The Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team forced 20 turnovers and used a late 12-2 run to register a 69-57 Ohio Valley Conference win over Morehead State before a crowd of 5,200 and national-television audience on Wednesday evening at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels, who have won four consecutive games, improve to 15-9 overall, 7-4 in league play, 8-3 at home and sweep the season series. The Eagles, who entered the day with five wins in their last six contests, slip to 12-15 overall, 7-5 in conference action and 6-8 on the road.
Eastern Kentucky moves into sole possession of the OVC's East Division. Belmont, which lost to Jacksonville State on Wednesday night, joins Morehead State just 1/2 game back. The winners of each division get a double bye to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
"We tried to do too much tonight and didn't stick to the script," Head Coach Sean Woods said. "Our turnovers were a problem. You have to be more disciplined with the basketball against a quality team like Eastern Kentucky, especially on their home floor in a big game."
MSU erased a 12-point deficit from late in the first half to tie the game at 49 with 6:42 remaining, but Eastern Kentucky answered with a 19-6 surge to close the affair. The tilt featured three ties and five lead changes. EKU sat in the driver's seat for more than 34 minutes.
Eastern Kentucky senior Eric Stutz tallied a game-high 25 points on 10-of-15 from the field, while classmate Corey Walden added 15 points on 11-of-12 from the foul line. The Colonels, who had five dunks, tallied scoring advantages of 32-26 in the paint and 21-14 off turnovers.
Senior Karam Mashour paced Morehead State with 16 points, while classmate Angelo Warner contributed 13 and freshman Miguel Dicent chipped in with 12. Mashour also pulled down a game-high six rebounds as the Eagles recorded a 27-19 advantage on the glass.
"I thought we did a good job of spreading the floor and driving the gaps, but you have to make plays for someone else and we didn't do enough of that tonight," Woods said. "We have played pretty well as of late, but it's going to take more discipline to win a championship."
Morehead State has only been outrebounded once in its last 13 games. The Eagles are +77 in total rebounds, +52 in offensive boards and +29 in second-chance points during the stretch. MSU has led the OVC in rebounding margin each of the past six campaigns.
Eastern Kentucky knocked down 51 percent (21-of-41) from the floor and 85 percent (23-of-27) from the free-throw stripe. Morehead State hit just 36 percent (8-of-22) from the field before intermission, but came back to drill half of its 18 attempts after the break.
The Eagles continue their three-game road trip on Saturday at Belmont. The MSU and BU women open the doubleheader at 5 p.m. ET, with the men to follow at approximately 7.
"This result is not the end of the world," Woods added. "The OVC is good and we've played some really good teams lately. Tonight was a battle all game long. It's tough to lose this one, but we have to get ready for another quality opponent in Belmont."
Wednesday's contest was shown live on ESPNU. Morehead State's last national TV game of the regular season, Feb. 26 at home against Tennessee Tech, will be shown on CBS Sports Network.
