Donald Foster
WBONTV.com
Wallingford Broadcasting
Eastern Kentucky enters the game against Tennessee State in a must win situation as they have dropped 5 in a row and sit at 2-9 in conference play and another loss almost all but eliminates them from postseason play. Nick Mayo eclipsed the 1400 point mark for his career last game out and needs 5 blocked shots to tie the all-time mark at EKU. Eastern ran out it’s 15th different starting lineup last game. Tennessee State enters the game on a 3 game winning streak. The Tigers won both games last season against the Colonels.
The first half started with Tennessee State knocking down a three pointer, bringing back memories of Belmont from Thursday night but Zach Charles score 4 straight to put the Colonels on top and a rim rattling dunk from Nick Mayo and Eastern had a 4 point lead. Not intimidated the Tigers went on a 9-0 run until Mayo scored a jumper and Dedric Boyd with a basket to tie it at 14 at the under 12 media timeout. Game remained close with the Colonels actually on top 24-19 when superstar Mayo picked up his 2nd foul on a questionable call. He went out of the game at the 6:14 mark and State went on a 14-4 run to end the half. Points off turnovers kept the Maroon in the half though as they outscored the Tigers 10-0 in that stat. 8 turnovers for State and only 1 for EKU. Charles led the way in the first half with 11 points and Mayo had 10 before he had to take a seat with those two fouls.
The second half saw State go on a 10-4 run to start and push out to a 10 point lead 42-32. Mayo answered back with 7 points out of the next 9 for EKU and cut the lead to 5 at 46-41. Out of the under 12 timeout Spencer hit a three pointer and Tigers went on an 8-3 run to push the lead to 57-46. Colonels fall to 0-6 at home in conference play and 2-10 overall in the valley as they lose by 13, 73-60 to Tennessee State. Mayo finished with 21 points and 6 rebounds along with 3 steals. Zach Charles with 17 points, Deandre Dishman just misses a double double with 9 points and 8 rebounds, De1dric Boyd with 10 points and JacQuess Hobbs with 3 points. Colonels return home February 8 against UT Martin.
