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MOREHEAD, Ky.—For the first time in two years, a Morehead State-Austin Peay men’s basketball game was decided by more than three points.
The Eagles placed all five starters in double figures en route to a 69-56 win over Ohio Valley Conference rival Peay Saturday night at Johnson Arena.
Morehead State made a strong defensive statement, holding the OVC’s second-ranked scoring offense 20 points below their average and the league’s leading scorer, Tyshwan Edmondson, to nine points, 10 points under his per game average. APSU shot 35.1 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from long range, both well below its season averages.
“We knew we were in for a battle. I thought our guys did a very good job, in particular on Tyshwan Edmondson,” Tyndall said. “We did a good job limiting them to one shot and 10 offensive rebounds, but they’ve been averaging 13.”
MSU won its second straight over a league-leading team and third straight overall to pull within a game of first place at 7-4 in OVC play and 15-8 overall. The previous four meetings between the teams have been at most three-point affairs with three of those going to overtime.
“Every time we play Austin Peay, we know it’s going to be a hard-fought game,” Tyndall said. They’re very well coached and they’re disciplined and this year they’re arguably the most talented team in our league.”
Kenneth Faried led the Eagles with 17 points and 16 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season and the 75th of his career, moving him ahead of David Robinson of Navy and Keith Lee of Memphis.
Terrance Hill finished with 14 points and Demonte Harper and Ty Proffitt each had 11. Drew Kelly was two rebounds shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Harper also had a game-high four steals.
The Eagles shot 50 percent from the field, scoring 42 points in the paint to Austin Peay’s 28. MSU also dominated the glass, 44-25, grabbing nearly as many offensive boards (13) and Peay had on the defensive end (15).
John Fraley led the Govs with 15 points and Justin Blake had 10 points. Edmondson had a game-high four assists and Will Triggs had a team-high six rebounds.
An early 8-2 Morehead run gave the Eagles a cushion in the first half, but Austin Peay stayed within range, and cut a 10-point MSU lead to five with a Blake 3-pointer and a couple of free throws. Proffitt responded by swishing a couple of free throws and scoring on a layup, and Hill sandwiched a triple in between Proffitt’s points to turn the tide. The Govs chipped away at the 12-point MSU lead, getting it to four on an Edmondson 3-pointer, before a tip-in by Faried at the buzzer made it 32-26 at halftime.
The Eagles shot 48.1 percent from the field in the first half, but held Austin Peay to 34.6 percent shooting, including keeping Edmonson to just five points.
Morehead State got the lead back to 10 early in the second half, but a dunk by Fraley and back-to-back 3-pointers by Blake got Austin Peay within two. The Eagles fired right back with a triple from Hill, a monster alley-oop dunk by Faried and a short jumper by Harper to quickly get the lead back to nine.
Tyrone Caldwell hit a trey to cut it to six, but that was as close as the Govs got the rest of the way. Austin Peay stayed within striking range, never trailing by more than 10 until MSU sunk its free throws in the final minute to make the final score the Eagles largest margin of the game.
The Eagles will make a two-game OVC road swing next, traveling to Jacksonville State Thursday for an 8:45 p.m. Eastern tip-off. MSU will then travel to Tennessee Tech Saturday.
