BOX SCORE
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State Men's Basketball was held to just one field in the final eight minutes Saturday as the Eagles battled Little Rock but ended up falling 76-62 to the Trojans at Johnson Arena.
"I thought our kids fought tonight. It's true, we are going through some adversity. We wanted to come out and play with more energy and effort than we did the other night (vs. SEMO) and we did," said Head Coach
Jonathan Mattox. "It's hard to beat a team though, when we have 16 turnovers and they have 25 points off those mistakes. They are so long and their activity forced us into too many turnovers. But, I thought we played like Morehead State tonight. I thought we defended and rebounded pretty well. We'll be okay. Every team goes through highs and lows. We'll tighten up on some things."
Morehead State (14-11/9-5 OVC) held a nine-point lead (21-12) in the first half but the visitors slowly whittled that down and eventually led 39-34 at the half. On the flip side, Little Rock built itself a six-point (57-51) with 9:16 left before the Eagles started the trim their margin. Kenny White, Jr., hit a layup to make just a two-point deficit (57-55) with 8L12 left, but that's the last bucket MSU successfully drained until Jorone Morton sank a breakaway dunk as time expired for the final margin.
After being out-rebounded by 10 against SEMO Thursday, MSU got back into the plus column in rebound margin by grabbing 27 to the Trojans' 25. But, the Eagles only shot 31 percent (7-of-22) in the second period. Meanwhile, Little Rock hit 54 percent for the game, the second straight team to shoot 50 percent or better against the Eagles.
White led MSU with 16 points, while
Tyler Brelsford had 11 and Morton scored 10. Brelsford now has double figure points in seven straight games. Jonathan Lawson led the Trojans with a game-high 24 points. Jordan Jefferson cashed in 14, and Isaiah Lewis scored 13 before fouling out.
The loss signaled the third OVC loss in a row at home for the program. That had not happened since the 2018-19 season.
Morehead State is back on the road this week, visiting Lindenwood on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
