NASHVILLE — The Morehead State men’s basketball team continues its three-game Ohio Valley Conference road trip on Saturday at East Division opponent Belmont. Tip-off from the Curb Event Center is set for approximately 7 p.m. ET. The contest will follow the Eagles and Bruins in women’s hoops at 5 p.m.
MSU, which has won five of its last seven games despite losingon Wednesday at Eastern Kentucky, is 12-15 overall, 7-5 in league play and 6-8 on the road. BU, which fell to Jacksonville State the same night and has lost three in a row, is 15-10 overall, 7-5 in conference action and 9-2 at home.
Belmont owns a 5-1 all-time advantage against Morehead State. The Bruins won the first five games in the series, but the Eagles posted a 73-71 win last Saturday.
Ways to follow the game:
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO (CPU) | LIVE AUDIO (mobile) | LIVE STATS | TWITTER
Belmont will stream the game live and free of charge on OVCDigitalNetwork.com. The contest will also be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network, with Chuck Mraz calling the play-by-play and Jason Blanton serving as the analyst. The radio network includes WIVY-96.3 FM in Morehead, WCBJ-103.7 FM in Campton, MSUEagles.com (computers),m.Morehead.EZStream.com (mobile devices) and the Eagle Empire App.
Releases and pre-game information:
MOREHEAD STATE | BELMONT | OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE
Ten notes heading into the contest:
A BATTLE FOR THE DIVISION
Morehead State (7-5) and Belmont (7-5) enter Saturday’s action just 1/2 game back in the Ohio Valley Conference’s East Division. Eastern Kentucky (7-4), which is 2-0 against the Eagles this season and 1-0 versus the Bruins, leads the tight three-team race.
OVC TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK
Murray State, which has won 20 straight games, is 22-4 overall and 12-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Racers have clinched the No. 1 seed, while the No. 2 seed will come from the East Division. Both division winners go straight to the OVC Tournament semifinals. Seeds No. 3 through 8 will be determined by league winning percentage.
FIVE OF SEVEN IS STILL NICE
Morehead State, which is 12-15 overall, has won five of its last seven games. The Eagles posted a 72-57 win over Tennessee State on Feb. 5 and 73-71 victory over Belmont last Saturday. The streak is MSU’s best since winning six of seven Jan. 25-Feb. 19, 2014.
FINALLY BREAKING THROUGH
Freshman Miguel Dicent drained a runner with 4.9 seconds to play to give Morehead State a 73-71 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Belmont last Saturday at Johnson Arena. The win was MSU’s first in six all-time meetings against the Bruins.
THE WEEKLY AWARD WINNER
Senior Karam Mashour, who averaged 21.5 points and 10.0 rebounds in two victories last week, is the adidas Ohio Valley Conference Co-Player of the Week for the period of Feb. 2-8. The native of Israel is also the College Sports Madness OVC Player of the Week and NetScouts Basketball International Player of the Week.
TURNING IT ON IN OVC PLAY
Karam Mashour tallied 21 points and a career-best 14 rebounds on Feb. 5 against Tennessee State. He added 22 points and six boards last Saturday versus Belmont. The forward is leading Morehead State with 14.1 points and 7.7 rebounds in Ohio Valley Conference play. He has reached the 10-point plateau 13 times this year.
WHEN I PASS, YOU SHOULD SCORE
Senior Kareem Storey places fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference with 4.5 assists per game and sixth with 1.6 assists-per-turnover. The guard has tallied five assists in 24 of 56 games at Morehead State. He is averaging 7.5 points this season on 83 percent (40-of-48) from the foul line.
THE ONLY FOURTH-YEAR PLAYER
Senior Angelo Warner, the only fourth-year player at Morehead State, has recorded 1,454 points (11.8 pg) and 3,419 minutes (27.8 pg) in 123 career tilts. The guard has reached 10 points on 79 occasions. He needs just 16 more points to climb into MSU’s top-10 for career scoring.
REBOUNDING IS WHAT WE DO
Morehead State has led the Ohio Valley Conference in rebounding margin six straight seasons (2008-14), paced the league in rebounds five of the last six years and had the conference’s top individual four of the past six seasons. MSU currently places second among OVC schools in rebounding margin (+4.6), while ranking third in boards per game (35.2).
MORE ON THE GLASS CLEANING
Morehead State is +77 in total rebounds, +52 in offensive boards and +29 in second-chance points over its last 13 contests. The Eagles have only been outrebounded once during the stretch and six times in 27 affairs this season. MSU has four individuals averaging at least 4.0 boards this year, but only had three at this point last season.
