The Morehead State men's basketball team posted advantages of 46-4 in paint points, 23-3 in fast-break points, 30-5 in bench points, 55-33 in rebounds and 22-3 in offensive boards en route to a 87-55 rout of Jacksonville State on Saturday evening at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles, who enter the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with eight wins in 11 games, improve to 15-16 overall, 10-6 in league action and 7-6 at home. The Gamecocks, who finish the campaign losing seven of their last 10, close out 12-19 overall, 5-11 in OVC play and 1-16 on the road.
Saturday was Senior Day as Jalen Courtney, Chad Donley, Karam Mashour, Billy Reader, Kareem Storey and Angelo Warner were honored prior to the contest. Warner is the only fourth-year player at MSU, while Mashour, Reader and Storey are closing out their second seasons on the active roster.
"We really put together a 40-minute game tonight," Head Coach Sean Woods said. "I'm so proud of our young men, especially our six seniors. I feel like we are playing our best basketball of the season right now. Our guys are playing very unselfish on both ends of the floor. All they want to do is win."
Mashour led Morehead State with 15 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Reader recorded 13 points and nine rebounds. Warner registered 12 points, five assists and three steals, while Arrington collected 11 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocked shots.
Warner, who eclipsed 1,500 career points, is up to 21 double-figure scoring performances this season and 81 in his career. Arrington has collected 19 double-figure scoring efforts this year and 38 at Morehead State, while Mashour owns 17 double-figure scoring games on the campaign.
Arrington also set a career high for rebounds and season high for assists.
Morehead State's rebounding led to a 16-3 edge in second-chance points. The Eagles are +118 in total rebounds, +85 in offensive boards and +42 in second-chance points over their last 17 contests. MSU has only been outrebounded once during the stretch and six times in 31 affairs this year.
Morehead State tallied 24 assists, 15 steals and just seven turnovers. Jacksonville State came up with just 12 helpers and six thefts while committing 21 miscues. MSU rolled up season highs of 82 field-goal attempts and 28 three-point tries. JSU was limited to 33 percent (17-of-51) overall.
"Our young men were relentless tonight," Woods said. "You can go up and down this stat sheet and see that everyone contributed. Our starters brought energy and so did our bench. We will definitely need this type of team effort if we are going to make any noise in the conference tournament."
The Eagles made 6-of-7 from the field early in the second half and busted the game open with a 15-0 run during the same stretch. Morehead State led for more than 32 minutes on the night. MSU's largest lead of 34 points came in the final minute of the contest.
Senior Avery Moore paced JSU with a game-high 19 points. Classmate Jamal Hunter added nine blocked shots. The Gamecocks managed 11 rejections.
Morehead State begins its run in the conference tournament on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The fifth-seeded Eagles will face eighth-seeded Southeast Missouri at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. If MSU wins, it would square off with No. 4 UT Martin on Thursday and No. 1 Murray State on Friday.