Muszynski’s double-double leads Bruins to 77-59 comeback win over Morehead State

After turning the ball over 10 times in the first half, the men’s basketball team defeated Morehead State 77-59 behind Nick Muszynski and Grayson Murphy’s double-doubles on Saturday night.

The Bruins played an extremely sloppy first half giving up 10 points on turnovers and allowing the Eagles to score 30 points in the paint. Muszynski and Murphy only scored 8 points and 2 points respectively.

But a strong final two minutes in the first half and 25 rebounds in the second half led the Bruins to an impressive win over a good Morehead State team.

The Bruins started off extremely well leading the Eagles 10-1 in the first four minutes of the game. They extended its lead to 15-7 before the halfway point of the half. But this is when things started to go down hill for the Bruins.

Morehead went on a 10-2 run with nine minutes left to go in the first half. Morehead took a 21-19 lead with seven minutes to go and would continue to take advantage of Belmont turnovers. The Eagles are big, physical and fast which forced the Bruins outside of the paint and struggled to pass the inside.

“I think their physicality really surprised us,” said Muszynski. “I don’t we weren’t ready but I think there were points where we fell apart.”

The Bruins would regain the lead in the final 10 seconds of the half with Mitch Listau 3-pointer and Tate Pierson layup. Belmont would head into halftime with a slight edge of 35-33.

The second half was a completely different story. Muszynski owned the court, rebounding six times in the half, 10 overall. He offered a stable defense the Bruins struggled to find in the first half. Moose would 12 points in the second half and 20 points overall.

Though Morehead State kept it within one to two scores in the first few minutes of the second half, but team rebounding and Muszynski led the Bruins to victory.

Murphy’s second half was like night and day as he ended the night 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He scored 8 of those points and rebounded nine in the second half alone.

Pierson had a solid game as well scoring 9 points and hitting three much needed 3-pointers when the Bruins needed help on offense.

Tyler Scanlon and Adam Kunkel also finished the night well with a solid second half scoring 12 points and 16 points respectively.

The Bruins will be on the road for the next three games against arguably the toughest stretch of their schedule. First Belmont will face Murray State on Thursday for an OVC Tournament Final rematch. Then the Bruins will play at Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech before coming back home for another matchup against the Racers.

Though the next few games will be extremely tough, Muszynski knows how important a win like Thursday’s is to carry into this road trip.

“Anytype of win we can get in the OVC is great,” said Muszynski. “Especially to get that momentum going is going to be great too.”

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Photos by Colby Crosby.