.—Morehead State men’s basketball fell just short of pulling off an upset over Utah State Monday night. MSU fell 79-72 to the Aggies in game two of the Basketball Travelers Invitational at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, where USU has been nearly unbeatable in the past few seasons.
Trailing by eight with 1:29 left, senior Maze Stallworth hit a pair of free throws and sophomore Steve Peterson drilled a left-wing 3-pointer, negating a single Utah State free throw and pulling within four. Another single charity toss made the USU advantage five, but junior Kenneth Faired scored a lay-up to pull the Eagles within three with 17 seconds to play. Morehead State was unable to score in its last two possessions and the Aggies sunk their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.
"Our kids competed and gave us a chance to win against a team that was ranked number 24 in the nation in one preseason publication,” Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall said.
The close game capped a second-half comeback by Morehead State, who had trailed by 15 points with 13 minutes to play. A 14-4 momentum shift in the Eagles’ favor came when MSU used several different weapons, getting scoring from Faried, Peterson, Stallworth, sophomore Terrance Hill and junior Demonte Harper in that stretch.
Peterson could not miss, hitting 7-of-7 and 2-of-2 at the line to lead MSU with a career-high 16 points. Faried scored 14 points and Harper and Hill each had 12 points. Harper added a team-high four assists.
The Eagles (4-5), who struggled to score in the first half, shooting just 33 percent, turned on the jets in the second half, sinking 20-of-30 for 66.7 percent. The MSU bench outscored the Aggie bench 28-13.
The slow first-half start allowed Utah State to take a 15-4 lead after a 3-pointer by Tyler Newbold eight minutes into the half. The Aggies threatened to extend the lead further, but Peterson drilled the first of his two triples to spark a 12-3 MSU run, with seven of the 12 coming courtesy of Peterson. The Eagles pulled within one on a 3-pointer by Hill before USU pushed the lead out to eight, the margin at halftime.
“They started the game in fine fashion,” Tyndall said. “But we battled back and I thought Steve Peterson played really well. I thought that we rebounded the ball pretty well, they are just so efficient offensively. Coach [Stew] Morrill’s teams are always some of the best offensive teams in the nation.”
Tai Wesley and Nate Bendall each had 18 points and Tyler Newbold finished with 15 to lead Utah State (7-4). Wesley also had eight rebounds and Jared Quayle added seven assists.
The Eagles will play Weber State Tuesday at 7:30 pm ET on day two of the three-day tournament. Utah State, who had lost to Long Beach State prior to Monday’s game, will face Cal State Fullerton at 10:05 pm ET.
“I knew that they would come out ready to go,” Tyndall said of Utah State. “Very seldom do they lose in their home arena the night after a loss.”
