By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Morehead State won the battles in rebounds, turnovers and shooting accuracy, and those advantages translated into a 69-59 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Tennessee Tech in an extremely physical fight Thursday night in Eblen Center.

The loss was Tech's first at home this season after winning the first 13, and left the Golden Eagles with an 18-10 overall record. More importantly, it drops Tech to 10-5 in OVC play and into a real battle for seeding heading into the final days of the season.

Morehead State swept the series over Tech and improved to 17-11 overall and into a deadlock with the Golden Eagles at 10-5 in OVC action.

Trailing by as many as 13 in the second half, Tech clawed its way back with an 8-2 run to get within four points, 63-59, with just over two minutes remaining, but couldn't get any breaks down the stretch.

Senior Torrance Rowe paced the Golden Eagles with 21 points, while senior Ryan Martin notched a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Aleksa Jugovic also scored in double figures with 12, including some big 3-pointers late that helped fuel Tech's comeback bid.

MSU had four players notch double digits in scoring, led by Lyonell Gaines with 15 points and eight rebounds. Brent Arrington added 12 points with seven assists, while Anthony Elechi had 11 points and six rebounds. DeJuan Marrero scored 10. Malik Maitland also dished out seven of Morehead State's 16 assists.

Morehead State built an early lead, lost it, then reclaimed an edge by halftime mainly through shooting accuracy. The Eagles hit nearly 52 percent (15-for-29) in the first 20 minutes while the Golden Eagles connected on 32 percent (7-for-22). That disparency left MSU with a 37-31 advantage at the break.

Morehead State's hot hands continued in the second half as the Eagles grew their lead to 14 points, 48-34, with 14:47 to play. The MSU margin was still in double figures at 61-51, with 7:23 remaining when Rowe and Martin opened Tech's 8-2 stretch that made it a four-point game.

The regular season winds up Saturday with an OVC doubleheader in Eblen Center as the Golden Eagle teams welcome Eastern Kentucky. The women's contest kicks things off at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game slated for 7:30 p.m.

The night is Senior Night, as Tech will recognize its departing seniors between games.