MOREHEAD, Ky. — Fueled by their aggression to ignite a new success streak and a season-best accuracy from the land beyond the three-point arc, Morehead State men’s basketball zipped past UT Martin 79-69 Saturday night at the Elam Center in snowy Martin, Tenn.
The win allowed the Eagles (17-7/14-3 OVC) to set a program record for road league victories with seven. MSU’s 14 OVC wins are now just one behind the 2009-10 team for the program mark for conference wins.
Morehead State tied its season best from distance, hitting 10-of-20 from long range. Junior guard Skyelar Potter was a big reason for that, nailing 4-of-6 three-pointers and adding 6-of-7 free throws for a team-high 20 points, his third 20-point output.
Freshman Johni Broome registered 14 points, his 12th consecutive double-figure effort, while grabbing a team-best nine boards. He narrowly missed his ninth double-double. Senior forward James Baker and junior guard DeVon Cooperalso contributed 13 points each. For Cooper it was his team-best 19th game in double figures.
Morehead State also tied a season-high with 21 assists. Sophomore guard Ta’lon Cooper paced the passing department by tying his season-best with seven, while junior guard KJ Hunt dished out five dimes.
KEY MOMENTS
– The teams jockeyed for the upperhand for nearly eight minutes before a three-pointer by Baker gave the Eagles an 18-16 lead – an advantage they never relinquished.
– Baker added a driving lay-in with two seconds in the first half to give his team a 10-point halftime cushion (45-35).
– MSU put together a 10-1 run early in the second half to push a 49-39 lead out to 59-40.
– The Eagles’ largest lead was 64-44 with 9:55 left in the game following a Potter triple.
– Things got a little interesting late as UT Martin cut its deficit all the way to 77-69 with 1:19 left. But the Eagles forced two turnovers in the final minute to seal the win.
KEY STATS
– With a 56 percent shooting accuracy, Morehead State has now hit 50 percent or better in nine games.
– The Eagles have now defeated UT Martin in six straight meetings.
– MSU out-rebounded UTM 33-26, the 17th time the Eagles have grabbed more rebounds than their opponent this year.
– Baker, Broome and Potter combined to shoot 17-of-24 from the field.
– UTM hit nine three-pointers itself but was just 6-of-13 on free throws. Meanwhile, the Eagles hit 15 of 18 free tosses.
UP NEXT
MSU wraps up a season-long four-game road swing with a makeup game at SIUE on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. The Cougars are just one of three teams to hand the Eagles an OVC defeat.Print Friendly Version