HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Morehead State Men's Basketball battled to the final horn and put together a massive second-half rally but ended up falling 80-77 at regional rival Marshall Wednesday night at the Cam Henderson Center.
The 'Herd (5-3) used an 11-0 run in the middle of the first half to pull away. Marshall has now won the last four meetings in the long-running Ellis T. Johnson Trophy series.
MSU (3-5) was led by guard
Tyler Brelsford with a season-high 19 points, one short of his college career best. Guard
George Marshall had a big game off the bench, scoring a career-high 18 points. Kenny White, Jr., also had 17 points - his seventh double-figure game in his first Eagle season.
A triple by the Eagles' Marshall with 11:17 left in the first half had MSU within 19-18, but the home team put together the 11-0 run henceforth and pushed ahead 30-18. Marshall eventually held a 45-35 halftime advantage.
Marshall was able to push its cushion to as much as 14 on two occasions in the second half, but a couple of runs and defensive stops by the Eagles saw them cut it back to within seven, including 72-65 with 6:28 left on a put-back dunk. A lay-in by Brelsford trimmed the margin down to five (78-73) with 2:37 remaining. Brelsford nailed another charity toss at the 1:15 mark as MSU made it 78-74.
Trent Scott's driving layup with 30 seconds left, however, was blocked away and Marshall saved it in and made a couple of free throws to effectively ice the victory. Brelsford did nail a triple at 18 seconds to cut it to its lowest deficit at 80-77. White's three-ball at the buzzer just rimmed out as Marshall held on.
The 'Hard was paced by Obinna Anochilli-Killen and Dezayne Mingo with 17 points.
MSU ended up shooting 44 percent, while Marshall was at 47 percent. MSU also out-rebounded MU 42-31. White, Jr. had his first MSU double-double with 10 rebounds, while
Anouar Mellouk pulled down 10 boards too.
Morehead State is back in action on Saturday at Ohio for a 4 p.m. game.
