MOREHEAD, Ky. -- In a game that rivaled the best of heavyweight bouts, Morehead State Men's Basketball kept on fighting and battling until the end, but the Eagles couldn't slow down Tennessee State's offense and finally fell 105-100 in overtime at the Gentry Center Thursday night.
MSU lost its first overtime contest in the previous seven that went more than 40 minutes - the last being also to TSU in 2020. The Eagles only led for 42 seconds of the contest and trailed by eight four separate times in the final half before chipping away time after time.
George Marshall's three-pointer with 18 seconds left tied the game at 86, and TSU's last ditch regulation shot fell awry to send it toward overtime. The Eagles slipped to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while TSU moved to 11-5 and 5-2 in the league.
Marshall exploded for 22 of his team and career-high 29 points in the second half.
Jon Carroll also set a career-high as he scored 22 (on the strength of a career-best 12-of-15 from the free throw line). He grabbed a team-best eight rebounds.
Chase Dawson poured in 17 points, while
Davion Cunningham cashed in 15 points and was 9-of-10 on charity-stripe tosses. Morehead State finished a season-high 29-of-34 on free throws.
Josiah LeGree dished out seven assists as the Eagles had 22 helpers - the most against a Division I foe this season.
But, the host team was hard to stop. TSU shot 59 percent, including six-of-eight in overtime, and drilled 11 of its 18 three-pointers after entering the game with a 30 percent team accuracy from deep all season. Aaron Nkrumah led the Tigers with a 30-point, seven-rebound, five-assist effort.
Morehead State found itself behind 80-72 with 3:37 remaining in regulation but trimmed that deficit back to 80-78 with 1:58 left after Dawson drained a jumper. Marshall canned a pair of free throws with 49 seconds left to make it an 84-83 TSU cushion. Nkrumah scored a bucket on his end with 32 ticks left, but Marshall calmly knocked down the game-tying triple in the corner in front of his bench with 18 seconds left. Carlous Williams' three-ball with four seconds left missed to send it to overtime.
In the final five minutes, TSU couldn't miss. Cunningham's pair of free throws with 3:16 left finally pushed MSU ahead 90-89, but the Tigers scored the next 11 as MSU went 0-for-6 in the next three minutes. Dawson's jumper from outside the arc with 11 ticks left was as close as MSU got (103-98).
The Eagles trailed by as much as 13 in the first half (30-17) but eventually cut that disadvantage to three twice. The Eagles shot 45 percent for the night and out-rebounded their foes 36-35. MSU also only committed eight turnovers in the 45-minute affair.
Morehead State continues OVC action Saturday at Tennessee Tech for a 4 p.m. ET game.
