Murray State
Texas-San Antonio
Hopkins' 17 points leads Racers to win over Texas-San Antonio
12/2/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Darnell Hopkins enjoyed his biggest game of his collegiate career tonight, scoring 17 points in just 23 minutes to propel the Racers past the University of Texas-San Antonio Roadrunners 69-58.
Hopkins, who had previously scored just 13 points in three games, shot 7-for-10 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Junior center Reggie Jackson and freshman Shane Dansby also set new career highs in points with 12 and nine, respectively.
"Darnell plays hard on every play, every day." head coach Mick Cronin said. "He has since practice started. Reggie had some really good stretches in the second half I was happy with."
Although the score was tied at 19 with 8:39 left in the first half, the Racers (3-1) used their trademark defensive intensity, which led to 26 Roadrunner turnovers (18 in the first half), to make a 21-9 run to end the half. Sophomore Trey Pearson capped off the run with a jumper from the paint at the buzzer to make it 40-28 at the half.
Murray State then pushed its lead to as high as 18 early in the second half, on a three-pointer by sophomore Shawn Witherspoon and a layup by Hopkins off a forced turnover. A pair of Kurt Attaway free throws cut the Racer lead to eight with 1:19 left in the game, but that was as close as the Roadrunners (3-1) would get.
UTSA senior forward John Millsap also set a new career high in points for the second consecutive game with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
The Racers' next game is against regional rival Western Kentucky on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray.
