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RICHMOND, Ky. -- The Morehead State men’s basketball team held Eastern Kentucky to opponent season lows for points and field-goal percentage in the first half of Saturday night’s game en route to a 58-45 win at McBrayer Arena.
The Eagles limited the Colonels to just 17 percent (4-of-24) from the floor and 12 points over the first 20 minutes. MSU also held EKU to just 31 percent (15-of-49) shooting for the game.
The Eagles improve to 14-13 overall and 7-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference with the season sweep of EKU. The Colonels fall to 14-13 on the campaign and 6-7 in league play.
“I thought our kids played hard and competed for 40 minutes tonight, especially at the defensive end,” Morehead State Head Coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We tweaked a few things in our zone this week, and I thought we were as sound defensively as we have been all year. We were right there on the catch all night.”
Junior Marsell Holden, the lone Eagle in double figures, scored all 12 of his points in the final half. He drilled back-to-back treys midway through the period to boost MSU to its largest lead at 37-19.
Sophomore Drew Kelly grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the victory, while senior Lamont Austin registered eight points, five rebounds and a team-best five assists. Freshman Angelo Warner also chipped in with seven points, seven rebounds and a team-best three steals for MSU.
Senior Jaron Jones hit all three of his three-point attempts and led EKU with a game-high 20 points. The Colonels finished with eight three-pointers and just seven two-point field goals.
Freshman Eric Stutz’s layup at the 8:51 mark of the opening half was the Colonels’ last field goal before intermission. Senior Ty Proffitt’s trey with 1:18 left gave the Eagles their largest first-half advantage at eight points before they took a 19-12 lead into the locker room.
MSU held EKU without a field goal for the final nine minutes of the first stanza and first four minutes of the final half.
“Every time you play Eastern Kentucky, you know it’s going to be a battle because they are so well coached and so disciplined,” Tyndall said. “I am proud of how we responded tonight. EKU had a tough night shooting the ball, but our defense was a huge part of that.”
MSU scored the first eight points of the second half and never let the advantage dip to less than double digits. The Eagles led by 18 at the 13:19 mark of the final half and again down the stretch.
The Eagles shot 41 percent (19-of-46) for the night and hit seven three-pointers.
The teams each collected 33 rebounds, where MSU continues to be +90 over the past 20 games. The Eagles have only been out-rebounded four times during that same stretch.
Morehead State continues a span of five road games in 17 days when it visits Austin Peay on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. The Eagles tallied a 66-64 win over the Govs on Dec. 31 in Morehead.
