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DENVER, Colo – It was a magical season for the Morehead State men’s basketball team, but unfortunately for the Eagles, they ran into one of their strongest opponents Saturday in the NCAA Third Round at the Pepsi Center.
Twelfth-seeded Richmond shot 47 percent, committed only six turnovers, and led wire-to-wire, defeating the 13th-seeded Eagles 65-48 to advance to the Sweet 16 in the Southwest Region. MSU finished its OVC championship season at 25-10, tying the school record for wins.
“First and foremost, a guy that means the world to me in Wayne Martin (former MSU coach), he had the school record for 25 wins. So for us to tie the school record of 25 wins is quite an honor and quite a privilege for me. When you look at our five years, we went from 12 wins to 15 to 20 to 24 and now to 25. So we've improved the program each and every season,” said coach Donnie Tyndall. “Attendance has grown dramatically every year. We have a true program now with some good players returning, although they didn't get to show it a lot this season because we played seven guys, most of those guys were upperclassmen.
MSU just could not reproduce its efficient performance from Thursday when it upset Louisville. MSU was held to 38 percent shooting (18-of-48) and was 2-of-14 from three point range. The Eagles did out-rebound the Spiders 34-32 with Kenneth Faried grabbing a team-high 13. He finished his career with 1,673 rebounds, just two shy of MSU career leader Steve Hamilton.
Faried also scored 11 points for his 86th career double-double. He’ll finish second, just one behind only Tim Duncan in doubles-doubles in NCAA Division I history. Faried’s first basket, a dunk, also signified his 2,000th career point as he finished his four-year MSU career with 2,009 points for third all-time.
MSU had four players in double figures, led by Faried and Sam Goodman with 11. Terrance Hill and Ty Proffitt scored 10. Demonte Harper struggled with a 2-for-15 night shooting, but did tie his career high with 11 rebounds.
Richmond was led by Justin Harper’s 19 points. Kevin Anderson had 14, and Dan Geriot scored 13. The Spiders forced just nine MSU turnovers, but the zone defense they played never rally allowed MSU to get into its best offensive rhythm.
“I want to congratulate Richmond. They have a very, very good basketball team. Similar to us, they're an upperclassmen oriented team and they play like it. They're poised, disciplined, they don't take bad shots,” said Tyndall. “I thought that their defense was tough, it's kind of a sagging man to man, and sometimes it's a matchup zone. It's very complicated to really run any set offense against it. So you have to space the floor and drive the basketball.”
Richmond went on a 10-2 run to lead 12-4 with 12:53 left in the first half. MSU was able to creep back to within 22-19 with 3:41 remaining after a Faried layup, but the Spiders ended the half on an 8-2 flurry to lead 30-21 at the break.
MSU could not generate enough of a rally to make it a game in the final half. The Eagles cut the Richmond advantage down to six (45-39) with 11 minutes left and had it at eight (51-43) with 6:52 left. But, Richmond got a layup from Harper to make it a 10-point game, and the Spiders never relinquished their double-double lead.
