Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Christian Brothers
Racers show improvement in final exhibition of season
11/11/2004 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Cronin was happy with the Racers' effort.
"They said we took them out of their offense," he said. "That's what we're interested in. We don't want to just let other teams get comfortable and do what they want to do."
After the Racers' first pre-season warmup, a 100-83 win over VASDA USA, Cronin said he wanted the Racers to make their opponent play faster than they wanted or realized. That is exactly what they did to the Buccaneers.
The Racers began pressing from the start and never let up in carving a 41-17 lead at the half. The Racers held CBU to six points in the final 10 minutes of the half.
"Our ball pressure was tremendous all night," Cronin said. "We took away their passing lanes. We've got to do that to everyone we play against."
The final stats were all heavily in favor of Murray State. The Racers were 24-0 last season when they out-rebounded their opponent, and tonight, they owned the boards against Christian Brothers 51-35.
The Racers had 23 assists on their 33 field goals and only committed 10 turnovers. The only place where the Racers struggled was at the free-throw line. The Racers shot better from the field (51.6 percent) than they did from the free throw line (40 percent).
The Racers' scoring was balanced with all 12 players putting up points. Newcomer Issian Redding had a nice line, going 6-9 from the field with 13 points and eight rebounds. Guard Keith Jenifer scored 12 and dished out seven assists. Center Reggie Jackson was 7-8 from the field for 15 points and he had four rebounds.
The Racers now get ready to open the regular season Saturday, Nov. 20 at home against SIU-Edwardsville. Tipoff is 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center.
