BOX SCORE (HTML)
BOX SCORE (PDF)
MOREHEAD, Ky - Morehead State clinched a second place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference and tied the team record for OVC wins in a season, defeating rival Eastern Kentucky 77-64 in front of more than 5,000 fans at Johnson Arena on Wednesday night.
“I thought our team played extremely hard, especially in the first half. Our team fed off the fans. We had over 5,000 fans tonight and I’m extremely proud of that,” said coach Donnie Tyndall.
MSU (19-8; 13-3 OVC) recorded 13 conference wins for just the second time in school history, equaling the 13 OVC victories earned by the 2002-03 team. The second-place finish is also the best OVC finish since that 2002-03 team tied for first place. The Eagles are now one win shy of a second consecutive 20-win season, which would mark the first time in school history men's basketball has had back-to-back 20-win seasons.
Morehead led by as many 26 points partway through the second half, and the Eagles dominated the glass in the game 45-28.
Kenneth Faried recorded his 20th double-double (15 points, 16 rebounds) of the season and senior
Maze Stallworth knocked down four triples in route to a team-high 20 points. Sophomore
Steve Peterson just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Junior
Demonte Harper finished with 11 points.
“We rebounded the ball so well,” said Tyndall.
MSU jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game, largely thanks to Faried, who nearly had a double-double in the stretch totaling seven points and nine rebounds.
The Colonels (18-10; 10-6 OVC) responded by scoring six of the next eight points to decrease the deficit to 11-8 and force a Tyndall timeout with 13:54 remaining in the half. It was all Eagles from there and led by strong defense the Eagles went on 17-4 run over the next 5:19 to take a 15 point lead. Morehead State held Justin Stommes to four points and Papa Oppong scoreless. Stommes and Oppong average a combined 26 points per game for the Colonels.
“Morehead’s defense threw us out of sync and we never recovered,” said EKU coach Jeff Neubauer.
MSU continued to roll on the offensive end, eventually stretching the lead to 41-20 on a nifty
Les Simmons fast break reverse layup with 2:40 remaining in the half. A Simmons three-pointer at the buzzer capped the half and gave MSU a 20-point 45-25 halftime lead.
The Eagles dominated all aspects of the half, outrebounding the Colonels 27-9, shooting 56.3 percent from the field, 58.3 percent from behind the arc and holding EKU to 32.1 percent from the field and just 20.0 percent from three. The Colonels came into the contest averaging 10 treys a game, but were held to just two in the first half.
Spencer Perrin made the opening deuce of the second half to drop the MSU lead to 18 before an old-fashioned three-point play by Harper and Stallworth’s third trey of the game pushed the Eagle lead to 24, 51-27. A Harper longball following a EKU free throw stretched the MSU lead to 54-28, its largest advantage of the game.
It was another strong shooting night for Stallworth, who went 4-for-7 from downtown.
“I feel great. The rim is like an ocean, and all I have to do is throw a rock in it,” said Stallworth. “I give credit to my teammates. All I have to do is stand there at the three-point line, they drive and give the ball to me, so I really owe it to them.”
EKU was able to battle the lead back to 20 several times, but could get no closer until two Dayvon Ellis freebies made the score 64-46 with 7:07 to play in the half. The two rivals largely traded baskets and free throws for the rest of the game before the Colonels strung together some baskets at the end, leading to the 13-point final margin.
EKU’s Josh Taylor led all scorers in the game with 21 points, with four three-pointers. Ellis also scored in double-digits for the Colonels with 13 points.
The Eagles hit the road for the ESPN BracketBuster on Saturday, taking on Illinois State in Normal, Ill. at 5:05 p.m. ET.
