MOREHEAD, Ky. – A very balanced offensive attack led the Morehead State men’s basketball team past the Marshall Thundering Herd on Tuesday night in Johnson Arena, by a final score of 85-61.
The Eagles advance to 3-1 on the season while the Herd fell to 0-2. It marked the third straight win for MSU over Marshall in the long running series.
“This team worried us a little going into the game, the way that they played so well against Tennessee. But, I’m so proud of our guys, we stepped up and we were solid defensively. We didn’t allow them to get a lot of threes. We didn’t allow dribble penetration, we stayed home and we were disciplined,” said head coach Sean Woods.
The Eagles took a 38-27 lead into the locker room, after big first halves from junior Ty’Quan Bitting and senior Lyonell Gaines off the bench. The Eagles quickly extended that lead as junior DeJuan Marrero scored six straight points out of the locker room, adding a block on the defensive end. This was all part of an 8-0 run for the Eagles to start the second half.
Morehead State finished the game shooting 53 percent from the field and holding Marshall to 36 percent accuracy. The Eagles connected on 18 of their 25 free throws and handed out 21 assists.
Morehead State outrebounded the Herd, 45-27, led by Marrero’s eight boards. He also added eight points.
Every Eagle on the roster got in on the scoring by night’s end.
“We got contributions out of everybody tonight,” said Woods. “I couldn’t be more ecstatic from a team standpoint that everyone was able to contribute to a big-time win like this.”
Junior Corban Collins finished the game with a team-high 15 points to go along with his eight assists. He shot 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Gaines racked up nine points, junior guard Xavier Moon added nine as well, while Bitting finished with eight points, all in the first half. Sophomore guard Miguel Dicent also contributed seven points.
The Eagles held advantages of 50-20 in points in the paint and 44-20 in points scored by reserves. After an early advantage by the visitors, the Eagles led for 34:16 of the contest.
Morehead State returns to Johnson Arena on Saturday at 4 p.m. to host Southern Miss.
Official Box Score:
