Louisville native leads Morehead State past EKU, into OVC championship game
Junior guard DeVon Cooper scored a career-high 25 points and sank four free throws in the closing seconds as the Morehead State men’s basketball team rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit to knock off Eastern Kentucky, 67-64, in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Ind., on Friday.
The Eagles were slated to face OVC regular-season champion Belmont in Saturday’s championship game with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line. Morehead (22-7 overall) and EKU split their two-game regular-season series. The loss marked the final league game for EKU (22-7) as a member of the OVC. The Colonels will join the Atlantic Sun Conference next season.
It’s the first trip to the OVC championship game for the Eagles since winning the 2010-2011 title.
“What a great college basketball game,” Morehead State Coach Preston Spradlin said. “I’m just really proud of our guys ... the (EKU) pressure got to us at first. We made some uncharacteristic turnovers, a few defensive mistakes. We started to break apart slightly.
“But the great thing about this group is their toughness and their togetherness has overcome that type of adversity many times before.”
EKU sophomore Michael Moreno nailed a three-pointer to tie the game 59-59 with 1:37 to go. Morehead freshman sensation Johni Broome hit a bucket to give the Eagles the lead for good with 1:11 left. Skyelar Potter’s layup gave the Eagles a four-point edge with 29 seconds to play before EKU’s Curt Lewis nailed a three from the corner to make it a one-point game. Morehead’s Cooper then went 4-for-4 from the foul line to seal the win.
Cooper went 7-for-11 from the field and hit three of four shots beyond the arc. The Louisville native sank all eight of his free throws and pulled down six rebounds.
“Since I was little, I’ve been built for this moment right here,” Cooper said. “When I go to the free-throw line I tell myself I’m built for it. So, when I go to the line I know I’m gonna make those.”
Broome pitched in a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds, adding a pair of blocks. The Eagles outrebounded the Colonels 38-28 and shot 49 percent from the field. EKU shot 41 percent, hitting nine of 24 three-point attempts.
Wendell Green led the Colonels with 29 points on 12-for-20 shooting, including a 4-for-6 mark from three-point range. The freshman star also had four assists and three rebounds. Moreno scored 14 points in the loss, going 4-for-10 from the perimeter.
EKU led 19-12 midway through the first half thanks to a trio of three-pointers, but Cooper took over for Morehead down the stretch, hitting two threes and scoring 10 points during a 12-0 run by the Eagles, who took a 31-28 lead into halftime.
EKU finished third in the OVC regular-season standings and set a program record for conference wins (15-5 OVC). Despite putting together one of the best seasons in program history, the Colonels are unlikely to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament because they are ranked No. 152 in the NCAA NET ratings, which have replaced RPI as a factor in the selection committee’s analytics.
“I love our team. I’m so proud of our team, how we fought, we never quit, we never gave up. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game,” EKU Coach A.W. Hamilton said. “This is a special group of kids. It’s the 11th 20-win season in the history of our school. It’s the first time we’ll have single-digit losses in 43 years ... This group has got a lot to be proud of.”
A win over Belmont in the OVC title game appears to be the only path to the NCAA Tournament for Morehead State, which finished second in the OVC regular-season standings (17-3). The Eagles are No. 134 in the NCAA NET ratings.
