Cunningham’s Profession Day Helps Propel Males’s Hoops to 71-69 Comeback Win Over SEMO

MOREHEAD, Ky. — Davion Cunningham willed Morehead State males’s basketball to not lose on Saturday. The redshirt junior guard erupted for a career-high 35 factors, together with 25 within the last half, because the Eagles chiseled away a 12-point second-half deficit and defeated Southeast Missouri 71-69 at Johnson Arena.

Cunningham, whose earlier school profession excessive was 31 final season at USC Aiken, hit 13 of 17 area objectives (all however one was contained in the three-point arc) and nailed eight of 9 free throws. He additionally added 5 rebounds, a steal and an help. Cunningham’s level complete was the very best by an Eagle participant since Drew Kelly scored 40 versus South Dakota in 2013. He additionally had the second highest area objectives made in an Eagle contest since Kelly’s manufacturing 13 years in the past.

Morehead State improved to 5-1 at residence in 2025-26, to 8-9 total and to -2 within the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks slipped to 9-8 in all video games and 4-2 within the convention.

“Great team win today,” mentioned head coach Jonathan Mattox. “We’ve been in these situations before, and I am proud of how we responded. Our guys and our staff recognized that Davion had the hot hand, and credit to them. They kept feeding him the ball, and he finished. Incredible effort.”

The Eagles trailed 38-30 on the half and ultimately noticed SEMO construct its cushion to 56-44 with 12:24 left. But, a 16-5 scoring flurry over the following six minutes had MSU again to inside one (63-62) when Cunningham dropped in a jumper within the paint. SEMO was again on high 5 5 (69-64) with 2:48 remaining when the ultimate rally commenced. 

Cunningham drilled his lone triple of the sport with 2:24 on the clock to chop it to 69-67. After a misfire on a three-ball by the guests, Chase Dawson accomplished the comeback by pulling down a triple on the run with 1:33 left. SEMO had three extra possibilities within the last minute to re-take the lead or ship it to additional time, together with one with 0.2 seconds left, however missed all three shot makes an attempt.

Besides Cunningham’s output, MSU had one different participant in double figures as George Marshall scored 10. 

The Eagles blistered the web for 68 p.c (15-of-22) within the second half and 57 p.c total – the third highest area objective share in a recreation this season. In the previous 5 seasons, MSU is 52-2 when it shoots 50 p.c or higher.

SEMO had 5 gamers rating 10+, led by Brenden Terry. After scoring 30 off the bench Thursday at Southern Indiana, he paced the Redhawks with 13 right this moment. SEMOI hit 42 p.c total however was held to simply 33 p.c (10-of-30) within the last 20 minutes.

MSU had extra rebounds (30-24) then its counterpart on the alternative bench as Jon Carroll pulled in a team-best 9.

The Eagles return to the highway subsequent week as they enterprise to the Volunteer State the place they will face Tennessee State Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET.