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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Sophomore Drew Kelly recorded a season-high 20 points and the Morehead State men’s basketball team used a 16-3 second-half run to post a 63-55 win over Jacksonville State on Thursday evening at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Eagles improve to 8-8 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while the Gamecocks drop to 5-12 on the season and 0-4 in league play.
“This is a quality road win because Jacksonville State is a tough team,” Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall said. “They’re competitive, physical and well coached.
“I feel like each OVC game could come down to the last two minutes this year. Fortunately, we were able to make a few more plays down the stretch to pull out the victory.”
Morehead State was playing for the first time without its only fourth-year player and top scorer, senior Terrance Hill, who suffered a left knee injury last Saturday against Austin Peay. Tyndall announced prior to the game that Hill will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Hill, who was averaging 13.3 points, 2.3 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game this season, finishes his college career with 981 points. In three-plus seasons, he helped the Eagles to a 76-45 record (.628), two OVC Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
“I have to give my guys a lot of credit,” Tyndall said. “This was our first game without Terrance (Hill), and it was critical to find a way to win without our best player.”
Kelly, who entered the game averaging just 6.5 points per contest, picked up the slack on Thursday. He drilled 6-of-11 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line to lead all scorers in the tilt.
Freshman Angelo Warner added 10 points on 4-of-6 from the floor for the Eagles, while junior Kahlil Owens yanked down a game-high 11 rebounds in just 21 minutes.
Morehead State fell behind 13 points with 16:10 to play, but the Eagles used their best spurt of the night to erase the deficit and tie the contest at 43 with 9:34 remaining.
Morehead State finished the affair on an 18-8 run by knocking down seven of its final eight free-throw attempts in addition to forcing turnovers and missed shots.
MSU used a 16-1 advantage off the bench to out-score JSU, 40-28, in the second half. The Eagles also finished +6 in rebounding (18-12) and +3 in turnovers (8-5) after intermission.
Senior Stephen Hall tallied team highs of 15 points and nine rebounds for Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks shot 50 percent from the floor (19-of-38), but were out-rebounded by seven for the game and committed three more turnovers than the Eagles.
Morehead State continues its three-game OVC road trip on Saturday at Tennessee Tech. Tip-off from the Eblen Center is set for approximately 8:45 p.m. ET. The MSU and TTU women open the evening’s action with a game at 6:30 p.m.
“Tennessee Tech is very good,” Tyndall added. “They played us very tough in the OVC Tournament championship last year, and they return pretty much their entire team. Tennessee Tech is very talented, with multiple all-conference players, and they’re very well coached. It will be a daunting task for us on Saturday night.”
