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| Morehead State pulled off the biggest upset this week in the Tourney, and look to move on top of that. (AP/Jack Dempsey) |
With 4.2 seconds left, Demonte Harper was living his dream, swishing a huge three-point shoot. With that, No. 13 Morehead State defeated No. 4 Louisville, 62-61, in the biggest game of the week.
“The coach said, ‘Hey, I dreamed about this last night, this exact situation,’ ” Harper said. “He said, ‘I know exactly who I’m going to. I’m going to put it right in your hands, Demonte.’ He said, ‘At 6 seconds, I want you to attack and pull up and hit the shot.’ I hit the shot. It feels unreal right now.”
Mike Marra looked to end the verge of an upset, but Faried blocked his shot. Faried finished the game with twelve points and 17 rebounds. Terrance Hill led Morehead with his 23 points and eight rebounds.
Like how little-known Butler’s Brad Stevens was last year, so was Donnie Tyndall for the Eagles. Morehead State will face the Richmond Spiders, who also won an upset victory, taking down Vanderbilt.
“I think to be a first-round game against an in-state power, to be able to knock them off, I don’t think it’s ever been bigger than that in the history of our school,” Tyndall said.
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Rebounding-machine, Kenneth Faried, is the key for the Eagles to advance in the tourney. (AP/Jack Dempsey) |
Faried, now in his senior year, wasn’t very well-known for Morehead State. He was just a small big-man at 6’8″ and 225 pounds.
However, he plays like he is three inches taller and 40 pounds more bulk, which has led to his career average of 17.5 points and 14.6 rebounds for his career. Faried has dominated each and every opponent, and missing out on double-digits in rebounds just four times this year, with his lowest only being seven and three of them nine. One of them was eight.
Faried finally became well-known after breaking Duncan’s record. Now in his senior year and entering the NBA with his draft stocking going higher and higher each week, Faried looks to finish out his college
career strong.
He’s off to a good start finishing it that way.
“Words can’t explain how proud I am of my teammates because everybody thinks, ‘Morehead State and Kenneth Faried,’” Faried said. “But it’s Morehead State, ‘The Team.’ It just speaks volumes about my teammates who just stepped up.”
The Eagles look like they can probably go far into the tournament with a strong attitude like this. They seem like a strong team. But could they actually end up like teams like George Mason or Butler; which are teams who have went past Cinderella road?
Usually every team who has went down that road is now considered one of the top powerhouse basketball teams. George Mason is a team you don’t want to take kindly to, and neither is Butler. Butler is continuing to be strong, as they had a big game of their own when they got a game-winning shot, thanks to Matt Howard’s tip-in.
Facing Richmond, the Eagles need to advance, and they’re in the Sweet 16, where it seems like they’ll most likely face Kansas there. Can Faried lead the team, because he’s obviously the big key for their team to win.
Right now, the way Morehead is playing, they look to go down Cinderella road. It’s not about luck, it’s about fortune for the Eagles. And they are going to need all of it in this tournament.
“I don’t think there was any luck involved,” Tyndall said. “We were just very, very fortunate to make one more play than they did.”
Welcome to step one of Cinderella path, Morehead State.
Ready for step two?
