MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Davion Cunningham willed Morehead State men's basketball to not lose on Saturday. The redshirt junior guard erupted for a career-high 35 points, including 25 in the final half, as the Eagles chiseled away a 12-point second-half deficit and defeated Southeast Missouri 71-69 at Johnson Arena.
Cunningham, whose previous college career high was 31 last season at USC Aiken, hit 13 of 17 field goals (all but one was inside the three-point arc) and nailed eight of nine free throws. He also added five rebounds, a steal and an assist. Cunningham's point total was the highest by an Eagle player since Drew Kelly scored 40 versus South Dakota in 2013. He also had the second highest field goals made in an Eagle contest since Kelly's production 13 years ago.
Morehead State improved to 5-1 at home in 2025-26, to 8-9 overall and to -2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks slipped to 9-8 in all games and 4-2 in the conference.
"Great team win today," said head coach
Jonathan Mattox. "We've been in these situations before, and I am proud of how we responded. Our guys and our staff recognized that Davion had the hot hand, and credit to them. They kept feeding him the ball, and he finished. Incredible effort."
The Eagles trailed 38-30 at the half and eventually saw SEMO build its cushion to 56-44 with 12:24 left. But, a 16-5 scoring flurry over the next six minutes had MSU back to within one (63-62) when Cunningham dropped in a jumper in the paint. SEMO was back on top five five (69-64) with 2:48 remaining when the final rally commenced.Â
Cunningham drilled his lone triple of the game with 2:24 on the clock to cut it to 69-67. After a misfire on a three-ball by the visitors,
Chase Dawson completed the comeback by knocking down a triple on the run with 1:33 left. SEMO had three more chances in the final minute to re-take the lead or send it to overtime, including one with 0.2 seconds left, but missed all three shot attempts.
Besides Cunningham's output, MSU had one other player in double figures as
George Marshall scored 10.Â
The Eagles blistered the net for 68 percent (15-of-22) in the second half and 57 percent overall - the third highest field goal percentage in a game this season. In the past five seasons, MSU is 52-2 when it shoots 50 percent or better.
SEMO had five players score 10+, led by Brenden Terry. After scoring 30 off the bench Thursday at Southern Indiana, he paced the Redhawks with 13 today. SEMOI hit 42 percent overall but was held to just 33 percent (10-of-30) in the final 20 minutes.
MSU had more rebounds (30-24) then its counterpart on the opposite bench as
Jon Carroll pulled in a team-best nine.
The Eagles return to the road next week as they venture to the Volunteer State where they'll face Tennessee State Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
