Sluggish Tigers Down Stubborn
Morehead State, 59-53
Tennessee State (5-7, 2-1) played
a sluggish game against a stubborn Morehead State (4-8, 2-3) squad, but
prevailed 59-53 at Gentry Center in Nashville Thursday night.
Bruce Price was the only Tiger in
double figures, scoring 11 points. Gerald Robinson tallied 9 points and Jerrell
Houston scored 8 points while collecting a game-high 9 rebounds.
Both teams started the game slowly,
with Morehead scoring the first basket at the 18:30 mark of the game. The
Eagles gained their biggest lead 7-4 with 14:30 left in the first half but TSU
moved ahead 8-7 with 12:17 left. After an 8-8 tie (11:07) the Tigers took
control of the half and took a 28-18 lead into the half.
Starting the second half, TSU
improved their lead to twelve points, 30-18, in the opening minute (19:38), but
the Eagles chipped the lead down to 38-31 (13:33). The Tigers surged their lead
back to double-digits, 52-41, with 4:23 remaining, but again, the Eagles closed
the score to 56-53 remaining on a pair of free throws by Jamyron Steward. TSU
closed out the game hitting three free throws in the final thirteen seconds.
Morehead State's Jamyron Steward
led all scorers with 15 points and Maze Stallworth added 12 points. Steward
also had 7 rebounds in the Eagles' effort.
Although there was not a lot of
scoring by TSU, the Tigers shot 52.4% from the floor (22-42) compared to 36%
(18-50) by Morehead. The Eagles out-rebounded the Tigers 32-31.
Tennessee State will travel to
play at Murray State on Saturday, January 5th .
