BOX SCORE (PDF)
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Despite leading for more than 30 minutes, the Morehead State men's basketball team found itself in a field goal drought of more than six minutes to end the game Thursday night as Jacksonville State pulled out a 65-64 victory over the Eagles.
Morehead State fell to 10-18 overall and 6-9 in the OVC, while JSU moved to 20-8 and 12-3 in the league.
MSU led 34-30 at the half and held a 60-54 cushion after
James Baker's three-pointer with 6:10 remaining. But, that was the final field goal the Eagles could muster until senior guard
A.J. Hicks finally hit a three-pointer as the final horn went off. Meanwhile the Gamecocks hit 19-of-23 free throws in the second half, including two with 41 seconds left to regain the upperhand for good.
"I thought we got some pretty good looks, but we just couldn't get a basket down the stretch. Credit to them, they made some great defensive plays at the rim," said head coach
Preston Spradlin. "I thought we did some good things and were pretty aggressive, but we didn't get to the free throw line enough. We knew it would be a tough physical game. I thought our team really locked them down and played tremendously on defense, especially in the first half. I am excited to see how much better our guys are going to continue to get. A lot to be proud of with our guys."
Morehead State had a balanced scoring output with five in double figures but no one with more than 12 points. Sophomore forward
James Baker led the way with 12, while junior
Jordan Walker chipped in 11. Waller now has double digits in 19 of the last 20 games. Sophomores
De'Von Cooper and
Malek Green and Hicks all had 10.
Hicks also collected a team-best seven rebounds and dished out a game-high eight assists. The Eagles were held to just 33 percent (10-of-30) from the floor in the second half and were outscored 23-5 at the free throw line.
The Eagles built as much as a five-point lead in the first half before taking the aforementioned six-point advantage late in the final stanza.
Morehead State had only nine turnovers but were out-rebounded 44-33.
The Eagles will continue up the road to Tennessee Tech for a Saturday night matchup in Cookeville. Tip-off will be at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET.
