MOREHEAD, Ky. -- George Marshall had an opportunity to lift the Morehead State men's basketball team to a regulation victory at Southern Indiana Saturday. While he missed the shot with five seconds left, he scored five of his team-high 19 in overtime as the Eagles prevailed 64-60 over the Screaming Eagles at Liberty Arena.
MSU improved to 5-7 overall and most importantly, to 2-0 on the young Ohio Valley Conference season. In typical MSU-USI fashion, the victory margin was one possession. MSU has won three straight over USI - a one and two-point win last year and now a four-point extra-time triumph.
The visiting Eagles trailed 55-50 with 2:56 left but forced three empty possessions for the home Eagles.
Chase Dawson and
Davion Cunningham combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws in that span as MSU sent it to overtime. Marshall had a look with five ticks left in regular time but couldn't get it to fall. However, in the overtime, he nailed a jumper with 47 seconds left to push his team ahead 61-58 after USI's had trimmed his team's deficit to one (59-58) with a triple with 1:20 remaining.
Dawson and Cunningham then hit free throws in the final 20 seconds as MSU held on to remain perfect all-time (4-0) at USI's Liberty Arena.
Marshall scored a game-high 19 - his seventh game in double figures this year - while Cunningham produced 15 points.
Jon Carroll nearly had his fifth double-double with a team-best 10 rebounds and eight points.
USI did most of its scoring from outside the arc, where it hit 11 triples compared to just five two-pointers on the day. MSU forced USI to hit just 28 percent overall from the floor.
Morehead State managed just three from distance but hit 44 percent (20-of-45) inside the arc. Cardell Bailey paced the Screamers with 17 points.
MSU is idle now until Dec. 28 when it hosts in-state NAIA foe Alice Lloyd at 2 p.m. ET.
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