A valiant effort by the Morehead State men's basketball team came up inches short Saturday night at Eastern Kentucky as the Eagles fell 80-76 in the regular season finale.
A back and forth battle saw MSU hold a second-half lead midway through the final 20 minutes, but a five-point swing - all on EKU free throws - shifted the lead back to the hosts, and MSU played catch up the rest of the way as the Eagles ended the regular season 7-11 in the OVC and 13-18 overall.
EKU, which had already locked up fourth place for the OVC Tournament, finished 15-17 overall and 12-6 in the league. The Eagles needed Tennessee Tech to lose at Jacksonville State tonight to secure the eighth seed in the tournament next week in Evansville, Ind.
Junior James Baker registered his second double-double of the year with 20 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Baker scored his fourth straight game with double figure points. Senior guard Jordan Walker became just the third player in program history with 200+ career three-pointers with three triples and moved to 11th in career scoring at MSU with 1,471 points, including 17 tonight.