By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
MOREHEAD, Ky. – A last-second heave just clanked off the backboard and iron for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Thursday evening, as the Golden Eagles fell in a close, Ohio Valley Conference battle on the road to Morehead State, 57-54.
In what was a back-and-forth affair throughout the night, the Eagles snagged a one-point lead with 90 seconds to play. Morehead State then drilled a triple late in the shot clock to expand the advantage to four with just under 40 seconds to go.
Junior guard Jr. Clay drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws, but the home team answered with a pair of freebies from KJ Hunt to make it a four-point game with 25 seconds to spare.
Needing a bucket in the worst way with the clock ticking down, Clay drilled a monster 3-pointer from the top of the key, cutting the deficit to a single point with just 15 seconds on the clock. Another foul gave the Eagles a one-and-one free throw try on the other end. Tech hauled in the rebound on the errant attempt, setting up for what seemed to be the final possession.
Clay cut into the paint around a pair of defenders, but couldn't hold up as a third gained position in front of the streaking Golden Eagle, forcing a charge and turnover with two seconds to play. Morehead sank both free throws for the 57-54 lead, but Tech had one more chance.
An inbounds pass intended for Keishawn Davidson sailed over the sophomore's head, but also cleared the defender's arm. He snagged the ball off the bounce, and took a heave from the right side of the court, watching his off-balance shot, with an outstretched defender in his face, fall just short.
"I'm really proud of our team," Tech head coach John Pelphrey said. "We made a lot of progress defensively. We didn't give up very many points, particularly for a road game. They only shot 37 percent from the field. We completely made them change the way they normally play with their lineups."
Tech claimed 11 steals and four blocks while holding Morehead State to under 40 percent shooting from the floor and under 25 percent from 3-point range.
"I thought we ran our offense beautifully," Pelphrey explained. "I don't know what the turnovers ended up being, but we got a lot of great looks. I really want to look and study the last three minutes of the game, just to see what that looks like. Sometimes, down the stretch, you just have to go back and look at it. I think we kind of stalled a little bit there offensively late, in terms of the ball going in the basket. To me, though, it looked like most of the time we were getting good opportunities and we'll continue to grow and start to make more of those."
Three Golden Eagles finished in double figures, led by Clay with a game-high 20 points, not to mention three steals. It marked the Chattanooga native's 58th career double-digit scoring performance.
He also hit a triple for the 22nd-consecutive game, the longest streak by Golden Eagle since Aleska Jugovic drained one in 24-straight games from during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns. Clay now sits just 23 points away from becoming the 37th member of the Tech program to reach 1,000 career points.
Damaria Franklin poured in 15 points with a season-high nine rebounds while Keishawn Davidson added 10 points, two assists, three rebounds, two blocks and three steals. Tujautae Williams tacked on seven and five boards off the bench, as well as a team-high three dimes.
"I'm proud of these guys," Pelphrey added. "They really battled all the way to the end. There were a lot of plays being made by a lot of different people. CJ Gettelfinger came off the bench and got us a big defensive stop. Marcus Hopkins dove on the floor and got us a ball back. Tae [Tujautae] Williams gave us a big boost offensively in the first half. We just gotta keep growing."
The purple and gold will wrap up its three-game road stretch with a 6:00 p.m. CT tilt at Eastern Kentucky Saturday evening.
"We're getting better," Pelphrey added. "The guys are hurting. There's a little bit of pain suffering when you get that close and have some opportunities, and it even came down to the last shot. But I'm proud of them and we're getting better."
Photo by JSU Athletics
