By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
ATHENS, Ohio – Morehead State seniors Jordan Walker and Djimon Hensoncombined for 46 points as the Eagle men’s basketball team came up just short at Ohio Saturday, falling 82-76.
The Eagles fell behind by 12 in the first half but never fully faltered, mounting a furious rally to lead at the half. MSU slipped to 5-7 overall, while the Bobcats moved to 8-4.
Walker, who drilled six three-pointers, became just the second player in program history with at least 1,200 points, 200 assists, 100 steals and 175 triples. He has 176 three-balls now in his four seasons.
Henson, who had a career-high 23 points against Marshall last time out, nearly equaled that today, hitting all three three-pointers and 8-of-11 from the floor to score 22 today.
Morehead State, which had only hit 28 percent from three-point range in the last four games, nailed 50 percent (9-of-18) today.
Morehead State is idle for the Holiday break until Dec 28 when Alice Lloyd (Ky.) visits for a Noon ET matchup at Johnson Arena.
KEY MOMENTS
– Ohio hit its first seven field goals and started the game 10-for-11 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from three-point range.
– Ohio went on top 25-13 at 11:02 in the first half, but a three-pointer and successful alley-oop bucket by Walker brought the Eagles back to within 25-20 on the 7-0 run.
– MSU tied the game at 30-30 when senior guard Djimon Henson grabbed a transition rebound and sank a bucket.
– Junior forward James Baker’s jumper in the paint gave the Eagles their first lead (35-33) with 1:36 left in the half.
– The lead was short-lived, however, as Ohio drilled its seventh triple of the half just 15 seconds later.
– Henson knocked down a corner three-pointer with less than three seconds left in the opening 20 minutes to give his team a 39-38 lead.
– Just like it did in the first half, Ohio was torrid from the floor in the opening moments, hitting 5-of-6 to regain the advantage.
– After the teams traded leads for the 12th time, a three-pointer by Ohio with 5:16 left pushed it into the advantage for the final time, which it never relinquished.
KEY STATS
– Walker was 6-of-10 from three-point range.
– Henson secured his first back-to-back double-figure scoring efforts since his sophomore year in 2017-18.
– Freshman guard Ta’lon Cooper dished out a career-high five assists.
– The Eagles hit 75 percent from the free throw line.
– Jordan Dartis led Ohio with 25 points, while Ben Vander Plas had 24.
– For the second time this season, MSU had less than 10 turnovers with eight today.
QUOTING COACH SPRADLIN
“We didn’t get the result we wanted, but I thought we got back to our identity. We had not played our style of basketball in a few weeks, but our effort was excellent today. That was a good team we played.”
“Our kids are going to get a much-needed break now. I told them to go home and be their families. Family is so important to us as a program. We will come back and be motivated for the rest of the season.”