EIU Men, Women, SIUE Drop Losses

Morehead State used a 11-0 run to open the second half as the Eagles broke open a close game to beat Eastern Illinois 85-75 on Thursday night at Johnson Arena.

MSU improved to 5-10 overall, 1-1 in the OVC .  EIU fell to 8-7 overall, 0-2 in the OVC as the Panthers will play at Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The first half had 12 lead changes and five ties as MSU led 39-36 at the half.

Xavier Moon had four points with an assist during the second half run as he finished with 25 points and nine assists.  A number of Moon’s assists ended in the hands of Treshaad Williams as he scored 22 points going 8-of-8 from the floor.

Ray Crossland ended Eagles run with a jumper with 15:48 to play in the game.  Crossland was one of three Panthers in double figures finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Morehead State extended its lead to 16 points with 13:46 to play in the game on the first of two DeJuan Marrero low post jumpers.  The Eagles finished with a 42-30 rebounding margin and a 40-12 points in the paint advantage.  Marrero had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

EIU closed Morehead State’s lead down to eight points three times in the second half but could not overcome that early second half run by the Eagles.

Montell Goodwin led EIU with 23 points knocking down five 3-pointers.  Cornell Johnston finished with 12 points and seven assists.  EIU finished the game shooting 39 percent from the floor.

Morehead State finished the game shooting 51 percent as the Eagles only turned the ball over four times in the second half.

Eastern Kentucky 78, SIUE 61

SIUE men's dropped to 0-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play, falling 78-61 on the road at Eastern Kentucky Thursday.

The Cougars fell to 5-11 overall. Eastern Kentucky evened its league record at 1-1. The Colonels are 8-9 overall.

SIUE built an eight-point advantage, leading 26-18 after a pair of free throws from Keenan Simmons with 9:59 to play in the first half. The Cougars knocked down nine of their first 15 attempts from the field (60 percent), but as it turned out a Tre Harris three-pointer with 10:36 to play before halftime was the last shot the Cougars would hit from the field until after the break.

SIUE missed its final 15 attempts in the first half, and EKU took a 37-30 lead into halftime.

"They went to a zone and it froze us," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "We quit moving the ball. We shot a lot of jump shots late in the first half and let them close the gap. We played a little too passive."

The Cougars missed their first four shots in the second half, collected only seven field goals for the second half and finished the game 29.6 percent (16-54) from the field.

Eastern Kentucky shot 57.7 percent (15-26) in the first half and finished the game at 50.9 percent (29-57). The Colonels got to the basket often, finishing with 54 points in the paint.

Morehead State 66, EIU Women 62

The Eastern Illinois women's basketball team nearly pulled off the upset Thursday afternoon, but a late fourth quarter push from Morehead State propelled the Eagles to a 66-62 win. With the loss the Panthers drop to 5-10 and 1-2 in the OVC while Morehead State improves to 13-3 and 3-0 in the conference.

Three Panthers finished the game in double-digits led by Grace Lennox who tied her career high with 26 points against MSU while adding seven assists and three rebounds.

EIU started the game off quickly after MSU's Shay Steele made the game's opening basket as the Panthers went on a 14-0 run capped off by a layup from Lennox at the 5:54 mark to make it 14-2. The Eagles managed to cut EIU's lead down to three points following a jumper from Steele making the score 16-13 with 1:25 left in the quarter.

EIU finished the quarter with five points as Van Dyke drilled a three-pointer with three seconds left to make it 21-13 heading into the second period. The Panthers shot 50 percent in the first quarter with Van Dyke already scoring 10 points at the end of the period. Van Dyke finished the game with 13 points, four rebounds, and five steals.

EIU maintained their lead throughout the second period thanks in large part to Zharia Lenoir who scored eight of her 10 points in the second quarter alone. The Panthers pushed their lead to as high as nine points in the quarter thanks to a layup at the final buzzer from Lennox to make it 36-27 at the end of the half.

The Panthers continued to keep MSU at bay throughout the third period until a jumper from Brianna McQueen at the 3:12 mark sparked a 7-0 run for MSU to tie the game at 45-45. Both teams eventually headed into the fourth quarter tied 49-49.

The Panthers recorded nine turnovers in the third quarter resulting in nine points for Morehead State. MSU out-scored EIU 22-13 in the third quarter.

Both teams traded buckets throughout the opening minutes of the final period as EIU managed to answer every MSU bucket to hold a slim lead. Morehead State managed to pull in front following back-to-back buckets from the Eagles to give MSU a 63-60 lead with 3:19 left in the game. That would prove to be all the Eagles needed as the Panthers went cold from the floor in the final three minutes going 1-for-8 to close out the game.

Both teams finished the game shooting 40 percent from the floor. Morehead State out-scored the Panthers 40-20 in the paint.

Four Morehead State players finished the game scoring in double-figures led by Miranda Crockett with 20 points followed by McQueen with 13 and Steele with 12.

Erica Brown led all players with 12 rebounds to tie her season high.

The Panthers continue their OVC road trip through Kentucky Saturday taking on Eastern Kentucky at 3:30 p.m. CT.