MOREHEAD, Ky. – Damarco Minor turned in his seventh double-double of the year and Ray'Sean Taylor scored a team-high 22 points, but it came in a losing effort. SIUE men's basketball dropped a 79-68 decision on the road at league-leading Morehead State Thursday night.

SIUE fell to 13-11 overall and 6-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Cougars have lost consecutive games for just the second time this season. Morehead State improved to 19-5 overall and 10-1 in OVC play. The Eagles have won 17 consecutive home games.

SIUE led only briefly in the first half after a 7-0 run. Ray'Sean Taylor gave the Cougars an 11-9 advantage with 11:01 to play in the half. Back-to-back three-pointers by Kalil Thomas and Drew Thelwell put Morehead State back in front 15-11. The Eagles used eight first-half three-pointers to build a 37-26 lead at halftime.

"We didn't guard like we need to guard to have success," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said.

Morehead State pushed its lead to 14 (45-31) before SIUE and Minor took over. Minor followed a missed three-pointer with an offensive rebound and putback when the MSU bench was hit with a technical foul. Minor connected on both free throws. He then forced a turnover, grabbed the steal and converted the layup to make it an eight-point game. Minor grabbed a defensive rebound before knocking down a spot-up three-pointer in transition to cut the lead to 45-40. On the next possession, Desmond Polk grabbed a steal and fed Lamar Wright, who knocked down a corner three to make it 45-43 with 15:15 to play.

"We were getting some stops in that little stretch and pushing the tempo," Barone said of the run. We moved the ball."

Lamar Wright made it 47-45 Morehead State with 14:40 left when the Eagles used a 7-0 run to push the lead back to nine.

"We were feeling good about ourselves," Barone said. "But (Morehead State) righted the ship and got some baskets when they needed them."

Morehead State built as much as a 15-point lead, and the Cougars got no closer than nine points the rest of the way out.

Minor finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Ray'Sean Taylor's 22 points moved him to 1,176 points and into eighth place in career scoring at SIUE. Terrance Thompson scored nine points and Shamar Wright added eight points.

SIUE hit 26-65 (40 percent) of its shots for the game. The Cougars were just 3-21 (14 percent) from three-point range.

The Cougars outrebounded the Eagles 35-33 and held a 38-18 advantage on points in the paint.

"We got to the rim in a nice little stretch," Barone added. "But there were some dives where we bobbled the ball and we had some wide-open looks that we missed and that's why our assist rate was down. On the road against the team that is leading the league, you have to be significantly better."

Riley Minix led the Eagles with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Thellwell finished with 17 points and seven assists. Thomas scored 15.

The Eagles shot 51 percent (23-45) overall and 13-27 (48 percent) from three-point territory.

SIUE continues on the road to Southern Indiana for a 7:30 game Saturday night.

"We'll recalibrate," Barone said. "We'll be prepared to have some success on Saturday night."