MOREHEAD, Ky. – Tyler King scored a career-high 24 points Thursday night and SIUE men's basketball tied its season high for three-pointers, but it wasn't enough. Morehead State edged SIUE 67-65 at Johnson Arena.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Cougars, who slipped to 6-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 13-9 overall. Morehead State improved to 8-3 in the league and 11-11 overall.
King scored 24 going 8-15 from the field, which included a career-best five three-pointers in eight attempts. King scored the final 11 points for the Cougars and he nearly won the game at the buzzer for SIUE.
Morehead State 66-63 with 24 seconds left. Following a timeout, King hit a shot from the right wing which was reviewed and determined to be a two-point shot. After a foul, Morehead State's George Marshall hit one of two free throws 67-65. Kyle Thomas rebounded the ball and the Cougars got it to King in the left corner. His three at the buzzer just missed.
19 of King's 24 points came in the second half. Arnas Sakenis scored 14 points.
In a sign of things to come, it was a King three-pointer which put SIUE up early. His triple, the third of the night for the Cougars, made it 13-5 and forced an early timeout from the Eagles.
SIUE never trailed in the first half and led 33-27 at the break.
The Cougars pushed the lead to eight again to start at the start of the half, but MSU's George Marshall's three-pointers tied the game at 39 with 15:03 to play.
An 8-0 Morehead State run coincided with a stretch where the Cougars missed five straight field goals and the Eagles had their first lead of the game at 41-39 with 13:36 left.
A Jo Valrie three-pointer snapped the Cougars back in front 42-41, but the Eagles kept coming. MSU pushed the lead out to eight when a Davion Cunningham three-pointer made it 62-54 with 4:18 left.
King then proceeded on a personal 8-0 run to tie the game. He knocked down a three to cut it to 62-57. He connected on a second three to make it 62-60. He was then fouled while attempting a three-pointer and hit two of three at the free throw line to knot the score at 62.
The Cougars shot 41 percent (24-58) for the game and 11-26 (42 percent) from three-point range. It was the third time that SIUE had connected on 11 three-pointers in a game this year.
Morehead State was 23-53 (43 percent) shooting overall and 17-24 (71 percent) at the free throw line.
Four Eagles scored in double figures led by Carroll who scored 14 points.
SIUE travels to Evansville for a Saturday night contest with Southern Indiana.
