Anthony Walker scored 18 points off the bench and Indiana erased a 15-point deficit in the final 8:47, edging Morehead State 69-68 in a nonconference game in Bloomington, Ind., on Tuesday night.
The Hoosiers (8-3) trailed 64-49 after Morehead State’s Drew Thelwell drilled a 3-pointer with 8:58 left. But beginning with Mackenzie Mgbako’s two foul shots, Indiana dominated the rest of the way as the Eagles (8-4) went cold, particularly from beyond the 3-point line.
Morehead State missed its last eight attempts from deep and finished the game 10-for-34 from 3-point range. It made just 38.5 percent of its attempts from the floor and was outrebounded 47-39, enough to cancel out a great game by Jordan Lathon.
Averaging 12.5 points per game entering Tuesday, Lathon poured in a game-high 30 on 11-of-21 shooting, including a 6-for-10 showing from beyond the arc. But Lathon’s jumper to potentially win the game was blocked by Malik Reneau as time expired.
Riley Minix added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles, while Trey Galloway scored 14 points for Indiana. Mgbako contributed 13 points and Kel’el Ware chipped in 10.
The Hoosiers won despite missing 12 of their 28 free throws.
After leading No. 2 Kansas for a majority of Saturday’s game before losing 75-71, Indiana predictably suffered a letdown and Morehead State was good enough to take advantage of it, creating some serious separation in the first half.
The Eagles didn’t even have to shoot well to do it, making just 14 of 37 attempts from the field and 5 of 18 from 3-point distance before the break. But the Hoosiers were even worse, connecting on only 11 of 32 tries from the floor while going 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.
Lathon enjoyed a huge first half for Morehead with 15 points and four boards. When Eddie Ricks III stole the ball from Galloway and dunked just before time expired, the Eagles headed to the locker room with a 36-25 advantage and Indiana was booed off its floor.
–Field Level Media