The Tennessee State Tigers dropped a crucial conference game Saturday afternoon at Morehead State.
Go head off fence clock fire in the second half, shooting 68% (17-25) from the floor and 77% (7-11) from downtown, outscoring TSU by 15 points in the game’s final 20 minutes and quickly erasing a four-point halftime deficit.
The Eagles took control of the contest early on, building as much as an eight-point lead on multiple occasions as Tennessee State stumbled out of the gates.
The tigers continued to whittle away at the Morehead State lead, finally tying the game at 28 all on Travis Harper II’s three-pointer with 5:34 left in the first half. TSU would take their first lead of the game at 30-28 on a pair of Dante Harris free throws. The teams would swap the lead three times before TSU would reclaim the lead at 36 to 35 on Antoine Lorick III’s slam dunk. The Tigers would push their lead to as much as six points at 41-35 and would take a 41-37 lead into halftime.
It took Morehead State just two minutes and three seconds of the second half to reclaim the lead, which came on a Tamauri Releford shot from downtown that made the score 44-43.
The Eagles would continue to show the way uninterrupted, pushing their lead to double digits for the first time at 52 to 62 on Josiah Legree’s three-point shot with 12 minutes and 20 seconds to go in the half. The Tigers, playing uphill, would get it down to a single figure on multiple occasions, but each time Morehead State responded to push the lead back to double digits, expanding their lead to as much as 17 points.
The Tigers mounted one last charge but they could not close the gap to fewer than six points.
Travis Harper II led Tennessee State with a season high of 30 points. Aaron Nkrumah scored 20 points and pulled down 6 rebounds, Dante Harris handed out a team high 7 assists to go along with his 12 points.
The Tigers (17-9, 10-5) look to bounce back when they face the Lions of Lindenwood on Thursday. TSU defeated Lindenwood 96-86 on January 24.
