Murray State
Morehead State
Racers Run Past Morehead State 97-75 Behind Shumate's 31 Points
1/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Senior swingman Chris Shumate matched a career-high with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting to lead the Murray State Racers to a dominating 97-75 road win over Morehead State tonight at Ellis T. Johnson Arena in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both squads.
With the win, the Racers earned head coach Mick Cronin his first OVC victory after taking over the MSU men's basketball program in April of 2003 following a two-year stint as the associate head coach at Louisville.
Murray State (11-2, 1-0 OVC) used a completely dominating first half to roll to the win as the Racers ran out to a 30-point lead (48-18) during the first 18 minutes of action and held a 51-25 margin at halftime.
Shumate, a native of Louisville, Ky., scored 19 of his game-high 31 during the first half before matching his career-high in points, which dated back to Nov. 22, 2002 against West Florida.
Senior forward Cuthbert Victor, who entered the week ranked fifth in the nation in rebounding (11.1 per game) and sixth in field goal percentage (66.9%), earned his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting and a game-high 12 rebounds to go with five assists in 34 minutes.
Junior forward Kelvin Brown was the third Racer scoring in double-figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
After the Racers ran out to the big first half lead, Morehead State (5-7, 0-1) opened the second half with a strong run of its own and eventually cut the Murray State lead down to as little as 12 at 63-51 with about 12 minutes to go in the game. The Racers responded by pushing the margin back over 20 down the stretch before settling for the 22-point margin.
Morehead was never able to cut the Murray State lead back down to single digits after a Shumate basket made it 21-10 with about 12 minutes left in the first half.
Murray finished 37-of-74 from the field for 50 percent, including an impressive 20-of-38 (52.6%) during the first 20 minutes. The Eagles were held to just 39.4 percent on 26-of-66 shooting, while the Racers also dominated Morehead on the glass holding a 49-35 rebounding advantage.
The Racer defense controlled Morehead's top scoring threats, Chez Marks and Ricky Minard (ranked first and second respectively in the OVC in scoring entering the game), as the two combined for just 35 points on 12-of-33 shooting from the field. Marks, averaging 21.3 points per game coming in, was 5-of-18 from the field for 15 points, all in the second half.
Another key for the Racers' win was ball security and distribution as MSU dished out 22 assists while turning it over just 13 times on the night.
Up next, MSU closes out the "Death Valley" swing through the OVC at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"It's scary when you play that well in the first half because you know you're never going to play as good in the second half. I witnessed that scenario at Cincinnati when we lost a game at South Carolina after leading by 23 in the first half. We certainly didn't play as well as I would've liked in the second half, but we still did more than enough to get a big win to open our OVC schedule."
"I was most pleased with Chris' (Shumate) defense tonight. He guarded Chez Marks in the first half and Marks didn't score a point. That's what happens when you get lost in the game and just worry about defending and executing the game plan. You're able to make shots and really help your team. Chris is too good a scorer to be shut down all season, and we knew there was going to be a night when he got going. I was also happy that he was able to get to the basket and score a lot of different ways tonight."
"We played 10 guys in the first half because we really wanted to wear Morehead State down and keep our guys fresh. I think when Morehead made their run, the fact that we weren't tired and we were able to attack the basket and get easy buckets was the key. Playing a lot of guys is something we want to do, especially with another road game coming up on Saturday at Eastern Kentucky. I know it's important to be able to stay fresh and sharp on these swings where we have two games in three days."
"We got a leg up tonight by getting a road win over a good basketball team. We've got to hold team's under 40 percent from the field to win this league. If you look back at previous OVC champions, they're usually holding teams under 40 percent from the field and winning the rebounding war. That's pretty much for every league as well. We were giving up too high a number from the field in our non-conference schedule, but we were able to do a good job in both of those areas tonight, and that's our goal all season long."
MSU senior Chris Shumate:
"It's tough to go into Morehead State and beat them. They've had a really good team the last few years, and they have another great team this year. It's really a good statement for our team to come into (Morehead State's) gym and start the season off right."
"I was due to hit some shots because I hadn't been shooting the ball very well over the last few games. To come out and hit my first couple of shots was really a boost for me."
"Defensively, the key for us was Marks and Minard. Their team goes as those two go, so if you cut the head off, the rest of the body drops. You're not going to find two better players in this league. Luckily, we were able to do a nice job on them and we got a big win tonight in our conference opener."
