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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State’s Terrance Hill got an open look at a 3-pointer, and he made sure this one went in.
Hill’s triple from the left corner gave the Eagles a three-point lead with 39 seconds left and MSU held on to defeat Murray State 70-65 at Johnson Arena Thursday night. The win halted Murray State’s nation-leading 17-game winning streak. The Eagles extended their OVC home winning streak to 17 games.
The Eagles improved to 20-9 overall and 14-3 in the OVC, compiling back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in school history. The 14 OVC wins also set a school standard for conference wins in a season.
Hill scored 13 points, hitting 4-of-7 treys. Kenneth Faried led the Eagles with 15 points and 11 rebounds for his 21st double-double this season and Peterson led all Eagle players with 16 points. Harper scored eight points and had a team-high eight assists. Ty Proffitt got the start at point guard and hit two key three-pointers while only making two turnovers in 27 minutes.
“Our kids played with a lot of grit. It was obviously a great game," said Eagle coach Donnie Tyndall. "Our team is mentally and physically tough. We have a team of really mature guys.”
Racer guard Isaac Miles led all players with 18 points, while Danero Thomas scored 15. The Racers were just 5-of-21 from three-point range while the Eagles hit 10-of-15 long range shots.
"We have a tremendous amount of respect for Murray State. They are a very, very good team and have shown that they deserve the number one seed in next week's OVC Tournament," Tyndall said.
The Eagles also shot 53 percent for the game and 56 percent in the final half. The Racers held a one-rebound advantage, 29-28, just the second time this season that Morehead has won after being outrebounded.
“I thought the thing we did best in the second half was Demonte Harper driving the ball. He got Kenneth some open dunks,” Tyndall said.
The Eagles led 28-25 at the half, and Ivan Aska started the second half with a layup to bring the Racers to within one at 28-27, but the Eagles put together an 11-2 run to take control. Proffitt knocked down a three-pointer at 17:20 and the Eagles led 39-29.
MSU continued to hold a double digit advantage, holding its largest lead of 47-35 at 13:20 after a Demonte Harper three-pointer.
But the Racers would not go away quietly. With the Eagles on top 60-51, Murray State crept back into the game . Thomas sank a layup with 3:33 left to pull the Racers back to within two at 61-59 and then he grabbed an offensive rebound and got fouled with 3:11 left. Thomas hit only one of the two free throws to make it a one-point game, 61-60.
The Racers had three empty possessions on their next trio of trips down the floor as the Eagles denied the Racers the lead. Peterson hit a free throw with 1:54 remaining and missed the second. However, he came flying off the charity stripe to corral the long rebound. Harper got a close look at a layup with 1:20 left but missed and the Racers’ Miles grabbed the rebound. He hit two free throws to tie the game at 62-62 with 1:14 left.
With a little more than 45 seconds left, MSU had a throw-in from right in front of its bench. Hill tossed it in to Harper who then handed it back to Hill for the game-winning shot.
MSU only committed 14 turnovers in the game and had 15 assists despite playing without the services of OVC assists leader Brandon Shingles.
“The most important thing Ty did tonight was playing 27 minutes with only two turnovers,” said Tyndall. "I'm very proud of how our team came together and won tonight without Brandon Shingles."
The Eagles grabbed an early 9-5 lead with 13:26 left in the first half. Steve Peterson collected an offensive rebound and laid it back in the hole, and Les Simmons went high for a tip-in. Faried followed with a driving layup at 13:59.
The Racers re-gained the lead on an Isaac Miles three-pointer – his second of the game- with 11:17 left, but Terrance Hill answered with a corner pocket triple at 10:45 to give MSU the advantage again.
Isiah Canaan gave the visiting Racers a 20-17 lead on a three-pointer at 5:41 but Maze Stallworth answered the call with a long range trey from the top of the key to tie the game at 20-20 with 4:59 left in the opening half.
Hill buried another three-pointer off a Proffitt assist just 30 seconds later, and Peterson ended a fast break with a triple from the left side to give the Eagles a 26-20 advantage with just more than three minutes remaining.
The Eagles held the 28-25 lead at the half, shooting 50 percent in the first 20 minutes. MSU was 5-of-7 behind the three-point arc. The Racers only hit 3-of-12 treys but did shoot 43 percent. The Eagles became only the fifth team this season to lead Murray State at the half.
The Morehead State men will be back in action Saturday Feb. 27 as they host the UT Martin Skyhawks for the 2009-10 regular season finale. The game tips at 7:30 p.m. in Johnson Arena.
