Murray State
UT Martin
Smothering Defense Leads Racers Past Tennessee-Martin 77-44
2/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A stingy Murray State defense held Tennessee-Martin to just five first half field goals and only 13 points in the first 20 minutes of play as the Racers earned a dominating 77-44 Ohio Valley Conference road win tonight over the Skyhawks at the Elam Center in Martin, Tenn.
The Racers (21-5, 11-2 OVC), alone in second place in the OVC standings, have assured themselves of a top-4 finish in the conference and a first round home game in the upcoming OVC Tournament. MSU is the only OVC school to host a first round game in every year since the tournament went to its current format in 1997.
In their first game since losing junior guard Adam Chiles indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder, the Racers answered a lot of questions with a suffocating defensive performance holding UTM (8-17, 3-10 OVC) to season-lows in points and field goal percentage. The Skyhawks were held to just 23.8 percent (15-of-63) shooting on the night, including a 5-of-34 showing in the first half for only 14.7 percent.
MSU was a solid 48.1 percent on 25-of-52 shooting as senior forward Cuthbert Victor led three Racers scoring in double-figures with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. Senior forward Antione Whelchel added a double-double effort with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with five assists, while senior guard Chris Shumate chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and four assists.
After the two teams exchanged baskets and were tied at 2-2 at the 15:35 mark of the first half, MSU scored the game's next 14 points for a 16-2 lead with 8:20 left in the first half and the Racer lead was never under 12 points the rest of the night.
The Racers' largest lead of the first half was 21, which they held on two occasions with the last coming at 34-13 at the halftime break.
In the second half, it was more of the same as MSU quickly pushed the lead beyond 30 at 51-19 on a Whelchel three-pointer with 14:09 to go and then hit 40 at 67-27 on a T.J. Wolf three-pointer with 5:49 left. In the end, all 12 Racer players in uniform scored, including forward Petar Roncevic who scored the first points of his MSU career.
MSU controlled the paint outrebounding the Skyhawks 50-32 led by Whelchel's 10 caroms, while freshman forward Shawn Witherspoon pulled down a career-high nine rebounds to go along with five assists. Overall, the Racers were credited with assists on 23 of their 25 field goals on the night.
Up next, MSU returns home to host OVC rival Tennessee State on Thursday and open a four-game homestand to close out the regular-season. The Racers and Tigers tip off at 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
NOTES:
-- With tonight's 77-44 victory, MSU improves to 19-0 on the season when scoring at least 70 points.
-- Today's meeting was the 26th in the all-time series between MSU and UTM, with the Racers controlling the rivalry 24-2 overall.
-- MSU is now 17-0 this season when it outrebounds its opponent.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"Obviously, Tennessee-Martin struggled to make open shots tonight, but we did play some pretty good defense overall. We didn't give up too many open looks to them, and we played pretty well overall. We did a good job of making them shoot challenged jump shots, and that was important."
"I was pretty happy with our focus and our effort tonight. I wanted to make sure there wasn't a letdown in our effort and our desire to play after everything last Saturday night. This is an exciting time of year as we approach the OVC and NCAA Tournament's. I wanted our guys to continue to have fun as we make the final push, and that's what I saw tonight. These guys really like each other, and they enjoy playing basketball together. I hope we can continue to have that kind of chemistry because if we do, we'll be fine."
"Rick Jones is facing a 'trial by fire' situation by moving to the point with the injury to Adam Chiles. He's got great heart and toughness and he has a great attitude. We're working with him every day to get better, and he handled it pretty well tonight."
"Overall, I'm pleased with our effort. I am a little concerned with our turnovers and the fact that we mishandled the ball a few times around the basket. There were a few occasions where we weren't ready to catch the pass. Having 17 turnovers is scary because Tennessee State will make us pay if we turn it over that much. We didn't have many negatives tonight, but that was one of them."
"I'm not sure how many people we had over here tonight, but it looked like it had to be around 1,500 or so. When our guys came out of the dressing room to run out on the floor and saw all the Murray people here, it really had a great impact on them. We've sort of had a long, dragging day, and I was worried about our guys being flat tonight. All of our fans coming out here and supporting this team had much more of an impact on our effort and energy than anything I said to the players before the game. I want to say thank you to our fans because they really helped our team tonight. Our fans continue to believe in what our guys have done this season and what's still in front of them. They sent a message to our players tonight, and I can't say enough about how great our fans are."
"TSU is a very quick and a very explosive offensive team. They gave us fits over there earlier in the season, and we had to battle to get that win. After watching the tape of our first game with them, I thought we played pretty well overall, and we still struggled defending them. It'll certainly be a tough task on Thursday night."
