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LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Morehead State men’s basketball team connected on a season-best 50 percent (20-for-40) from the floor and used an intense full-court press to register a 68-56 victory over Princeton in the TicketCity Legends Classic on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion.
The Eagles improve to 3-3 with their second straight win, while the Tigers slip to 1-5 overall with their third consecutive setback. Both teams played in the NCAA Tournament a season ago.
“That was certainly our best effort this season,” Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall said. “It always feels good when you can get a win over a quality Division I opponent. Princeton is a very good team and I’m sure they’ll win 18 to 22 games this year.”
Senior Terrance Hill led Morehead State with 16 points, while junior Milton Chavis tossed in 12 and senior Lamont Austin posted a career-high 11. The trio combined to go 12-of-18 from the floor, 4-of-4 from long distance and 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.
“You have to attribute this victory to our defense, but we also made some plays on the offensive end that we hadn’t made in our first five games this season,” Tyndall said. “We had nine guys play double-figure minutes, so we were able to keep our rotation fresh.”
The Eagles employed a full-court press most of the contest, which limited Princeton to just 32 percent shooting in the first half (6-of-19) and 38 percent for the afternoon (20-of-53). MSU also forced 16 miscues, which led to 11 fast-break points and 19 points off turnovers.
“Princeton is very efficient with its halfcourt offense, so we wanted to make them work for every inch of the floor,” Tyndall said. “We contested nearly every shot and did a better job rebounding today.”
Morehead State led 20-18 through the first 20 minutes. The opening half saw four ties and three lead changes with neither team leading by more than four points.
The Eagles pushed the advantage to 14 with 13:19 left in the second half. Princeton trimmed the deficit to single digits multiple times down the stretch, but MSU drilled its final 10 free-throw attempts to secure the win.
“It was good to see us shoot 80 percent from the free-throw line in the second half,” Tyndall said. “You have to credit our seniors – Terrance (Hill), Ty (Proffitt) and Lamont (Austin). They’ve played in some big games and didn’t get rattled when this one got close.”
Sophomore Drew Kelly contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Eagles, while Austin also matched a career high with four steals.
Junior Ian Hummer led Princeton with 12 points and eight rebounds.
MSU wraps up its Thanksgiving weekend slate on Sunday against host Bucknell at 4:30 p.m. ET.
“Bucknell is long and physical,” Tyndall added. “They are well coached, like Princeton, and will be a tough opponent on their homecourt. The keys will be battling with their big front line, taking care of the basketball and hopefully our press will take its toll again.”
