BOX SCORE (PDF)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Morehead State men’s basketball saw a furious comeback attempt fall short at Eastern Illinois Saturday afternoon. The Eagles trailed by as many as 15 early and rallied to pull within five on several second-half occasions, but the Panthers thwarted MSU’s desires and won 71-65 at Lantz Arena.
The Eagles, who had won three of the last four matchups with EIU in Charleston, slid back to 12-13 overall and 6-6 in the OVC.
MSU had several open looks at three-pointers in the final minute following missed free throws but could not sink the equalizer.
Freshman forward Tyzhaun Claude led MSU with 14 points, while freshman Ta’lon Cooper and junior James Baker grabbed eight boards apiece as MSU out-rebounded the home team 48-36.
Morehead State returns home now for a Thursday matchup with rival Eastern Kentucky at 7 p.m. ET.
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KEY MOMENTS
– EIU’s Josiah Wallace hit a trio of three-pointers in the first six minutes as the Panthers pulled out 19-4.
– Junior guard Juice Thomas’s layup with 11:04 left in the first half finally cut EIU’s lead under double digits (24-16).
– EIU led 40-30 at the half.
– Cooper’s jumper with 5:52 left in the game trimmed it to the first five-point deficit (55-50).
– Trailing 70-61 with 51 seconds left, Cooper nailed a banked-in three-pointer, was fouled, and hit the free toss to make it 70-65.
– Wallace misfired on the front end of two straight 1-and-1 situations, but the Eagles missed three three-pointers in the final 40 seconds.
KEY STATS
– Morehead State was limited to 35 percent shooting (24-of-68), including 5-of-21 from distance.
– Senior Djimon Henson scored 10 points, his 11thgame in the last 15 in double figures.
– EIU only had nine turnovers to the Eagles’ 15.
– Senior guard Jordan Walker moved to No. 17 on Morehead State’s all-time scoring list with seven points. He now has 1,419 career points.
QUOTING COACH SPRADLIN
“Eastern Illinois is a really good team at home, having only lost one game, so you can’t afford to let them get off the start they did. We were playing behind all night. Their defensive pressure was very effective against us.”
“We got good looks there in the end, but the bottom line is we just aren’t the offensive team right now where we can play from that far behind. I thought we played hard, and tonight we rebounded much better.”