PARAGOULD, Ark. -- After suffering a road loss at No. 15 Georgetown (Ky.) earlier in the week, the Midway men's basketball team packed their bags and headed south to Paragould, Ark. to battle Crowley's Ridge (Ark.).

The Pioneers led by as many as 14 in the opening half and took a 44-32 lead at intermission, but the Eagles put together a strong second half outscoring the home team 53-35 en route to claiming the 85-79 victory.

With the win, Joe Krupinski's squad earns their first victory of the season improving to 1-1 on the year, while Crowley's Ridge falls to 0-1 with the loss.

Trailing by seven with just over 10 minutes remaining in the opening half, Midway went on an 8-0 run getting buckets from Donnie Miller (Newport, Ky.), Rico Tate (Memphis, Tenn.), Izaya Sims (East Moline, Ill.) and Cory Gardner (Owensboro, Ky.) to take a 26-25 lead with 8:50 left.

The Pioneers responded with a 17-2 run to take a 42-28 lead – their largest of the contest – with 1:46 remaining before halftime. Layups from Sims and Raekwon Evans (Louisville, Ky.) cut the deficit to 44-32 heading into the locker room.

The Eagles opened the second stanza on a 12-2 run cutting the deficit to two less than four minutes in. A dunk by Gardner kickstarted the run before the sophomore recorded a layup to get his team within two.

Crowley's Ridge pushed their lead back to seven with just over 11 minutes left, but the Eagles quickly rallied before taking the lead for good with 7:31 remaining. Midway put together a 20-7 run with 10 of those 20 points coming from Cory Gardner.

The sophomore from Owensboro, Ky. had a career night scoring a career-high 24 points in 27 minutes off the bench. He also added three assists and three steals, while hitting 11-of-15 from the floor.

The Eagles led by as many as 10 in the final minutes before hitting 9-of-12 from the charity stripe in the final minute to seal the 85-79 victory.

Two others joined Gardner in double figures led by Donnie Miller with 23 points going 12-of-14 from the free throw line. Miller also recorded five rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Recardo Travis (Louisville, Ky.) chipped in 17 points and five boards.

Rico Tate (Memphis, Tenn.), meanwhile, finished with seven points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists in the victory.

The Eagles will now return home for their home opener which is set for Tuesday (Nov. 9) at 7 p.m. ET when they host Asbury (Ky.) in Marshall Gymnasium.

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