BOX SCORE | BOX SCORE (PDF)
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Morehead State seniors Kenneth Faried and Demonte Harper simply were accepting nothing less than their second Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball tournament championship.
Harper scored 27 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out eight assists and was named tournament Most Valuable Player. Faried recorded his 84th career double-double with 24 points, including 10-of-13 from the free throw line, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Eagles defeated Tennessee Tech, 80-73, Saturday night to win their second OVC tournament title in the last three years.
It didn’t come easy though. MSU’s 15-point lead with 3:41 left was trimmed to just four in the final minute, but Harper hit a trio of free throws, Faried had a crucial rebound and putback, and Terrance Hill swished a pair of free throws as the Eagles held off the Golden Eagles. MSU (24-9) earned the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Tech finished 20-12, but as one of four teams in the league this year to win at least 20 games, TTU will likely be playing in one of the three other postseason tournaments.
MSU will find out its NCAA Tournament opponent on Sunday, March 13.
The Eagles hit 27 free throws in the game and shot 48 percent while limiting Tech to 35 percent. MSU also had a 47-27 rebounding advantage against an athletic Golden Eagle team that had out-rebounded them in the game at Tech earlier this year.
Hill also played a key role in the victory with 16 points and five rebounds.
Kevin Murphy nearly brought Tech back single-handedly, scoring a game high 30 points. Jud Dillard had 10 markers.
MSU shot 46 percent in the first half and went to the locker room holding a 34-27 lead. Tech’s Bassey Inameti tied the game at 9-9 with 15:01 left, but MSU began a 10-2 run to push its advantage out to 19-11 at the 11:41 mark following a Ty Proffitt jumper.
The Golden Eagles had the MSU lead down to five (20-15) but the MSU squad ballooned it out to as much as 10 before Swansey buried a trey with five seconds left.
In the second period, the Eagles had trouble getting any distance from Tech, but an 11-3 run during a three-minute span helped MSU take a three-point lead out to an 11-point, 50-39 lead at the 12:50 mark. TTU cut it under double digits at nine (50-41), but Harper answered with another trey.
The Eagles raced out to a 63-48 lead with 7:10 remaining and still led 68-53 with 3:41 left. But, that’s where Tech started a last-ditch rally. Murphy hit a trey to start a 7-0 run, and the Eagles eventually cut the MSU advantage down to 71-67, but Murphy misfired on two straight and the Eagles used free throws to ice the win.
