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MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State men’s basketball team cut a 17-point deficit to a single possession multiple times in the game’s final two minutes on Wednesday evening, but Illinois State hung on for a 78-73 win at Johnson Arena.
The Redbirds improve to 6-3 on the campaign, while the Eagles slip to 4-6 overall. ISU now owns a 5-1 advantage in the all-time series with its fifth consecutive victory over MSU.
“I’m disappointed with the result, but thought our team really competed until the very end,” Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall said. “Illinois State is certainly a good team with good players. They have physical and athletic guys, plus they are well coached.”
Illinois State took its biggest lead of the contest at the 13:21 mark of the second half, but Morehead State stormed back with an 8-0 run to make it 56-47 with 10:14 remaining.
The Eagles put together another run -- this time 18-8 -- moments later to cut the deficit to two, but the Redbirds escaped with the victory by drilling their final five free-throw attempts.
Junior Marsell Holden led Morehead State with a career-best 21 points, while senior Ty Proffitt added a career-high 18 and sophomore Drew Kelly contributed 11. Kelly and junior Kahlil Owens pulled down five rebounds apiece, while senior Terrance Hill dished out four assists.
Holden has now scored 51 points over his last three games (17.0 ppg) after recording just 37 points in his first seven contests this season (5.2 ppg). He has also knocked down all 16 of his free-throw attempts in 2011-12 after going 8-for-8 at the charity stripe against Illinois State.
“Marsell was pretty impressive again tonight,” Tyndall said. “He obviously led us with 21 points, but he also helped in several other areas. He got to the foul line eight times, came up with three steals, handed out two assists and played good defense for us. “
Illinois State drilled 59 percent from the field (24-of-41), 55 percent from three-point range (12-of-22) and 78 percent from the foul line (18-of-23).
Morehead State connected on 48 percent from the floor (25-of-52), 39 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-23) and 88 percent at the charity stripe (14-of-16).
“We had a hard time making Illinois State miss tonight,” Tyndall said. “Then, when we did, we let them get some second-chance points. In our zone, the five-man is supposed to front the post. That didn’t happen on several possessions, which led to us giving up some easy baskets.”
Morehead State posted advantages of 25-18 off the bench, 25-22 in rebounding and 7-6 in steals.
Junior Jackie Carmichael led Illinois State with 17 points and 10 rebounds, which marked his seventh career double-double. Junior Tyler Brown added 13 points and six assists for the Redbirds.
Morehead State wraps up its three-game homestand on Saturday when Summit League foe South Dakota visits at 7 p.m. ET. The Eagles will be idle for eight days after facing USD.
“South Dakota will be another tough opponent for us,” Tyndall added. “Their record isn’t great, but they’ve also played a brutal non-conference schedule. We need to play well and get a win.”
