Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Racers Overcome Second Half Deficit For An 82-71 Road Win Over EKU
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior forward Kelvin Brown poured in a career-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting as the Murray State Racers outscored Eastern Kentucky 34-12 over the final 12 minutes of the game to overcome an 11-point second half deficit and earn a tough 82-71 win over the Colonels tonight at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky.
The win moves the Racers to 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 12-2 overall while ending the Colonels (6-7, 1-1 OVC) six-game home winning streak and perfect 6-0 mark in 2003-04 at McBrayer.
After an EKU basket pushed the Colonel lead to 59-48 with 12:02 to go in the game, MSU senior forward Antione Whelchel started the decisive Racer run with a basket with just under 12 minutes to play.
The Racers, ranked No. 3 in the ESPN Mid-Major Top 10 for the last four weeks, gained their first lead of the night with 5:22 left as Whelchel scored on a pass from freshman forward Shawn Witherspoon to give MSU a 67-65 advantage. The Racers never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
Overall, Brown led three Racers scoring in double-figures while pulling down a game-high nine rebounds to go with three assists and two steals in 29 minutes of action. The native of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., led MSU with 10 points during the Racers' dominant run to close the game.
Whelchel finished with a strong night going 6-of-7 from the field for 16 points, while senior guard Chris Shumate chipped in with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, four rebounds and three assists.
MSU's leading scorer and rebounder, Cuthbert Victor, was held in check for most of the night, but the senior forward still managed to finish with nine points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.
Overall, the Racers shot a blistering 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the field, while the Colonels were nearly as hot firing at a clip of 50.9 percent (29-of-57) for the game. MSU outrebounded EKU 27-22, while the Racers' bench outscored the Colonels' 38-12 led by Brown.
The Racers struggled during the first 20 minutes of action, trailing by as many as 10 points on two occasions before going to the halftime break down 39-34 to the host Colonels. MSU continued to find the going tough during the first eight minutes of the second half before making its push for the lead at the 12 minute mark.
Up next, MSU returns home to open a three-game OVC homestand on Thursday, Jan. 15 against Samford. Tip off between the Racers and Bulldogs is set for 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"Eastern Kentucky really plays hard, and (EKU head coach) Travis (Ford) finally has a team that embodies his personality as a player at Kentucky. They play tough, and they really defend you. We've earned people's respect with the way that we've been playing, and I talked to our team about that. When you earn the other team's respect, the other team is not going to come out and just let you control the game. We have to understand that we are the hunted team right now. After we beat Morehead State by 22 on their floor, I'm pretty sure the Eastern Kentucky players saw that score. They saw that we were beating Louisville at the half and that we were 11-2, so I knew they were going to be ready to play us."
"I really thought (MSU freshman forward) Shawn Witherspoon changed the game with his defensive intensity. He does such a great job in the front of our press, and he got a lot of deflections. We were able to get 21 deflections in the second half alone after only getting 12 in the first half, and that's why we won the game. That's the bottom line because that's our style. Once we entered the fight, we had a chance. It was a one-man fight early on and we were getting it handed to us."
"I told our guys that I'm not worried about winning and losing because the most important thing right now is that we've got to play hard. The first half tonight was the first time that we've had a team outplay us in terms of effort. I want to give Eastern Kentucky the credit. It's not like we walked out here and we're surprised. We were prepared for what they were going to do, but they just flat out brought it to us."
"I told our guys that I was so upset at halftime about our lack of effort and our lack of fight that I didn't even know what the score was. I came out after halftime and wondered how we were only down by five. We got outplayed and outhustled in every phase of the game in the first half and that's what was most disappointing for me. That's not Murray State basketball, and that's not what we're going to stand for. We'll have some spirited practices this week. We've got a Samford team coming in that will back door us to death and will try to hold the ball and frustrate us. We need our fans to come out and be at the RSEC this week for a big homestand."
