RICHMOND, Ky. -- For the second straight game, Eastern Kentucky University was hitting its long range shots (13-22, 59.1 percent) and that proved to be too much for the Morehead State University Eagles to overcome as the Colonels came away with an 83-69 victory Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd of 4,100 in EKU's McBrayer Arena.

EKU, now 14-6 overall and 6-3 inside Ohio Valley Conference action, hit nine three-pointers in the first 20 minutes, keyed by four from senior guard Ben Rushing, to erase a 33-23 deficit with a 15-4 run to end the first period that gave the Colonels a 38-37 lead at the break.

Rushing led all scorers in the first half with 14 points on perfect 5-5 shooting from the field and 4-4 from three-point land. Junior guard Jason McLeish added 11 points in the first half for the Colonels, including three three-pointers.

In the second half after MSU grabbed two quick one-point leads, the last at 41-40, two Zach Ingles' free throws, a Michael Haney 12-foot jump shot and a three by Ingles put Eastern up 47-41, its biggest lead to that point in the game.

MSU cut it to three at 56-53 on a Ramon Kelly layup with 11:26 remaining, but then Eastern put the game out of reach with a 19-6 run over the next 8:26 to lead 75-59 with 3:00 left.

"This was a good, hard-fought win," said an elated EKU head coach Travis Ford in the locker room. "It's a rivalry game. I knew it would be tough.

"Our guys earned the victory tonight after an extremely slow start by us."

EKU junior guard Matt Witt, this week's OVC Player of the Week, led the way for the Colonels with 19 points, followed closely by Ingles' 17 (all in the second half) and 16 each each by McLeish and Rushing.

Rushing's four three pointers give him 190 for his Colonel career, tieing the school career mark for three-pointers made held by Jeff McGill (1986-88).

The Colonels canned 13-22 threes (59.1 percent) and 28-48 overall from the field for 58.3 percent.

MSU, now 9-11 and 3-6 in the OVC, was just as hot from the field, making 27-49 (55.1 percent) and canning 5-10 threes (50.0 percent). The two teams fought to a 22-22 final rebounding count with Haney leading all rebounders in the contest with nine.

The Eagles were led by 6-7 senior forward Chad McKnight with 21 points. Guard Quinton Smith added 17 points for MSU with Josh Reed hitting for 12.

EKU begins a three-game road swing Thursday night (Feb. 3) with an 8:30 p.m. EST contest at Tennessee State University.