Men's Hoops Falls at TSU in First Game of Nashville Road Trip

BOX SCORE

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Host Tennessee State shot nearly 50 percent for the game and made an early advantage hold up as the Morehead State men's basketball team fell 64-48 to the Tigers in the first contest of the two-game Nashville road trip Thursday at the Gentry Center.

The Eagles slipped back to 9-9 overall and 3-2 in the OVC, while the Tigers moved to 12-6 overall and 4-1 in league action.

Junior forward James Baker led the Eagles with 14 points and five rebounds and also added two assists, while senior guard Jordan Walker chipped in 10 points.

The Eagles stay put in the Music City for a Saturday matinee (5 p.m. ET) contest at Belmont.

KEY MOMENTS

- TSU opened the contest by scoring the game's first five points.
- The Eagles eventually crept back to within 19-14 on Baker's dunk with 9:24 left in the opening half.
- The hosts, however, used an 11-2 scoring spurt in the next five minutes to lead 30-16 with 4:09 left in the half.
- TSU's largest lead was 52-28 with 11:07 remaining in the game.
- The Eagles did not back away, however, and outscored the Tigers 16-5 over the next seven minutes. Freshman forward Tyzhaun Claude's dunk with 4:39 left brought his team to within 57-44.

KEY STATS

- The Eagles were held to 36 percent shooting from the floor overall.
- Morehead State failed to make a three-pointer (0-for-13) for the first time since the 2006-07 season - a span of 422 games.
- 42 of Morehead State's 48 points were registered in the paint area.
- Claude topped the Eagles in rebounding with six.
- Carlos Marshall led the home team with 16 points.

QUOTING COACH SPRADLIN

"We just didn't have that fire and grit we've had in the past several games. Our guys did a solid job of executing the scout. It just became a one-on-one game. We missed so many floaters and shots in the paint. I thought we just probably settled for too many low percentage shots."

"We turned them over 16 times and held them to only seven assists which was nice. But like I had said, there really weren't that many assists to have because of how it became a one-on-one game."

"I thought James did some good things offensively. He really got back to being aggressive and made good, hard cuts. We are going to need him going forward."