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Morehead State ends Ohio season with late run in CBI semifinal game

Eagles advance to tournament championship series


ATHENS – In a back and forth game, Morehead State made the last move and took a 77-72 victory to end Ohio’s season in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night at The Convo.

The game featured 11 ties and 19 lead changes, with the final one coming via a 7-0 run in the span of a minute, ending just inside a minute to go.

Jaaron Simmons had 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds but also seven turnovers, and Treg Setty finished with 20 points and five rebounds in his final game with the Bobcats (23-12). Kenny Kaminski was 5 of 10 on 3-pointers for 15 points, and Antonio Campbell had 12 rebounds but was held to eight points.

Xavier Moon paced the Eagles (22-12) with 18 points, and Corban Collins and Lyonell Gaines had 14 poitns each. Brent Arrington tallied 11 points.

Morehead state advances to the finals of the CBI against the late Wednesday night winner between Vermont and Nevada. The final is a best of three series to be played next week.

Setty sank a pair of free throws with 2:10 remaining to tie the game at 65, but Collins put the Eagles up for good with a 3-pointer a few seconds later. After a missed jumper by Kaminski, Arrington sank two at the foul line, and following a missed trey try by Campbell, Moon hit two more free throws to make it 72-65 with 54 seconds to go.

Ohio got as close as 75-72 on a pair of Jordan Dartis free throws with 17 seconds left, but Morehead State, which went 20 of 22 at the foul line in the game, got two more by Moon to put away the Bobcats.

Despite an awful offensive first half, the Bobcats trailed by just five, 29-24. They shot 33.3 percent from the field and committed 12 turnovers.

Ohio found its stroke after halftime and had half as many turnovers, allowing it to trade baskets with Morehead State for long stretches. On multiple occasions, the Bobcats led by three and could have pushed the lead to two possessions, but could not get a basket in those instances and then gave one up on the other end.

Ohio’s final three-point lead was on a Kaminski 3-pointer with 5:10 remaining, but Arrington scored back-to-back baskets to put Morehead State back on top. Campbell gave the Bobcats their final lead with a putback two-handed dunk at the 3:53 mark, only for Collins to answer from deep for the Eagles.

The Eagles’ biggest lead of the game was eight on three different instances late in the first half, including 29-21 in the final minute before a Kaminski three cut the margin to five. Ohio erased its deficit in the first minute of the second half on a Simmons layup and another Kaminski trey.

Setty had half of the Bobcats’ six field goals before the break, but Simmons broke out after an 0-for-6 first half, going 4 of 5 from the field and 6 of 6 at the foul line for 15 points in the second half.

After pounding the Bobcats for nine offensive rebounds in the first half, the Eagles had only two in the second half.

Ronnye Beamon had five steals in just 15 minutes for the Eagles.

Morehead State won despite shooting just 37.9 percent from the field, earning 18 more field goal attempts than Ohio with just six fewer free throw tries.

Despite the loss, the Bobcats finished with 13 more wins than they did in coach Saul Phillips’ first season (10-20) in Athens in 2014-15. They are expected to return every player but Setty next year.

"I want to say thanks to this group for such a fun year," Ohio Phillips said. "I want to say goodbye to Treg. There is nothing you can say other than he left it all on the floor in the CBI. Guys take journeys in their careers and then there's the journey that Treg took. It was all over the place and it went to places that I'm sure he never imagined, but through it all his passion for the game, his raw emotion at times always made him fun to coach. I've have a lot of respect for that guy."








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