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MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State men's basketball (5-10, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference) bounced back from last Saturday's conference opener with an 85-75 win over Eastern Illinois (8-7, 0-2 OVC) at Johnson Arena.
"We have a great opportunity with four straight home games and it's nice to get it started on the right foot," said interim head coach
Preston Spradlin. "We're going to enjoy this tonight, restart tomorrow, and learn from our mistakes."
The Eagles were led in part by another perfect performance from senior
Treshaad Williams, who has connected on his last 21 field goal attempts at home. The 6-foot-5 forward dropped 22 points on 8-for-8 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 shooting from the free throw line, with six rebounds and two blocks in 33 minutes.
Morehead State entered halftime with a 39-36 lead, but poured in 11 straight points to open the second half. The Eagles ultimately outscored the Panthers 40-12 in the paint, and won the rebounding battle, 42-30.
"That run to start the second half was huge, we were good offensively, but we got stops defensively, we turned them over and we rebounded the ball," said Spradlin.
Senior guard
Xavier Moon led all scorers with 25 (on 12-of-14, .857 shooting from the charity stripe), in addition to nine assists, six rebounds, and two blocks. The Eagles received another double-double from senior big man
DeJuan Marrero, who tallied 16 points and 12 boards in 31 minutes.
"The performance of our three seniors was huge. Those are three seniors that know how to win. They play their hearts out every night for us," said Spradlin. "Treshaad (Williams) almost played a perfect game. He had one turnover, and it wasn't just offensively, he was really good on the defensive end, as well."
Morehead State will compete in its third consecutive women's and men's basketball doubleheader when SIU Edwardsville visits Johnson Arena on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. ET. The Eagles defeated the Cougars 70-67 in overtime on the road last season.
