MOREHEAD — Junior Kenneth Faried scored 23 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead Morehead State to a 74-60 win over Colorado State Wednesday in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational Tournament at Johnson Arena.
It was his 24th double-double of the season.
The Eagles (24-10) will face the winner of Boston University/Oregon State in the next round on Monday.
It marks the first time in school history that MSU has won one postseason non-conference tournament game in consecutive years.
“Colorado State is a very good team,” said Morehead coach Donnie Tyndall. “They are well coached and forced us into several turnovers.
“The CBI is a great tournament and we are privileged to be a part of it.”
Morehead State led 44-35 at the half and never looked back.
Colorado State (16-16) pulled to within 46-41 early in the second half, but could get no closer.
The Eagles put the game away with a 10-5 run. Harper’s bucket with 5:52 remaining put MSU ahead 66-53.
Over the final six minutes, the Eagle advantage never dipped below 11.
“This team has accomplished so many things,” said Tyndall. “Back-to-back 20 win seasons, 15 Ohio Valley Conference wins, first time with wins in two straight non-conference postseason tournaments and we have a chance to tie the school record for most wins.”
Besides Faried, Terrance Hill and Demonte Harper also were in double figure with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Andy Ogide and Adam Nigon each had 13 to pace Colorado State.
MSU finished 26 of 47 from the field for 55.3 percent, including nine of 15 from three-point range. Colorado State hit 25 of 46 from the floor (54.3 percent), including seven of 15 three-point shots.
“When you look at your gameplan and you say two things," said CSU coach Tim Miles. "First of all, handle the ball well. Then you look and we have 21 turnovers and that’s just too many. Against a high-pressure team, that number needs to be 14 or 15, so we just gave away too many possessions. And secondly, rebound. I thought we rebounded all right, but then we lost Faried at the end. We had the lead down to five or six a couple of times, with a stop and he just got the ball on an offensive rebound. He personally stretched the lead to 13. The last thing was that they made threes. When they make threes like that, I think they went 9-for-15, it hurts. We didn’t guard the arc well, but we’re also trying to protect the paint. They really hurt us every way they could.”
The Eagles outrebounded CSU, 31-21.
Local Sports
Morehead advances in CBI
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