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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Kentucky defeated top-seeded Belmont, 79-73, to capture the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Saturday at Municipal Auditorium.

The Colonels (24-9) won their seventh game in a row en route to a return trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.

EKU used a hot-shooting first-half and veteran play of its guards down the stretch to win its 24th game of the season, the second-most in school history. The Colonels snapped Belmont's seven-game winning streak as they served the Bruins their first loss since Feb. 13.

#Glenn Cosey#, #Tarius Johnson# and #Cory Walden# were named to the OVC Tournament team, with Walden snagging Most Valuable Player honors. Walden also posted a career-high 29 points.

Cosey came up huge with a three-pointer at the top of the key to break a 54-54 tie with 4:52 left. The gutsy long-range bomb keyed an 8-0 run that gave EKU space at 62-54 with 3:40 to go. The scoring spree proved to be the difference as Belmont could not recover.

Belmont (24-10) got to within 65-61 with 1:30 to go, but the league's leading three-point shooter Cosey would respond with a long-range bomb that bolstered the lead to 68-61 with 1:30 to go.

The Colonels opened the second half with five-straight points, but Belmont countered with an 8-2 run to get to within 43-36 at the 15:45 mark. Walden provided the silencer with a traditional three-point play to extend the lead back to double-digits at 46-36 with 15:22 left.

Belmont responded over the next six minutes, engineering a 15-6 run to get to within 47-43, at 11:18 mark. From there, the Bruins would chip away at the lead until eventually tying the game at 52-all at the 6:11 mark.

EKU started the game on fire, connecting on four long-range shots to take a 12-0 lead before the first media timeout. The Colonels hit their first five three-pointers, boosting the lead to 17-4 at the 13:22 mark. During this stretch, EKU shot a scorching 75 percent, off 6-of-8 shooting from the field while Belmont committed five turnovers only hitting 2-of-7 from the field.

OVC Player of the Year J.J. Mann was the bright spot for Belmont, scoring 12 of Belmont's 28 first-half points. Belmont finished the first stanza with a 14-8 run to close the gap at 36-28. Mann ended his night with a team-high 18 points.

Following Walden in the scoring column was Cosey with 23 points and Johnson with 15 points. Eastern Kentucky shot 23-of-45 (47.8 percent) from the field and 11-of-22 (50 percent) from behind the arc. EKU had 17 assists to go along with eight steals.

The Colonels will await word on their NCAA Tournament destination until next Sunday.

NOTES
EKU will make its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament

Eastern Kentucky has won six tournament titles (1950, '55, '79, '05, '07, '14).

Eastern Kentucky made its 12th straight OVC Tournament appearance. Only EKU and Murray State have appeared in each of the last 12 conference tournaments.

EKU is the first No. 3 seed to win the tournament since Murray State in 2002.

The Colonels are now 38-33 all-time in the OVC Tournament. Eastern Kentucky is now tied for the second-most tournament game victories.

Corey Walden's previous career-best was 28 points at Jacksonville State on Jan. 19, 2013.

EKU's 24 wins are the second-most in program history.

Belmont (80.4 ppg) and Eastern Kentucky (79.0 ppg) entered the game as the second and third highest scoring teams in the OVC. EKU is second in scoring defense (70.6 ppg), the Bruins are seventh (74.2 ppg).

Belmont entered the game leading the OVC in shooting (50.7 percent). EKU is third (48.9 percent). Belmont shot 46 percent while the Colonels made 51.1 percent.

Eastern Kentucky (38.7 percent) and Belmont (39.9 percent) are the two best three-point shooting teams in the league. The Bruins made 33.3 percent on Saturday while Eastern knocked down 5- percent from long range.

EKU entered the game second in the nation in turnover margin (+6.5) but finished with one fewer turnover than Belmont on Saturday.

Eastern is now 7-4 all-time as the No. 3 seed in the OVC Tournament. The Colonels are now 7-19 against higher seeded teams since seeding began in 1975.

The Colonels are now 7-7 in OVC Tournament games under head coach Jeff Neubauer.

Eastern is 2-8 against the No. 1 seed since seeding began in 1975. The Colonels beat No. 1 Austin Peay to capture the 2007 title.

EKU is now 5-9 in games played at Municipal Auditorium.