Morehead State gets quick revenge. See how the Eagles took down Eastern Kentucky.
The Morehead State University men’s basketball team exorcised some demons at home on Monday night.
Four players reached double-figure scoring as the Eagles jumped out to a big lead and went on to a 75-62 victory over Eastern Kentucky University in Johnson Arena in Morehead, avenging last week’s road loss to the Colonels and ending a three-game losing streak in the series.
The Colonels and Eagles faced off in Richmond last Monday, with EKU rallying from a 17-point deficit to win 71-68 on Michael Moreno’s drive to the hoop with less than five seconds to play. Moreno was fouled and his shot blocked, but refs called goaltending and Moreno sank the free throw to seal the victory.
Morehead State Coach Preston Spradlin said that disappointing finish was forefront in the Eagles’ minds as they prepared for the rematch.
“We let one go, is what we felt like, at their place,” Spradlin said. “So our guys had a real focus. We had a great fight about us all week ... I thought our guys just really battled and did the things we needed to do, and just played with great poise tonight.”
KJ Hunt came off the bench to lead the way for Morehead (4-4, 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference), scoring a team-high 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting and grabbing seven rebounds. Skyelar Potter scored 13 and added eight rebounds in the win, while James Baker chipped in 12 points and Julius Dixon 11.
Hunt finished a fast break with a layup through contact and sank the free throw to push Morehead ahead 62-50 with 6:31 to play.
“It was huge,” Spradlin said of Hunt’s old-fashioned three-point play. “I remember him making a number of those big plays, just great decisions on the back side of the press. ... It was a big momentum play.”
James Baker also came up big off the bench for Morehead, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds.
“Both of those guys, they really just battled,” Spradlin said. “Bringing them off the bench they didn’t pout, they didn’t say ‘woe is me’ or anything like that. They said, ‘OK, it’s what the team needs.’ ... Ninety seconds into the game both of them came and just inserted great energy and I thought they both just played absolutely fantastic.”
Tre King scored a team-high 17 points for EKU (5-2, 1-1) but dealt with foul trouble much of the night, missing several critical minutes late in the second half after picking up his fourth foul. He fouled out with less than 90 seconds to play. Wendell Green added 16 points and five assists in the loss.
Morehead won the rebound battle 38-27 and shot 51 percent for the game. The Eagles held Moreno, who erupted for 29 points in last week’s meeting, to seven points on 3-for-9 shooting.
“Michael got into a little foul trouble. He really couldn’t get settled into the game, which happens. But they did a great job with him, they were very physical with him,” EKU Coach A.W. Hamilton said. “You’ve got to give (Morehead) a lot of credit. They played really good right from the start, they had a lot of energy, a lot of emotion. We didn’t match their energy at the beginning of the game.”
EKU dug itself a hole as Morehead State came out of the locker room hot. The Eagles jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead before Moreno got the Colonels on the board with his only three-pointer of the night. Morehead drew ahead 24-10 on Hunt’s layup as EKU missed five straight field goal attempts.
The script flipped for the balance of the opening half. A rebound putback by Moreno capped an 8-0 run that cut the Eagles’ lead to six. EKU closed the first half on a 23-11 run and headed to the locker room trailing 35-33.
Green took over early in the second half, knocking down three straight shots, including a three-pointer, as EKU took its first lead, 42-40. But Morehead responded with an 11-0 run during which EKU missed six straight shots to go back up by nine. King finally halted the Colonels’ drought with a layup.
The Colonels’ hopes took a hit when King, the team’s leading scorer this season, picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench with 11:20 to play. Moreno, the Colonels’ second-leading scorer, went to the bench with just over eight minutes to go after picking up his fourth foul.
Brown out
EKU reserve guard Jomaru Brown missed Monday’s game after sustaining an injury in Saturday’s 81-60 win over Transylvania. Brown watched from the bench area while dressed in street clothes.
The 6-foot-2 junior, who was voted to the All-OVC First Team as a sophomore last season, averaged 11.8 points per outing in EKU’s first six games of the year.
Next games
Campbellsville at Eastern Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17
SIU Edwardsville at Morehead State
When: 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 8:34 PM.
