MOREHEAD, Ky. — Sophomore Corban Collins led five players in double figures with 15 points, and the Morehead State men’s basketball team posted an 87-79 victory over NAIA opponent Cincinnati Christian in its home opener on Monday evening at Johnson Arena.
The MSU Eagles, who compete in the Ohio Valley Conference, improve 1-1 on the season. The CCU Eagles, who are members of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, slip to 5-2 overall. It was the first regular-season meeting between the schools.
“I’m happy with the win, but disappointed with how we played,” Head Coach Sean Woods said. “I’ve said this for a while now, but we are a work in progress. We gave significant minutes tonight to some guys who have been injured, and you could see how rusty some of them were.”
Senior Kareem Storey, junior Anthony Elechi and freshman Marquel Willis netted 13 points apiece, while senior Billy Reader added 10. Reader and Elechi each recorded a team-high seven rebounds, while Storey dished out a team-best nine assists and Reader blocked three shots.
Morehead State registered a 45-29 rebounding advantage, including 23-11 prior to intermission. MSU also tallied the upper hand in offensive rebounds (18-4), assists (16-10), blocked shots (6-5), paint points (34-16), points off turnovers (21-10) and second-chance points (15-10).
Morehead State led from start to finish. MSU’s biggest lead of 21 points came with 9:37 to play, but CCU trimmed the deficit to five in the final minute.
The game featured 61 fouls, including 32 in the second half. Morehead State connected on 30-of-38 (79 percent) from the free-throw line, while Cincinnati Christian hit 32-of-40 (80 percent). Storey canned 11-of-12 from the foul line, while Willis drilled 9-of-10.
Sophomore Mac Constable led Cincinnati Christian with 17 points off the bench, while junior Mitch McLeish added 16 on 11-of-13 from the free-throw stripe. Two other CCU players reached 10 points.
Morehead State continues its stretch of five games in seven days on Wednesday at American Athletic Conference opponent Cincinnati. Tip-off from Fifth Third Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. The contest will be televised live on Fox Sports Ohio and shown on ESPN3.com.
“It’s a long season, filled with ups and downs,” Woods said. “This wasn’t the same team that almost beat UNLV, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and get better. This is a very grueling week, so we need to be thankful for the win and get ready for our upcoming games.”
Morehead State’s top returning scorer, senior Angelo Warner, did not play in the home opener. Woods clarified in his post-game remarks it was because he wanted to rest Warner. The guard played all 34 games and 1,184 minutes last season, which ranked third in the OVC.
[adsenseyu2]
Comments
