Racers Run Past Auburn 79-59 In Charleston Classic

Thursday, November 15

Charleston, SC

7 p.m.

Murray State

2-0

Auburn

1-1

Murray State

Auburn

Photo by: Ricky Martin/Ledger & Times

11/15/2012 5:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score I Box Score(PDF) I Charleston Classic

The Murray State Racers rolled to a 79-59 win over Auburn Thursday in the first round of the Charleston Classic presented by Foster Grant at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.

Isaiah Canaan pumped home 26 points while Stacy Wilson added 18 as the Racers moved into the Charleston semifinals where they face St. John's Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT.

The Racers (2-0) used a suffocating defense and some hot shooting to quickly jump out to a 16-6 lead seven minutes into the game. MSU used three-pointers from Canaan and another from Wilson to push the lead to 27-10 with 8:38 in the half.

MSU's defensive effort was excellent holding the Tigers to without a field goal from the 9:01 mark to the 2:12 mark and used it to make a 14-2 run and go into the locker room with a commanding 45-19 lead at the half.

MSU started the second half with a 10-2 run when Dexter Fields made a steal and fed Canaan for a layup and Ed Daniel started a fastbreak that Fields finished with a three and MSU led 52-21 with 17:55 remaining.

MSU ended the night holding the Tigers (1-1) to 33 percent shooting and 20 percent from three-point range. MSU picked off nine steals and harassed the Tigers into 20 turnovers.

The Racers had a big night offensively as well with 53 percent shooting (27-of-51) including 48 percent (11-of-23) from three-point range.

Game Notes

Other scores from day one of the Charleston Classic were: Colorado over Dayton 67-57, Baylor defeated Boston College 84-74 and host College of Charleston lost to St. John's 64-53.

The day two schedule here in Charleston starts with the early session. Colorado meets baylor at 11:30 a.m. CT, while Dayton meets Boston College at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Racers play St. John's at 4:30 p.m. CT with the College of Charleston facing Auburn in the last game of the day at 6:30 p.m.

Senior Stacy Wilson made a return to his home state as the Mullins, S.C. native played in front of a large group of family and friends. Wilson scored 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting including 4-of-5 from three-point range.

The Charleston Classic is featuring three players who're listed on the John Wooden Award Preseason All-America list. MSU's Isaiah Canaan certainly had a good showing with 26-points tonight to go with six assists and four rebounds. Baylor's Pierre Jackson scored 31 points today against Boston College to go with seven assists. Colorado's Andre Roberson was held to six points, but his team did advanced to the semifinals.