EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — It took the whole 40 minutes, and Morehead State’s men’s basketball team shook off a long scoreless spell in the second half to rally late and defeat SIUE 56-48 on the road Monday night.
The current flock of Eagles (18-7/15-3 OVC) tied the 2009-10 team for the program record for Ohio Valley Conference victories and finished the 2020-21 season with eight league road wins, also a program record. The win also enacted some payback to the Cougars (8-15/6-11 OVC), who had handed MSU a 69-65 setback all the way back on Dec. 18 in Morehead.
Freshman forward Johni Broome, named earlier in the day as the OVC Freshman of the Week for a program-record eighth time, came up clutch in this one. He poured in 23 points and tied his career high with 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double. He scored six points in the final 3:32, including the go-ahead bucket to break a 44-44 stalemate. The OVC’s top shot blocker turned back three SIUE shots as well.
Teammate Skyelar Potter, a junior guard, collected his third double-double as well with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Potter has now scored in double digits in eight straight contests.
Morehead State went for more than seven minutes without a made field goal in the second period but stayed within striking distance and eventually finished the game on a 16-4 scoring advantage in the final eight minutes.
KEY MOMENTS
– Trailing 44-40 with eight minutes to play, Potter started the scoring spurt with a dunk at 7:15, then tied the game 44-all with a pair of free throws at 6:15.
– Broome dropped in the go-ahead bucket at the 3:32 mark of the game, and SIUE never tied or took the lead again. He hit two free throws with 47 seconds left to make it a two-possession game (54-48).
– Junior guard KJ Hunt hit a bucket with 19:10 left to give the Eagles a 31-24 lead after leading 29-24 at the half, but that’s the last field goal MSU made until junior guard DeVon Cooper’s bucket at 8:28 set the score at 42-40 for SIUE.
– With 10:25 remaining, the Cougars saw their largest lead (40-34) after a driving scoop-up lay-in by Desmond Polk.
– The Eagles built as much as an 11-point first-half lead (23-12) with 6:59 left after Cooper’s bucket, but a 7-2 run to end the half had SIUE within five.
KEY STATS
– Broome and Potter combined for the second game this season with two Eagles tallying double-doubles. The other had similar stats. Against Arkansas State on Nov. 29, Broome finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds and Potter had 14 points and 12 boards.
– The Eagles limited SIUE to 35 percent shooting for the game and in the second half. It’s the 12th game this season the opponent has not managed to hit 40 percent for the game.
– Broome’s rebound total pushed him over 200 rebounds for the season in his first collegiate campaign. The MSU freshman mark is 241 by Kenneth Faried in 2007-08.
– MSU is the OVC leader in rebounding margin and rebounding defense. The Eagles won that battle again for the 12th time in 18 OVC games. The rebound total was in favor of MSU 39-33. Potter and Broome combined for 17 defensive rebounds.
UP NEXT
The Eagles return home to wrap up the regular season. MSU hosts Tennessee State Thursday at 7 p.m. ET and looks for another shot at knocking off OVC front-runner Belmont Saturday at 4 p.m.