By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

MOREHEAD, Ky. – Tennessee Tech held the advantage throughout the first half Thursday night in a foul-filled affair at Morehead State, and the hosts controlled things in the second half as MSU claimed an 81-74 victory in a battle between two of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference East Division.

Tech (13-7/5-2 OVC) got a double-double from Ryan Martin, one of three starters to hit the 20-point mark, but Morehead State (10-8/4-2 OVC) countered with a huge advantage off the bench for the win.

Martin finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds along with two steals before taking an early exit with his fifth foul. Tech also had three players with four fouls in a game with 58 whistle stops. Aleksa Jugovic added 21 points and three assists, while Torrance Rowe topped the Golden Eagles with 22 points and six assists.

Morehead State's top scorer was Xavier Moon with 24 points, while Anthony Elchi added 15 points and 14 rebounds and Malik Maitland came off the pines to scored 10. MSU, which lost on player to fouls and also had three more playing with four, owned a 31-6 edge off the bench.

Another advantage that went to the home team was points off turnovers, 18-11.Tsu had 11 steals and forced 17 Tech mistakes, while the Eagles had 13 turnovers.  

Outside of those two numbers, the balance in the box score backed up how tight the contest was before Morehead State was able to pry open a double-digit lead in the final two minutes.

Tech led from the onset and went up by nine points midway through the opening half. A 22-13 Golden Eagle lead vanished as Morehead State went on an 11-1 run to claim a 24-23 lead.

From that point, the lead wavered for several minutes before Tech was able to regain control and move on top by nine once again, 38-29, with a 9-0 run. Tech headed to the intermission with a three-point lead, 38-35, after hitting 46 percent of its first half shots including half (6-for-12) from long range.

Tech owned a precarious edge for the first five minutes, but a 3-pointer by Moon with 14:32 remaining nudged MSU to a 47-45 lead and the Eagles never trailed after that.

The bruising affair never saw MSU go up by more than six points, until the final three minutes. The largest difference of the night came with 1:50 to play when the Eagles pushed their lead to 76-66.

Morehead State didn't score a basket after that, relying on 5-for-6 shooting at the free throw line to hold off any Tech comeback effort. Tech was 6-for-6 at the stripe over the same stretch, but couldn't make up any ground until Rowe's layup with 20 seconds left tallied the final points of the night.

The Golden Eagles continue on the road for the second half of the "Death Valley" journey, stopping at Eastern Kentucky Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest with the Colonels.