Murray State
SIUE
Victor, Brown Push Racers To 3-0 With An 81-56 Win Over SIUE
11/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
For the second game in a row, the Murray State Racers struggled at times, but they had too much for Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
Thanks to another outstanding effort from Cuthbert Victor, the Racers dispatched SIU-Edwardsville 81-56 Wednesday night in the Regional Special Events Center.
Victor finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for his second-straight double-double and the 19th of his career. The senior forward, who is shooting 80 percent from the field, was 6-of-7 from the field, including 1-for-1 from 3-point range. He also added three assists, three blocked shots and three steals to his line.
Junior forward Kelvin Brown led four Racers scoring in double-figures with 22 points, while junior guard Adam Chiles chipped in with 14 points, six steals and five assists. Senior center Andi Hornig added 12 points for MSU.
MSU (3-0) opened the game slowly, which prompted first-year head coach Mick Cronin to bench the Racers' starting-five just :47 seconds into the game.
After Cronin's move to the bench, the effort and energy for MSU increased throughout the first 20 minutes, eventually leading to the Racers' decisive 27-7 run to close the half.
After SIUE's Tim Bauersachs knocked down a jumper to give the Cougars (1-2) an 18-14 lead with 10:03 left in the half, Chiles scored on a jumper with 9:38 to go to start the MSU run.
The Racers scored 17-straight points over a span of 3 minutes, 19 seconds to turn the four-point deficit into a 13-point lead at 31-18 with 6:19 left in the half. Chiles led MSU with 10 of the 17 points, while Victor added five and Brown had the final two.
During the 3:19 stretch, the Racers' defense held SIUE to 0-for-6 from the field and forced four turnovers, while MSU was 6-of-8 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
After the Cougars cut the MSU margin back to 10 at 32-22 with 4:53 to play, the Racers closed with a 9-2 run capped by a Chiles putback of a Hornig miss at the halftime buzzer and a 41-25 halftime lead.
MSU opened the second half by scoring the first six points to push the lead out to 22, and SIUE was never any closer than 18 points the rest of the night. The Racers' largest lead of the night was 28 (81-53) with 1:21 to go in the game.
The Racers finished 30-of-64 from the field for 46.9-percent, while SIUE was 22-of-49 for 44.9-percent. MSU dominated the boards outrebounding the Cougars 42-24, including 19-4 on the offensive glass leading to 19 second chance points.
Senior forward Antione Whelchel, who scored the 1,000-point of his Racer career, added 10 rebounds, six points and three steals in 23 minutes.
Up next, the Racers host Southern Miss of Conference USA on Saturday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"I'm glad we got the win obviously, but I was not happy at all with the way we played. When you come out not prepared to play against a team that is well-coached and plays with a lot of pride, you're going to struggle."
"Their kids came in here with a gritty effort, and I have a lot of respect for their players and coaches. They were just outmanned."
"I'm frustrated right now. We have a long way to go before we're playing as hard as I expect us to play."
"Cuthbert Victor saved us tonight. That's my synopsis of the game. Period. His effort is always consistent."
"Handling success is my biggest concern right now. I asked the kids after the game if they were ready to hang a banner in the rafters that said, "3-0." You know, I see a lot of banners up in the rafters and they all say "OVC."
"Right now my biggest concern is mental, not physical. Our practices are harder than the games. Games are easy for our guys. Mentally, we're just not focused. We dropped two balls right of the bat because we were not ready to play. If we're not ready to play Saturday (vs. Southern Miss), it's going to be ugly."
"I know a lot about Southern Miss because I've scouted them so much when I was at Cincinnati and Louisville. Southern Miss is a very physical, strong team. Coach (James) Green is a tough, hard-nosed coach and his teams reflect that."
"Southern Miss is a tough, good defensive team. If we don't get focused in a hurry, we're in trouble."
"We're going to find out a lot about our team in the next three games. Two of them will be on the road in hostile environments. It will be a major test for our team."
"Right now we've played one good game. Handling success is a funny thing in sports. When you forget why you're successful you're going to get beat."
"One problem with playing so many games this week is that it cuts down on our practice time. We need to practice to get used to playing at the speed I want us to. We just haven't worked long enough on the things I want to do."
