The Morehead State men's basketball team overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to down Murray State in their OVC Tournament opener, 75-66.
With the win, the Eagles move to 19-11 on the year and advance to face UT Martin in the OVC Tournament semifinals on Friday night.
"Our guys deserve all the credit, they fought. Murray's never going to go away, and I thought our guys did a great job of putting them away down the stretch," said head coach Sean Woods. "We didn't turn the ball over, we made our free throws down the stretch.”
After trailing 36-29 at the half, Morehead State scored the second half's first seven points to even the game at 36-36. They then utilized a 9-0 run that was capped off by a three-pointer by junior Xavier Moon to open up a 49-45 lead with 12:36 to go and did not trail the rest of the way.
With two and a half minutes to go, junior guard Ronnye Beamon knocked down both free throws to put the Eagles up 67-61 and then senior forward Lyonell Gaines hit eight free throws in the final 42 seconds to seal the victory.
After a first half that saw each team pull down 15 rebounds, the Eagles outrebounded the Racers by 11 in the second half. Ten of their 23 second half rebounds were of the offensive variety, meaning that Morehead state pulled down ten offensive rebounds on just 14 second half misses.
The Eagles shot 47 percent for the game and after allowing Murray State to shoot 46 percent in the first half, they limited the Racers to just 35 percent shooting in the second half.
Gaines, who scored a season-high 15 points in the previous two games, recorded 15 points for the third straight time. He also pulled down a team-high ten rebounds to give him his first double-double of the season.
Moon, who had just two points in the first half, finished with 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He was 2-of-5 from three-point range.
"I knew I just had to stay aggressive because they were laying off me a little bit since I wasn't making shots in the first half," said Moon. "So I told myself, when I get these shots in the second half I'm going to knock them down. And coach just told me, if they lay off you then let it go."
Senior Anthony Elechi finished the game with 17 points, on 6-of-8 shooting, and nine rebounds.
Bryce Jones led the Racers with 24 points, but was limited to just eight points in the second half. Jeffery Moss had 21 points for Murray State.
The win ends a seven-game losing streak to Murray State and marks the Eagles' first win over the Racers in the OVC Tournament since 1984.
The Eagles now face No. 2 UT Martin in the OVC Tournament semifinals on Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.
