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MOREHEAD, Ky.—Kenneth Faried’s 23-point, 23-rebound double-double wasn’t enough. Morehead State needed a late second-half rally too.
Faried led the Eagles to a 72-65 come-from-behind win over Tennessee State Thursday night in an Ohio Valley Conference game at Johnson Arena. MSU trailed from the first basket until the 2:55 mark of the second half, outscoring TSU 30-9 in the final 12 and a half minutes.
“Last eight minutes I thought our press took its toll, wore them down a little bit and fortunately that’s when they started to missing jump shots late in the game,” MSU coach Donnie Tyndall said. “I thought offensively we were pretty efficient, especially in the last 12 minutes of the game.”
The Eagles started the rally after Patrick Miller hit a three to put TSU up nine with 6:12 to play. A jumper by Drew Kelly sparked the run. Faried then stole the ball at midcourt and dished it off to Ty Proffitt, who scored a layup. A pair of free throws by Faried made it a three-point game, the closest it had been since the 18:06 mark in the first half.
After TSU hit a free throw, Proffitt drilled a corner 3-pointer to make it a one point game and Harper completed the comeback, with a bucket that gave MSU its first lead of the game. Goodman then hit a triple and Faried swished two freebies for a six-point Morehead State lead. After a layup by Wil Peters, the Eagles hit three more free throws to make the final margin seven.
The win avenged an overtime loss in Nashville in December and improved the Eagles to 14-8 overall and 6-4 in a tight OVC race. MSU is also 11-1 at home this year having won 25 of the past 26 games in Johnson Arena. The Tigers, who entered the game tied for first in the OVC, fell to 7-3 in league play and 10-10 overall.
“It’s a huge win and it’s a must win if we’re going to stay in contention for a top-four seed,” Tyndall said. “Our goal is certainly to get one of those top four seeds and that was a nice step tonight.”
Proffitt finished with a career-high 15 points and Demonte Harper tallied 14 points. Kelly and Lamont Austin had a team-high three assists and Sam Goodman pulled down eight rebounds.
Faried’s 23 rebounds were a season high and just one board short of equaling his career mark of 24. The senior also had three blocks and moved into a tie in the NCAA record books for 10th all-time with 74 career double-doubles, bringing him even with Keith Lee of Memphis and Navy’s David Robinson. He also passed Nevada’s Pete Padgett on the NCAA career rebounding list, moving into the top five of players whose career began after 1973 with 1,477 boards. Faried is also one spot out of the top five in scoring all-time at MSU, passing Brett Roberts with 1,791 points to move into sixth all-time.
“[Faried] played arguable one of his better games since he’s been here, Tyndall said. “He had a will and a passion to win. Every time out, even when things weren’t going our way, he was talking, communicating, trying to lead our team. He played fantastic.”
Tennessee State couldn’t miss in the first half, hitting 56 percent of its shots, including a blistering 75 percent from three-point range. Kenny Moore and Robert Covington were both 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. The Tigers scored nine of the first 11 points to establish a quick lead and got the lead as high as 12 in less than seven minutes.
The Eagles chipped away at the lead and got it down to five twice, once on a layup by Faried and the second time on a dunk by the senior center with 3:58 left in the half. A 3-pointer by Jacquan Nobles before intermission made it 42-33 at the break.
“Tennessee State obviously is a very good team,” Tyndall said. “They’re long, they’re athletic and they score it from all five positions on the floor. I thought the first half we weren’t bad defensively, they just made shot after shot.”
Moore led the Tigers with 16 points and Miller finished with 11. Both players had four rebounds. Covington scored 10 points and a team-high six rebounds. TSU equaled Faried with 23 rebounds, but three of those were team rebounds. The Tigers’ individual rebounding totaled 20.
The Eagles will look for redemption from another December overtime loss Saturday when they host league-leading Austin Peay Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
