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MOREHEAD, Ky.— Senior
Brandon Shingles and sophomore
Steve Peterson picked a good night to have career performances.
Peterson and Shingles both had career highs and were two of four Morehead State players in double figures, leading the Eagles to an 84-75 win over Tennessee Tech Saturday night at Johnson Arena.
Junior
Kenneth Faried had 26 points, one off his career high, and Peterson finished with 20 points, setting a new career high by four points. Junior
Demonte Harper scored 17 points and Shingles had 13 points, eclipsing his previous career high of 11. Faried also pulled down 17 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double and 18th overall.
It was Morehead State’s (17-7; 11-2 OVC) second straight win and 13th in the last 14 games. It was also MSU’s fifth straight win over the Golden Eagles. Morehead State shot over 50 percent from the field for the second straight game, hitting 27-of-52 for 51 percent.
Leading for most of the second half, Morehead State got the lead to eight on a stick-back dunk by Faried, but couldn’t shake the pesky Golden Eagles. MSU eventually drove the advantage to double digits until a traditional three-point play by Shingles.
TTU whittled away at the lead, closing to within three with a 3-pointer by Kevin Murphy and a pair of free throws by freshman Jud Dillard, who led the Golden Eagles with 25 points. A 6-2 Morehead run, spurred by two lay-ups by Shingles pushed the lead to seven and the Eagles hit their free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
Early offensive struggles by MSU allowed Tech to lead for the first 15 minutes of the first half, pushing it as high five on a 3-pointer by senior Frank Davis. A lay-up by Peterson and a triple by Shingles erased the Tech advantage and sparked a 12-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Harper, gave MSU a 30-23 lead with a little over three minutes left. A pair of 3-pointers from Davis helped Tech close the gap to two at halftime, 34-32.
“These are the game you have to win,” MSU coach
Donnie Tyndall said. “There are no easy games in this league. They have great players and they’re well coached and I think tonight was a good example of that.”
Dillard scored his 25 on impressive 9-of-12 shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds for a double-double. Davis was 7-for-9 from beyond the arc, tallying 21 points and Murphy added 16 points for the Golden Eagles (12-12; 6-7 OVC). TTU was also the second straight opponent to score 75 points on Morehead State, who entered the game holding OVC opponents to 61.9 points per game.
The Eagles will make their final OVC road swing of the year next week, travelling to Eastern Illinois for a nationally televised game on ESPNU Thursday at 8:30 pm ET before a Saturday date at Southeast Missouri.
