RICHMOND, Ky. -- Senior forward Michael Haney led four twin-figure scorers for Eastern Kentucky Thursday night as the Colonels defeated visiting Jacksonville State, 72-60, in Ohio Valley Conference basketball action.
Haney pumped in a game-high 17 points and pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds in recording his fifth double-double of the season and 16th of his four-year Colonel career to help raise Eastern's overall record to 11-5 and its conference mark to 3-2 with the win.
"What can you say about Michael Haney?," said EKU head coach Travis Ford. "He is an absolute warrior.
"He is a a consistent shooter. He is a consistent rebounder. He is just a fun guy to coach."
Eastern led throughout the first half, leading by 10 points three times, before settling for a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
The Colonels scored the first four points of the second period to go up 35-24 before the Gamecocks (4-13 overall, 0-5 in the OVC) cut the margin to 38-34 at the 15:06 mark.
However, EKU went on a 16-7 run over the next seven minutes to increase its lead to 54-41 with 8:22 left in the game. JSU never recovered, never cutting the lead to single digits the rest of the way.
"We didn't substitute much in the game because we wanted our players to stay in the flow of the game. We had to adjust to a slower type game from them and we made the adjustment.
"This was a good quality win. It wasn't pretty, but we are very excited to get a win on our home court," Ford added.
Junior guards Matt Witt and Jason McLeish added 15 points apiece for the Colonels, while junior center Alonzo Hird scored 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
EKU hit 48.2 percent from the field and 65.0 percent from the charity stripe. Eastern won the rebounding battle for the sixth straight game, 35-34, and held the Gamecocks to 40 percent field goal shooting for the contest.
JSU was paced by forward Anthony Wilson with 15, guard Tim Lewis with 13 and substitute center Brandon Davis with 10.
EKU hosts league-leading Samford (10-6 overall, 5-0 in the OVC) Saturday night (Jan. 22) in a 7:30 p.m. EST contest in McBrayer Arena.
