Junior Angelo Warner tied his career-high with 25 points, and the Morehead State men's basketball team tallied an 82-75 win over Ohio Valley Conference opponent UT Martin on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 18) at MSU's Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who have won five of their past six games, improve to 13-7 overall, 4-1 in the league and 7-2 at home. The Skyhawks, who have dropped seven of their last eight, fall to 6-15 overall, 1-5 in the conference and 2-10 on the road.
Morehead State moves to 32-13 in the all-time series with its ninth consecutive victory over UT Martin. The Eagles also improve to 67-15 (82 percent) at home over the past six seasons.
"Today's performance wasn't pretty, but an OVC win is an OVC win," Head Coach Sean Woods said. "We need to work on putting together a 40-minute game, but we did what we needed to down the stretch when this one was on the line."
Warner knocked down 8-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the free-throw line. He has now reached 10 points in 19 out of 20 games this year and 48 times in his career. Junior Jordan Percell added 13 points for Morehead State on 5-of-7 from the field. It was his best scoring performance in 48 career games against Division I opponents.
Five Eagles registered double figures in the scoring column. Sophomore Brent Arrington posted 12, while freshman Greg Dotson collected 11 and senior Chad Posthumus recorded 10.
"Jordan and Greg played well today," Woods said. "Jordan had a great preseason (before getting injured) and was playing too well today to be taken out (of the game). Jordan is a true freshman, but he's learning and getting better."
Arrington also tied his career highs with seven rebounds and five steals (four in the first half), while junior Kareem Storey was credited with a game-best seven assists (six in the second half).
UT Martin senior Mike Liabo paced all scorers with 32 points in just 25 minutes. He drilled 10-of-18 from the field, 6-of-12 from three-point range and 6-of-7 from the foul line. Junior Marshun Newell and junior Myles Taylor chipped in with 13 apiece for the Skyhawks.
"Give UT Martin credit," Woods said. "They are a well-coached team and play hard. They wouldn't go away today, but that's what I expected. UT Martin pushed us to the limit, and we feel fortunate to come away with a 4-1 OVC record."
Morehead State posted a 40-32 advantage on the glass. The Eagles, who lead the OVC in that department, have only been outrebounded once in 20 games this season. MSU posted scoring advantages of 42-20 in the paint, 26-11 off turnovers and 12-4 on the fast break.
Morehead State drilled 44 percent (27-of-62) from the field and 70 percent (26-of-37) from the free-throw stripe, but only drilled 14 percent (2-of-14) from long range. UT Martin only knocked down 39 percent (21-of-54) of its field-goal attempts and 31 percent (8-of-26) from beyond the arc, but drilled 93 percent (25-of-27) at the charity stripe. The Skyhawks opened the contest with a 9-2 lead. Morehead State used an 8-0 run late in the first half to grab a lead it held for the remainder of the contest.
Morehead State continues OVC play on Thursday (Jan. 23) at Belmont and Saturday (Jan. 25) at Tennessee State. Both games will be shown live on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.
"Belmont is one of the top teams in our league, and Tennessee State is dangerous despite their record," Woods added. "This coming week is really big for us, and we will need to be ready."
