Junior Angelo Warner hit a turnaround jump shot in the lane with less than one second remaining in double overtime Wednesday night (Feb. 19) to lift the Morehead State men's basketball team to a 90-88 victory over Austin Peay.
The Eagles, who have won 11 of their last 14 games and five consecutive Ohio Valley Conference games, improved to 19-9 overall, 10-3 in conference play and 9-3 at home. The Governors slipped to 11-16 overall, 5-8 in the league and 2-10 on the road.
Morehead State secured one of the top four seeds and an opening-round bye in the OVC Tournament. The Eagles are on pace for their first 20-win season since 2010-11.
"We found a way to win even though I felt we didn't play very well," Head Coach Sean Woods said. "That is the sign of a good team though. That was a good basketball team that was well prepared to play us tonight."
Warner, who scored a game-best 28 points, shot 8-of-18 from the floor, 4-of-11 from outside the arc and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. This marked the guard's 54th career effort in double figures, including 25 this year. He also has nine 20-point performances this season.
Senior Chad Posthumus added 17 points and a game-high 18 rebounds. The center now has 25 career efforts with 10+ boards, including 19 this year. It was also his tenth double-double this season and 12th in his 60-game career. Sophomore Brent Arrington (17 points) and junior Luka Pajkovic (10) also scored in double figures. The contest featured 53 fouls and 70 free throws.
"I thought we wore them out and foul trouble became a factor for both teams," Woods added. "We were finally able to get the ball inside."
Junior Kareem Storey contributed a game-high nine assists. The Eagles posted a 20-11 advantage in assists, as well as a 39-31 rebounding advantage and a 42-19 upper-hand in bench points. MSU has still only been out-rebounded once in its 28 games.
Travis Betran led Austin Peay with 24 points. Ed Dyson added 13 points, while Will Triggs and Fred Garmon scored 11 each.
Senior Drew Kelly tied the game at 71 with 28 seconds left in regulation on a three-point play. Austin Peay missed a potential game-winning three-pointer with less than a second left. With nine ticks left on the clock in the first overtime, Warner knocked down two free throws to once again tie the game, this time at 77. The Govs missed another would-be game-winner as time expired.
Warner opened the second overtime with a three-pointer, followed by a Posthumus dunk to propel MSU to its largest lead, 82-77. Triggs made the second of two free throws with 35 seconds left to knot the contest at 88. Warner penetrated into the lane, spun and got off a jumper with 0.8 showing for the win.
The Eagles shot 27-of-61 (44 percent) from the floor, 10-of-29 (35 percent) from three-point range and 26-of-35 (74 percent) from the charity line. Austin Peay knocked down 29-of-56 (52 percent) from the field, 5-of-13 (39 percent) from outside the arc and 25-of-35 (71 percent) from free-throw range.
The Eagles continue their season at Murray State on Saturday (Feb. 22). Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
"Murray State is a very good team," Woods said. "But we have a chance to go there and win and maybe even get two byes in the tournament. We have to go there and be ready to play."
