Murray State University Athletics
Four Racers Reach Double-Figures As MSU Earns A 73-71 Exhibition Win
11/3/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior forward Kelvin Brown led four Racers scoring in double-figures as the Murray State men's basketball team earned a 73-71 exhibition win over the Global Sports All-Stars tonight at the Regional Special Events Center in Mick Cronin's debut as the MSU head coach.
Brown, a junior college transfer from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., added a game-high nine rebounds, four assists and two steals in his first game in an MSU uniform as the Racers rallied in the second half against a talented group of former college standouts.
Senior swingman Chris Shumate had 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, while senior forward Cuthbert Victor added 12 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Adam Chiles, playing in his first game as a Racer, scored 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from field while keying MSU's decisive rally over the final three minutes.
Forward Jason Blair, a former collegiate player at San Diego, led the Global Sports All-Stars with 16 points, while 7-foot, 2-inch Lorenzo Coleman, a former Tennessee Tech standout, added 13 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots.
The Racers trailed by as many as 13 points (53-40, 11:11) in the second half before rallying behind its full-court pressure to gain the come-from-behind win.
After the All-Stars' Mark Green knocked down a three-pointer to extend the lead to 13, the Racers answered with a 13-0 run to tie things up at 53-53 with 8:24 to play in the game.
Victor scored five points in the run, while senior guard Kevin Paschel added four points in the rally.
The All-Stars came right back to regain the lead and push it back out to six at 59-53 at the 6:57 mark, but the Racers pulled back even at 64-64 with 3:06 to play on a Chiles three-point basket.
MSU regained the lead moments later on a pair of free throws by Brown, but the All-Stars answered to tie things up at 66-66 on a pair of free throws by Blair with 2:23 to go.
The Racers regained the lead for good at 69-66 on another Chiles three-pointer with 2:06 to go after senior forward Antione Whelchel pulled in an offensive rebound setting up a second scoring chance for MSU.
Chiles, junior college transfer from Louisville, Ky., scored eight of his 10 points during a 1 minute, 15 second-stretch late in the game.
The Global Sports All-Stars also featured Eric Bush, the all-time steals leader at UAB, David Sanders, a former standout at Ole Miss and Chris Davis, a former standout at North Texas.
Up next, the Racers host VASDA-USA on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 7:15 p.m. in their final exhibition game. MSU's regular-season opener is set for Nov. 22 against Wagner College at the Regional Special Events Center.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"They're a good basketball team, with experience. I'm happy to get a win against a team like that because they're a well-coached team that's going to win some games this month."
"Like I said when I got here, we're going to be a second half team in our style of play. We're going to get down at times during a game, and we did tonight. Once we implemented our style of play into the game, we made our run."
"They were much bigger than we were and pounded it inside against us, which we knew they would do. Once we got our press going, we were able to take that away from them."
"I didn't think we were aggressive enough on the offensive end for most of the game. In the second half , we started attacking the basket and got to the free throw line. We didn't attempt one free throw in the first half."
"I was pleased with the fact that we were able to make believers out of our guys in how we're going to win games in this style of play."
"It's going to take time to learn our system. I'm glad we were able to get a win against a really good team."
"We played way too much in the half court in the first half. They were just too big for us to jam the ball inside and be effective offensively."
MSU Senior Chris Shumate:
"That was a really good team to play in an exhibition game. They really wanted to win, and some teams don't seem like they care that much if they win or lose. Most teams don't want to play defense, they just want to get there shots, pick up their checks and go get something to eat."
We have to learn to live and die with this style of play. We're going to lose some games playing this way early, but we're going to win a lot more because of it."
"In practice, coach can blow the whistle and tell us what we did wrong, but in a game you just have to keep playing. It's something that we'll get better at and that's what these games are for."
MSU Senior Cuthbert Victor:
"I couldn't believe how big they were. They were really physical and it took some time to get used their size. They were really good and knew what they were doing."
"This (system) is better for us because we have a lot of great athletes; everyone on our team can run. We have good post players, but they're not dominant, so we have to use our quickness."
