BOX SCORE (PDF)
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State men's basketball found the going tough on offense Thursday night as the Eagles were only able to shoot 13 percent in the first half and 25 percent overall in falling 71-52 to Murray State.
Morehead State, which did outscore the Racers 38-31 in the final half, now sits at 11-19 overall and 7-10 in the league. Murray State is 24-4 and 15-2 in the OVC. The game was played in front of a season-best crowd of 6,071.
The Eagles only trailed 13-10 at the 13:26 mark of the opening half but Murray State finished the half on a 27-1 scoring flurry as the Eagles missed their final 19 attempts.
The shots fell at a slightly better rate in the second half when the hosts hit 13-of-35.
"I thought we got good, open looks, we just weren't hitting shots," said head coach
Preston Spradlin. "Shooting is contagious, and it can be positive or negative. Tonight unfortunately it was negative. I thought our guys didn't lay down though. We did battle back and played better in the second half."
Senior
A.J. Hicks led the Eagles with 13 points and five assists, while sophomore
James Baker tallied 10 points. Fellow sophomore
Malek Green came up with eight points and nine rebounds.
Murray State's Ja Morant finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Eagles will travel down the road to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday to finish the regular season. Game time is set for 7 p.m. ET