MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State's men's basketball team has grown accustomed to being in tight ballgames, and Thursday night at Johnson Area was no exception as the Eagles edged SIUE 67-65.
An apparent three-pointer by SIUE's Tyler King with 12.9 seconds remaining was reviewed and deemed he had a toe on the arc, pulling the Cougars to within 66-65.
George Marshall made one of the two ensuing free throws with less than a second coming off the clock, giving MSU a 67-65 lead. King fired up a shot at the buzzer from the corner, this time again with a foot on the line, but the overtime-forcing attempt clanked the side of the rim as MSU prevailed to improve to 12-10 overall and 8-3 in the OVC.
The Eagles had rallied at SIUE (13-9/6-5 OVC) on Jan. 3 to win by one, 73-72, and Morehead State now moved to 6-1 this season in league games decided by five or less. MSU's last six wins in OVC play have come by margins or six or less. The Eagles also improved to 8-1 at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles led 62-54 with 4;25 remaining after
Davion Cunningham buried a three-pointer, but King orchestrated an 8-0 run for SIUE by himself, and the Cougars knotted the battle again at 62 with 2:20 left. After another MSU bucket, King misfired on the back end of a one-and-one FT situation, and the score sat at 64-63 MSU.
Jon Carroll's pair of free tosses then set the stage for the shot King and his team thought had tied the game.
MSU fell behind by as many as eight in the first half and trailed 33-27 at the half. MSU now owns six wins when it trails after 20 minutes.
Carroll led the charge with 14 points and grabbed six rebounds as MSU also edged the visitors in rebounds, 36-34. Marshall notched his 15th double-figure scoring effort with 13 points and also led MSU with eight rebounds, tying his career high. Cunningham registered 11 points, and
Anouar Mellouk posted his fourth straight 10+ game with 10.
King led all players with his career-best night, scoring 24. Arnas Sekenis notched 14 points.
The Eagles managed to hit 43 percent (23-of-53) and held SIUE to 41 percent (24-of-58). But the Cougars lit it up from distance, draining 11 triples. MSU also held a 17-6 edge in made free throws.
