GAME NOTES: The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic continues at the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday night when the Morehead State Eagles and the Presbyterian Blue Hose square off.

The round-robin style tournament will have hosts Louisiana Tech, American, Morehead State and Presbyterian all playing one another during the three-day event.

Morehead State, fresh off a 20-win campaign in 2013-14, has not gotten the new season off to a strong start with just one win in four tries. The Eagles opened up this event facing the host squad Louisiana Tech on Friday and suffered a 73-64 setback.

After getting dismantled by nationally-ranked Duke in its opener (113-44), Presbyterian got in the win column at home on Tuesday with an 82-72 victory over Piedmont, but they fell to 1-2 on the season in the opening round of this event with a 63-38 loss at the hands of American University.

Morehead State and Presbyterian will be meeting for the first time in this matchup.

Although the Eagles only lost by nine points to Louisiana Tech on Friday, the game wasn't as close as the final score indicated, as they spent the majority of the second half trailing by double digits and were behind by as many as 18 with under seven minutes to play. They didn't have much of a chance considering their woeful 32.9 percent field goal shooting night, which included a 6-of-20 showing from beyond the arc. Billy Reader was effective with 17 points on 8-of-11 from the floor. Angelo Warner tallied 15 points and nine rebounds, Brent Arrington had 13 points and Kareem Storey logged 11 points and seven assists.

Morehead State is in the red in terms of its scoring margin (-2.5) this season, as they shoot a lowly 35.2 percent from the field while allowing opponents to shoot 42.2 percent. Warner (16.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg) is the top playmaker and has made 7-of-17 from beyond the arc. Arrington (13.5 ppg) and Storey (10.8 ppg, 7.0 apg) are also off to solid starts.

The Blue Hose were within striking distance early in the second half of their matchup on Friday, but they were thoroughly outmatched down the stretch as American finished the game on a 35-14 run. Although their field goal percentage was respectable (.444), they were plagued by 21 turnovers and made only 2-of-8 tries from the free-throw line. Jordan Downing was able to transcend the struggles of his teammates with 18 points, doing so on 8-of-15 from the floor.

Although it's a small sample size that was skewed by a blowout loss at Duke, Presbyterian scores just 54.7 ppg this season while allowing 82.7 ppg on the other end of the floor. With Downing's impressive showing on Friday he became the team-leader in scoring with 14.7 ppg. Williams Truss brings 9.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg to the table.

Morehead State is a better team than its record shows in the early going this season, and it should be able to get back in the win column in this matchup against the lackluster Blue Hose.