CHAMPIONS! Golden Eagles beat Morehead State 74-67 to claim OVC title outright
Tennessee Tech beat Morehead State Saturday night, 74-67. allowing the Golden Eagles to claim sole ownership of the 2005 Ohio Valley Conference basketball championship. It's Tech's third OVC title in five years, but the first for head coach Mike Sutton.
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Tennessee Tech beat Morehead State Saturday
night, 74-67. allowing the Golden Eagles to claim sole ownership of
the 2005 Ohio Valley Conference basketball championship. It's
Tech's third OVC title in five years, but the first for head coach
Mike
Sutton.
"This is really special. We talk to our kids all the time about
sharing the ball, but the championship was one thing we didn't want
to share," Sutton said. "We've had great support all year long, and
this belongs to all our fans, as well."
The number one seed in this week's O'Reilly OVC Basketball
Tournament, Tech will host Eastern Illinois Tuesday night in Eblen
Center with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.
"We're going to need our fans on Tuesday night to help us take the
next step," Sutton said.
Willie Jenkins led Tech with 25 points and seven rebounds, while
freshman Anthony Fisher and junior Milone Clark added 13 each.
Morehead was led by Chad McKnight, who scored 27 points and
snatched eight rebounds in the final game of his career. Tramaine
Stevens added 15 points and seven boards, while Josh Reed had 10
points.
"We had to earn it," Sutton said. "Morehead State played hard and
played well, and made us play hard. We knew they were going to be
prepared, and we had to have a solid effort, and we got them from
everybody on the team."
In addition to the three players who scored in double digits, Tech
got important contributions from several other players. Keyon Boyd
had six points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, while
Derek Stribling finished with six points, three rebounds, two
assists and two steals. Jonathan Jones had five rebounds and four
blocked shots, Amado McKenzie had five points and three boards, and
Ben Jacobson snapped down four rebounds.
"Ben Jacobson was really good tonight," said Sutton. "He made some
big plays, got some big rebounds."
Tramaine Stevens converted a three-point play to tie the game for
the tenth time, 53-53, with 9:10 remaining and Ramon Kelly hit a
jumper with 7:58 to play to put Morehead State on top, 55-53.
That's when Tech put together a crucial 15-3 run to take control
of the contest, starting with a 3-pointer by Jenkins. Tech's
all-distirct forward hit another 3-pointer in the run, and Milone
Clark netted six points as the Golden Eagles raced to a 10-point
lead, 68-58, with 4:07 remaining.
MSU got the difference down to five, 68-63, on a trey by Josh
Reed, but that was the closest the home team got after that as
Fisher and Stribling combined to make six straight free throws to
clinch the victory.
The game was tied four times in the first half and the lead
exchanged hands five times before Tech went to the break with a
32-29 lead. That edge came on a spectacular play by the Golden
Eagles, who went the length of the court and got a 3-pointer by
Clark, on a pass from Stribling, in the final 1.3 seconds.
The Golden Eagles' biggest lead in the first half was seven
points, but Morehead never let the Golden Eagles get too far ahead.
MSU's 2-0 lead to start the game was its largest edge of the
contest, but the Eagles came back to take a one-point lead twice
during the half.
