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MOREHEAD, Ky. – A late second half run by Morehead State and dominant play on the glass led the Eagles to a 65-50 Ohio Valley Conference win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday.  EIU made a late run with Taylor Jones hitting a couple of 3-pointers.

MSU improved to 8-8 overall, 2-0 in the OVC.  EIU falls to 3-13, 0-3 in the OVC.

Eastern Illinois opened the game with a 4-0 run as Sherman Blanford scored and assisted on a Morris Woods lay-up in the opening 2:15.  Morehead State would answer with an 18-2 run over the next ten minutes as Chad Posthumus capped the run with a three point play.  Posthumus had seven points in the opening half.

The Panthers broke the scoring drought with three straight 3-pointers, two by Josh Piper and one by Alex Austin.  EIU closed to 18-15 with 5:43 left in the half.  Piper led EIU with six first half points.

Drew Kelly ended the EIU run with a 3-pointer and was 2-of-4 from the free throw line as MSU led 26-17 at the break. 

EIU was able to close the MSU lead to 30-27 with 14:58 left in the game as Jones and Piper sank back-to-back 3-pointers.  EIU would struggle to find any offense in the next few minutes as MSU extended the lead to double figures.

After baskets by Angelo Warner and Kelly, Blanford converted a three point play to put EIU down 34-30 with 11:39 left.  MSU would go on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to lead 44-30 on a bucket by Maurice Lewis-Briggs.

Piper would score for EIU on the next possession before MSU would extend the lead to 20 points on baskets by Milton Chavis.  Kelly, Warner and Lewis-Briggs all had 11 points for MSU.

Blanford led EIU in scoring with 14 points.   Piper added 13 points and Jones scored 11.

MSU won the battle on the glass with a 36-21 rebound margin.  The Eagles had 15 offensive rebounds with Lewis-Briggs pulling down 9 boards.  EIU was led by Jones with 4 rebounds.

EIU returns to action on Thursday night hosting Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. at Lantz Arena.