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MOREHEAD, Ky.—Morehead State forced two key turnovers with under 30 seconds to play to turn back Binghamton and win its 21st straight home game, a 80-74 victory over the non-conference Bearcats Thursday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles had two players tally over 20 points in
Kenneth Faried, who finished with 23 to lead all scorers, and
Demonte Harper who tallied 22. It was the eighth and fifth 20-point games this season from the two players respectively. Faried also had 12 rebounds for the 69th double-double of his career.
Following a 3-pointer by Chretien Lukusa that pulled BU within two, Morehead State’s
Sam Goodman had a pass stolen by Mahamoud Jabbi that gave the Bearcats a chance to tie or take the lead. MSU’s pressure defense forced Lukusa to double dribble, giving the ball back to the Eagles and compelling the Bearcats to foul with nine seconds left. After Harper swished the free throws, Goodman redeemed himself by picking off the half-court inbounds pass from Greer Wright, taking away BU’s final opportunity to tie.
Binghamton (3-9) put a scare into the homestanding Eagles (8-6) in the teams’ first-ever meeting. Trailing by 11 with 6:09 to play, the Bearcats went on a 10-2 run to pull within three on a jumper by Wright, who scored six of Binghamton’s 10 during the run and led BU with 22 points and six rebounds. MSU’s defensive stand along with made free throws (4-for-4 in the final 10 seconds) preserved the perfect home record (7-0) this season for Morehead State.
“I thought the first half they did a great job of making some tough contested threes, which enabled them in the second half to drive the basketball because our zone was so extended,” MSU coach
Donnie Tyndall said. “To their credit they’ve got a nice offensive team they did some nice things.”
Binghamton shot 61.9 percent in the second half to make the run while sinking 16-of-19 second half freebies. The Eagles countered with 56.5 percent in the second half and hit 56.6 for the game. It was the second straight game MSU got double-figure scoring from four of its five starters as
Terrance Hill scored 17 and Goodman added 10. Faried had three steals and
Ty Proffitt dished out four assists.
The Bearcats started hot and had a six point lead four minutes into the game on 5-of-6 from the field. They got up by as much as eight on a four-point play by Moussa Camara, who was fouled while making a triple. Harper got five of the eight back very quickly, hitting a 3-pointer and a layup following a
Lamont Austin steal. Harper’s five points started a 19-2 Morehead State run that turned the deficit into a nine-point advantage. Hill and Harper each contributed seven points to the run. MSU lead by as much as 11 in the waning minutes of the first half, and settled on 10 for halftime.
Binghamton had three players join Wright in double figures. Jabbi had 15 and Lukusa scored 12. Taylor Johnston added 10 points. Wright and Jimmy Gray each had four assists.
“To their credit they played very hard,” Tyndall said. “I think our team played very hard in the first half, and not as hard as we’d like them to play in the second half. We’ve got to shore that up against a very good College of Charleston team.”
The Eagles play the third game of a five-game home stand Sunday against College of Charleston. It will be MSU’s first-ever meeting with the 8-4 Cougars, who are ranked 15th in the Mid-Major Top 25. Tip-off is set for 4:30 following a 2 p.m. women’s game against Longwood.
