Despite leading the game for nearly 28 of the contest's 45 extended minutes, Morehead State men's basketball (4-10, 0-1 Ohio Valley Conference) fell to UT Martin (11-6, 1-1 OVC), 81-77, in overtime at the Elam Center.
"Little things like not switching when we're supposed to, leaving our feet to pass, and letting them drive us in late clock situations cost us tonight," said interim head coach Preston Spradlin. "A loss like this hurts, but we have to learn from our mistakes. This is the type of team you have to beat night-in and night-out to win this league, so that's encouraging, but we had our chances to put them away and we didn't do that."
Morehead State built a ten-point lead midway through the second half as freshman guard Jordan Walker scored nine straight points, but UT Martin ended the final seven minutes of regulation on an 18-8 run to force overtime.
Trailing 79-77 with eight seconds to go in overtime, the Eagles had a chance, but junior guard Miguel Dicent's double-clutch three-pointer fell short as the clock wound down.
The Eagles were led in scoring by Walker, who dropped a career-high 26 points on 6-of-9 (.667) shooting from three-point range. Senior guard Xavier Moon, who logged 43 minutes on the floor, tallied 18 points, five assists, and four steals.
Senior forward DeJuan Marrero finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Morehead State was outrebounded, 46-34, and UT Martin finished with 19 offensive rebounds.
The Eagles return home on Thursday night to face Eastern Illinois in the first of four straight games at Johnson Arena.
