BOX SCORE
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- In what turned into somewhat of a slower-paced ballgame, Morehead State's men's basketball team trailed by just one at the half at Mississippi State Sunday, but the host Bulldogs were able to pull away in the final half to hand the Eagles a 66-46 defeat at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Eagles slipped to 2-3 with the setback as the Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 37-18 in the second half.Â
After trailing just 29-28 at the break, Morehead State was hampered a bit by 26 percent shooting in the second half and scored 18 points, while the Bulldogs shot better than 60 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Grad transfer
Tray Hollowell led the Eagles with 10 points, his fourth consecutive double-digit effort. Sophomore point guard Ta'Lon Cooper scored points and had five assists, now with 17 assists in the last two games.
Morehead State did hit eight three-pointers and shot 75 percent at the free throw line.
The Eagles trailed 20-11 in the first half but a 12-0 spurt on all three-pointers (by Hollowell, Cooper,
Skyelar Potter and
Drew Thelwell) gave the visitors their first lead at 23-20. MSU hit another three-pointer at the 5:19 mark of the half to lead 26-24. Mississippi State canned a three-pointer with less than a minute to go to take the one-point lead at the break and then opened the second half on an 8-0 before Hollowell ended that spurt.
The final margin was the largest for the Bulldogs.
Morehead State hits the road again after Thanksgiving to play at the Eracism Invitational at Arkansas State. The Eagles and Red Wolves play Friday at 8 p.m. ET, and then MSU faces Kansas City on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.
