Ohio Valley Day Two Recap: Business As Usual For Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky

Nothing new to see here, folks. Things continued as usual in the OVC tournament, also known as "They Are Who We Thought They Were": there has been little surprise in any game yet, although I guess SEMO's late run to make their game sort of interesting for a minute was nice.

#4 Morehead State 76, #5 Tennessee Tech 61

In an entirely unsurprising turn of events, the Regular Eagles handily disposed of the Golden Eagles in a game that was back and forth for a half, followed by "eat my dust" for 20 minutes. Tech allowed the smooth offensive machine that was Morehead to rattle off a 13-0 run early in the first half, in large part because they committed their ninth turnover before they made their fifth field goal. The solution? A 13-4 run of their own comprised almost exclusively of free throws.

It was a good tactic - the shots aren't falling, so get in the lane and get to the line. It was enough to keep the deficit to five at 31-26, despite 11 first half turnovers. Except one tiny problem: they did it all over again in the second half, allowing Morehead to crank out an 18-5 run on the backs of another eight TTU turnovers (against only two field goals. At that point the lead stretched to 49-31, and it was all over but the shouting.

Angelo Warner led Morehead State with 23 points, as they will now take on top seed Belmont at 6:30 Friday night.

#3 Eastern Kentucky 84, #6 Southeast Missouri State 76

Next season Tyler Stone will be gone and this will very likely be Jarekious Bradley's Redhawk squad. It's bad enough that he does it now, but if he's going to be the go-to guy next year, he has to avoid silly situations like tonight - y'know, where he starts the second half with only one foul, but picks up his fourth with a whopping 11:20 left to play. Bradley actually managed to lead the team with 18 points and compile 35 minutes without fouling out, but don't tell me his game wasn't compromised by that situation.

Not that it really mattered. Not when SEMO missed their first seven shots of the game and finished the first half a wretched 8-for-21 from the field, while allowing Eastern Kentucky to shoot 8-for-14 on three point shots alone. Bradley's 18 points was largely on threes in the second half, as SEMO used a late consecutive threes by Bradley and Jamaal Calvin to pull the score to 79-73, the first time the deficit had been single digits since 15-6.

The Colonels were paced by Orlando WIlliams in the first half and Glenn Cosey in the second half, as they finished qith 14 and 15 points, respectively. Oh, and Corey Walden topped them both with 17 points. EKU will now face off against Murray State at 9 p.m. Friday.