The Morehead State men's basketball fell to UT Martin, 83-70, in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament on Friday night.
With the loss, the Eagles' season-high seven-game winning streak comes to a close and their record falls to 19-12 on the year.
"UT Martin was the better team tonight, simple as that. They were a step faster, they caught us on a perfect night. But I'm proud of my guys, they gave me everything they had. It just wasn't our night," said head coach Sean Woods. "We had a long run and we fought through some adversity, but in the end it caught up with us tonight and they took advantage of it. I tip my hat off to them, they came ready and prepared."
For the second straight night, the Eagles went into the locker room at halftime trailing.
In the win over Murray State on Thursday night, they were able to score seven straight points out of the break to even the game and went on to a nine-point victory.
Against the Skyhawks, they quickly overcame the three-point deficit and took the lead at 44-43 on a jumper by junior guard Xavier Moon.
But, that would be Morehead State's lone lead of the second half.
UT Martin answered with seven straight points and extended the lead to 13 points at 67-54 with 9:12 to go.
The Eagles got it back to eight points at 69-61 with just under five minutes to go, but the Skyhawks quickly answered at the other end and led by double digits the rest of the way.
Morehead State was outrebounded for just the sixth time this season in the loss, 42-30, and their record moves to 0-6 when being outrebounded.
During their seven-game winning streak, the Eagles were holding opponents to 64.3 points per game and 40 percent shooting from the field. UTM shot 67 percent in the first half and 57 percent for the game, en route to 83 points, the third highest mark allowed by MSU all season.
Senior guard Brent Arrington led the Eagles with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
"Great teams make runs like we did, up until tonight's game. We fought the whole way tonight, even down to the last seconds, and that shows how resilient this team is and how we have each other's back," said Arrington. "I wish we could keep playing, but we didn't do what it takes tonight."
Junior guard Corban Collins, who had missed the last five games due to injury, scored 12 points and knocked down his first four three-point attempts. Senior Lyonell Gaines added ten points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Jacolby Mobley led the way for the Skyhawks with 22 points, on 6-of-12 shooting. He shot 4-of-10 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Twymond Howard added 21 points, on 9-of-12 shooting, and ten rebounds.
The Skyhawks recorded ten blocks, the most against Morehead State this season.
With their run in the OVC Tournament completed, the Eagles now wait to see if they will receive a birth in a postseason tournament. They could potentially land in the College Basketball Invitational or the College Insider Tournament.
