Morehead St. opens NCAA tournament with 58-43 win

As a New Jersey guy, center Kenneth Faried had never heard of Morehead State the first time the school came calling.

No wonder. The Eagles won only four games as recently as 2005-06, hadn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1984, and were pretty much an afterthought in a state where basketball comes in shades of Kentucky blue and Louisville red.

Now, there's a little more room to brag in the Bluegrass.

Faried got the better of his bigger and more syllabic counterpart Tuesday night, and the Eagles never trailed during a 58-43 victory over Alabama State that opened the NCAA tournament and ended a quarter-century of futility for Morehead State.

…