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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State men's basketball showed marked improvement from the season opener and came up just short in falling 77-70 at Lipscomb Sunday at Allen Arena.

The Eagles never led and had the game tied at 48 with less than 12 minutes to play, but the hosts proceeded to maintain the cushion and pushed it out to 10 once. Morehead State cut it back to three (71-68) with 45 seconds left but could not get over the hump.

"I was encouraged, our guys fought until the end," said had coach Preston Spradlin. "Our guys learned tonight that small mistakes can cost you in a six or seven-point game. You don't learn that in a 50-point game. Whether its from a freshman or a veteran, we learned that tonight against a very good team on their home floor. We'll get better going forward."

Sophomore guard Jordan Walker led three Eagles in double figures with 17 points (following an 18-point effort at Xavier). Waker hit 9-of-9 from the free throw line as the Eagles drilled 88 percent (23-of-26) of their chances at the charity stripe.

Freshman forward Malek Green scored a career-best 12 and nabbed a team-high seven rebounds, while sophomore forward Alonzo Chatman netted 10 and hit all three of his shots and four free throws.

Lipscomb's Garrison Matthews scored a game-best 25 points, but the Eagles held him to just four in the second 20 minutes after he tallied 21 of his team's 34 in the opening half. The Eagles trailed 34-28 at the break as both teams hit less than 40 percent from the field. Rob Marberry had 18 points and 13 boards for the Music City team.

In the second half, MSU improved to 44 percent (12-of-27) and finished at 41 percent (22-of-54) for the game. The Eagles also held leads in points in the paint (34-26) and points off mistakes (21-19).

Morehead State now hosts Marshall on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.