Eagles ride six-game winning streak into OVC Tournament

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MOREHEAD, Ky. - Coming into this week's Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship, Morehead State just may be the right team at the right time.

The third-seeded Eagles (18-11 overall, 11-5 OVC) have won a season-high six straight games, the longest current streak in the league.

The Eagles have a first-round bye into Thursday's quarterfinals at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. There, they will meet No 6 Murray State, who downed No. 7 Eastern Illinois, 78-62, on Wednesday night.

Coach Sean Woods says Morehead State's good play of late is due in part to "guys really stepping up, answering the bell, that haven't really been playing."

Players like Lyonell Gaines, whose play has rapidly improved. Sharpshooter Miguel Dicent has rediscovered his groove. Xavier Moon is coming off a career-high 25-point game at Jacksonville State. And freshman Malik Maitland is playing increasingly well.

With a roster that included seven new players this season, and slowed by a series of injuries, it took time for MSU to gel. Woods had faith, though, saying "we knew we had the pieces."

Now, the Eagles appear to have peaked at just the right time.

Corban Collins, a 6-foot-3 junior who leads the Eagles with an 11.8-point scoring average, credits the current winning streak to "just trusting each other."

"We've had that trust coming down the stretch, where we know we've got each other's back defensively. We know that we're going to be in that right spot offensively. We're just out there playing free, playing loose and having fun."

Brent Arrington, a 6-3 senior who leads the team in steals and assists, says "everybody's bought in to doing whatever it takes to win."

"Whether it's having energy on the bench or come into the game and get a couple big rebounds or a couple big defensive stops, everybody's putting forth the effort," Arrington said. "I think that's been helping us a lot."

More than anything, though, MSU's winning streak has been keyed by defense.

"We're just locking down, holding guys under 40 percent," Woods said.

For the season, MSU is holding opponents to 43 percent from the field. Over the last four games, foes have been held to 38.1, 33.3, 34.7 and 34.4 percent.

The winning streak began after a 77-76 loss at Tennessee State on Feb. 6. The Tigers shot 54.5 percent from the field.

"We're a defensive team. To win games, you stop teams and try to outscore them just enough," Arrington said. "… After that game, we came into practice and we were like 'look, we're getting back to the basics with all our defensive drills and we're going to get our defense back because that's what wins us games.'

"After that practice, everybody came focused and ready to play 'D' as best as possible, and we began to grow from there. Everybody's just been helping out. Everybody's had each other's back on defense."

Sticky defense has helped create a fluid offense for the Eagles. Not mind-boggling numbers – MSU is shooting 44.1 percent overall – but good enough to win some close games.

Figuring out who to stop in the MSU offense is a crapshoot.

MSU has six players averaging between 11.8 points (Collins) and 8.0 points (Dicent) a game. In between are Moon (9.7), Arrington (9.7), Anthony Elichi (8.4) and DeJuan Marrero (8.2), who is the team's leading rebounder at 7.6 a game.

"We run an equal-opportunity offense with the dribble-drive," Woods said. "And whoever's making shots is making shots. But everybody's making plays, and we're playing so unselfish on both ends of the court."

"It's just not one person that you can key on as far as the other team's scouting report goes," Collins said. "We have so many different weapons and different pieces to our puzzle that, on any given night, a guy can go off. And we all just complement each other and play well together."

Arrington says that, when MSU is faced with a good three-point defensive effort, the Eagles will find a way to slash to the basket. Or someone else will post up and finish the job inside.

"You never know what you're going to get," he said, "but you know it's going to be productive."

The Eagles now know that they will face Murray State after the Racers easily took care of business against EIU on Wednesday.

Morehead State has a chance for revenge. Murray edged the Eagles 62-57 on Jan. 2.

Arrington says "there's a very big revenge factor" and the Eagles will have "a big chip on our shoulder."

And Collins has no doubt that MSU has what it takes to win.

"When we played them, we weren't playing our best basketball at the time," he said. "Coming into the OVC tournament, we're playing our best basketball. So, we're prepared. We're ready."

At just the right time.

All-session tickets for the OVC Tournament are available for $80 until Wednesday, March 2 at noon. Single game tickets are $30.

Fans can call 606-783-2088 with a credit card or stop by the office and pay cash or check. No form of payment can be accepted in Nashville for any tickets except for student tickets. Students tickets are $5 and must be paid for at the will call table with a valid student ID.

To purchase tickets in the Morehead cheering section, tickets must be purchased directly from Morehead State.

2016 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship (Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, Tenn.)

First Round - Wednesday, March 2
Game 1 - #5 Tennessee Tech vs. #8 Austin Peay - 7:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Game 2 - #6 Murray State vs. #7 Eastern Illinois - 9:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)

Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 3
Game 3 - #4 Tennessee State vs. Game 1 Winner - 7:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Game 4 - #3 Morehead State vs. Game 2 Winner - 9:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)

Semifinals - Friday, March 4
Game 5 - #1 Belmont vs. Game 3 winner, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 6 - #2 UT Martin vs. Game 4 winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Championship - Saturday, March 5
Game 7 - Semifinal Winners - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN2)