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LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Morehead State men’s basketball team used a 20-4 first-half run and 19-6 second-half spurt to post a 61-52 win over West Alabama in the TicketCity Legends Classic on Friday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion.
The Division I Eagles improve to 2-3 on the season, while the Division II Tigers slip to 1-4 overall.
“Our kids played with great effort today,” Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We did a nice job defending, but we’re still not rebounding to the level we’re capable of.”
Morehead State went 5-for-5 from the three-point line over the game’s first six minutes and held West Alabama without a field goal for the first nine minutes to open up a 16-point cushion.
Sophomore Drew Kelly scored nine first-half points, while senior Ty Proffitt added eight and senior Terrance Hill contributed seven.
“We made some early shots, got into our press and forced some turnovers,” Tyndall said. “But we let West Alabama back in the game when we started to struggle from the field and our half-court defense wasn’t as good as it needs to be.”
West Alabama cut the deficit to 31-28 less than a minute into the second half, but Morehead State responded by making six consecutive shots to push the lead back to 16.
Hill tossed in 10 points after intermission, while freshman Angelo Warner scored seven.
The Eagles continued to hold a double-figure advantage until the Tigers knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the game’s final minute.
Hill finished with a team-high 17 points for MSU, while Kelly managed 14, Proffitt 11 and Warner 10.
Warner and junior Milton Chavis shared team-high honors with five rebounds apiece, while senior Lamont Austin dished out a season-best five assists for the Eagles.
Morehead State forced 24 turnovers, while committing just 16. The Eagles also registered advantages of 28-13 in points off turnovers, 18-12 in paint points and 19-9 in bench points.
MSU knocked down 40 percent (21-of-53) of its field-goal attempts, while limiting West Alabama to a 35 percent clip (13-of-37) for the tilt.
“Our field-goal defense was pretty good, but we have to rebound the ball,” Tyndall said. “We can’t give opponents second and third shots, like we did today, and expect to win.”
West Alabama junior Ryan Fitch led all scorers with 20 points.
Morehead State continues its five game road trip on Saturday against Princeton at 2 p.m. and Sunday vs. host Bucknell at 4:30 p.m. All games will be played at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa.
“Princeton and Bucknell are great opponents,” Tyndall added. “Both played in the NCAA Tournament a season ago and both return most of their key players. These next two days will be a tall order for us. Our non-conference schedule is very challenging this year, but it will help us down the road in Ohio Valley Conference play.”
