Published: January 29, 2008 04:27 pm         

Eagles go 1-1 on road trip

MSU nets victory at SeMo, drops overtime heartbreaker at Eastern Illinois; Tyndall's bunch 7-4 in OVC

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Maze Stallworth and Jamyron Steward scored 21 points apiece to lead Morehead State to an 82-78 Ohio Valley Conference win at Southeast Missouri on Thursday (Jan. 24).

  The Eagles won their fifth game in a row and are 9-9 overall, 7-4 and in third place in the OVC. MSU also got 15 points from Leon Buchanan and 10 points from Nikola Stojakovic.

 

Southeast Missouri fell to 11-10 overall, 6-5 in the league. The Redhawks were led by Jaycen Herring who scored a game-high 23 points. Calvin Williams had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

  "I knew this game would be a challenge," said MSU Head Coach Donnie Tyndall. "For the first 30 minutes, we played about as well as we have this season. We defended well, we rebounded well and we were efficient on offense.

  "Even though they cut into our lead down the stretch, we did what it took to win. Maze Stallworth, Jamyron Steward and Nikola Stojakovic all made key free throws.  This was a big conference road win for our ball club."

MSU led by 12 points, 34-22, at halftime, and stretched its lead to as many as 20 points in the second half. The Redhawks either fouled or forced Eagle turnovers on nearly every play down the stretch and cut the lead to two points with five seconds remaining. Two free throws by Stallworth at that point assured the MSU victory.

  The Eagles hit 40 percent (20-of-50) from the field, the Redhawks 45.3 percent (29-of-64). MSU was six-of-12 from three-point range, SEMO was five-of-19 from behind the arc.

  At the free throw line, Morehead State hit 36-of-48 (75 percent). Southeast Missouri made only 15-of-28 (53.6 percent).

  The Eagles out-rebounded the Redhawks, 41-to-33, with Stallworth and Kenneth Faried pulling down nine rebounds each.





•Eagle Men Fall

66-65 in Overtime at Eastern Illinois



CHARLESTON, ILL. -- Julio Anthony hit a three-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining in overtime to give Eastern Illinois a 66-65 Ohio Valley Conference win over Morehead State Saturday in Charleston.

The loss broke a five-game winning streak for the Eagles who fell to 9-10 overall and 7-5 in the OVC.  MSU, who remains in third place in league standings, got 17 points from Leon Buchanan, 12 points from John Lamb, 11 points from Jamyron Steward and 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Kenneth Faried.



Eastern Illinois, now 3-17 overall and 2-10 in the league, was led by Anthony who scored 16 points.  Tyler Lazer had 13 points, Jake Byrne added 12 points and Ousmane Cisse scored 10 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.



"Give Eastern Illinois credit for the way they battled," said MSU Coach Donnie Tyndall.  "I said coming in that they were a dangerous team and that their record was not indicative of the way they play.

"Shots just didn't fall for us tonight, and we didn't do a great job of defending the post.  When we left on this road trip, you might think that splitting two road games would be good.  But, after getting the first one at Southeast Missouri, it was disappointing to lose this one."



EIU led by two, 30-28, at halftime.  MSU took the lead early in the second half and held it for much of the period.  The Eagles led by as many as seven points before the Panthers rallied to send the game into overtime.

Eastern Illinois hit 46.7 percent (21-of-45) from the field to 36.1 percent (22-of-61) for MSU.  The Eagles won the rebound battle, 39-to-29, and had 12 turnovers to 14 for the Panthers.



MSU will play host to Tennessee Tech on Tuesday (Jan. 29).  Tip off in Johnson Arena will be 7:30 p.m. EST.