Published: March 04, 2008 03:12 pm         

Eagles earn No. 3 seed in OVC tourney

Tyndall & Co. host Tennessee State tonight 7 p.m. in tourney first round

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Todd Babington scored 18 points, and Caleb Brown added a career-high 16 points to lead Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion Austin Peay to a 72-56 win over Morehead State Saturday (March 1) evening in Johnson Arena. The Eagles will be the number three seed in next week's OVC Tournament and will host number six seed Tennessee State at 7 p.m. EST on Tuesday (March 4).

The Eagles and the Tigers will be meeting for the second time in six days. MSU rallied from 22 points down in the second half to post an 84-76 win OVC TSU last Thursday (Feb. 28) in Johnson Arena. The teams split their two regular season meetings. The Tigers won 59-53 on Jan. 3 in Nashville.

MSU, now 15-14 overall and 12-8 in the league, got 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds from freshman center Kenneth Faried in the loss to APSU. Jamyron Steward added 12 points. Senior point guard Nikola Stojakovic had a game-high 12 assists and now has 193 assists in 2007-08, a Morehead State single-season record.

 "Austin Peay is a very, very good team," said MSU Coach Donnie Tyndall. "They've won our league the past two years. They are well-coached, they play very hard and they experience with four seniors in their starting lineup.

"Our staff will begin breaking down video tape tonight. We'll meet with our team in the morning and go over the Austin Peay game. Then, we'll come back in Sunday evening and begin preparing for Tennessee State, another very good team."

Saturday evening, Austin Peay hit 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the field to 37.5 percent (21-of-56) for the Eagles. The Governors connected on 11-of-21 three-pointers, while MSU was a cold five-of-22 from behind the arc. The Eagles edged the Governors on the boards, 34-to-33.

APSU led by eight points, 42-34, at halftime and stretched the lead to as many as 20 points late in the contest. The Governors will take a 21-10 record into their OVC Tournament home game against Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday.

Eagles rally for big win over TSU

Thirty-four seconds into the second half, the Morehead State Eagles found themselves trailing by 22 points to a Tennessee State team that was hitting nearly 70 percent of its field goal attempts and had made 11 of its 13 three-pointers. But, led by its post tandem of junior Leon Buchanan and freshman Kenneth Faried, MSU rallied for an 84-76 win over the Tigers Thursday (Feb. 28) evening in Johnson Arena, and in doing so, secured a first-round home game in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament that begins next Tuesday (March 4).

Morehead State, now 15-13 overall, and 12-7 in the OVC, moved into a tie for second place in league standings with Murray State who lost at Tennessee Tech on Thursday. Regardless of the outcome of the Eagles' home game Saturday against regular season champion Austin Peay, MSU will have either a two or three seed in tournament.

Buchanan and Faried scored 23 points each. Buchanan had a game-high 10 rebounds, and Faried had nine rebounds. MSU also got 12 points from sophomore Maze Stallworth and nine points each from senior guards Jamyron Steward and Nikola Stojakovic.

Tennessee State, now 12-16 overall and 9-10 and in eighth place in the OVC, got a game-high 24 points from freshman Gerald Robinson. Bruce Price had 15 points, Ladarious Weaver had 11 points, and Reiley Ervin had nine points and a game-high nine assists.

"To be honest, I'm truly not surprised that we found a way to win this game," said MSU Coach Donnie Tyndall. "I knew with the character of the young men in our locker room, we would make a game out of it in the second half. Then, we made plays down the stretch and won it. Every young man that got in the game for us made a big play.

"In the first half, I didn't think that TSU was going to miss a shot. They made some tough, contested shots and hit 10-of-12 three pointers."

While shooting 68 percent from the field (17-of-25), including 83.3 percent (10-of-12) from behind the arc, and making all four of its free throw attempts in the first half, the Tigers led 48-29 at intermission. After MSU missed its first second half field goal attempt, Andrae Belton drained a three-pointer to give TSU its biggest lead of the game at 51-29.

The Eagles then began picking away at the Tiger lead. By the 11:26 mark of the second half, the lead was under 10 points. With 3:17 left in the game, a Stojakovic lay-up gave MSU a 69-68 lead, and the Eagles never trailed again, making 13 of their final 16 free throws.

TSU finished the game shooting 54.7 percent to 44.1 percent for MSU. The Tigers made only one of their final eight three-point attempts. MSU made 26-of-31 free throws to six-of-10 for TSU.

The rebound battle belonged to the Eagles, 37-to-26. MSU gave up 23 points off of 12 turnovers in the first half, then made only one turnover in the second period.

The rematch is slated for tonight at 7 p.m. in Johnson Arena in the quarterfinals of the OVC Tournament.