Murray State
Tennessee State
Jones' Career-High 26 Points Leads Racers In 88-72 Win Over TSU
2/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Senior guard Rick Jones knocked home seven three-point baskets en route to a career-high 26 points to lead the Murray State Racers to an 88-72 home win over Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee State tonight at the Regional Special Events Center.
With the win, MSU (22-5, 12-2 OVC) secures the No. 2 seed in the upcoming OVC Tournament and will host a first round tournament game at the RSEC on Tuesday, March 2.
Jones, a native of Georgetown, Ky., was 8-for-12 from the field, including 7-of-9 on three-pointers in leading four Racers scoring in double-figures. The seven three-point baskets matches a career-high for Jones, who had 20 points at the halftime break.
Senior forward Cuthbert Victor continued his dominant play in 2003-04 with an 18-point, 12-rebound performance, his 12th double-double of the season and the 28th of his career at MSU.
Junior forward Kelvin Brown added 14 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Chris Shumate chipped in with 13 points, including three three-pointers, five rebounds and three assists. Senior forward Antione Whelchel also had a solid night with nine points, eight assists, seven rebounds, one blocked shot and one steal in 28 minutes.
After five lead changes and four ties in the first 10 minutes, 37 seconds, the Racers regained the lead for good at 25-24 on a pair of Shawn Witherspoon free throws with 10:23 left in the first half.
MSU eventually pushed its lead out to as much as 14 in the first half after a Jones three-pointer with 3:48 to go made it 43-29. The Tigers (6-18, 5-8 OVC) bounced back and cut the lead down to six at 43-37 with 1:31 left, but the Racers pushed the margin back to double-digits at 47-37 at the halftime break after a Brown free throw and another three-pointer by Jones.
TSU continued to battle in the second half and cut the lead down to six again, this time at 53-47 with 14:49 left in the game, only to see the Racers answer with a 12-4 run to push the advantage back out to 14 at 65-51 with 9:36 to go on yet another three by Jones.
The Tigers were able to cut the MSU lead under double-digits one final time over the last 10 minutes at 69-60 with 6:50 left, but the Racers answered the final challenge with a 12-3 run for their biggest lead of the night at 81-63 after a pair of Brown free throws with 4:03 to go.
Overall, MSU was 30-of-65 from the field for 46.2 percent, including 10-of-24 (41.7%) on three-pointers, while TSU was 27-of-62 from the field for 43.5 percent. The Racers also outrebounded the Tigers 45-34.
Up next, the Racers step out of conference for the final time this season as they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday, Feb. 23 at 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center.
NOTES:
-- With tonight's 88-72 win, MSU now holds a 33-11 lead in the all-time series with TSU.
-- MSU improves to 19-0 this season when scoring more than 70 points and moves to 18-0 when outrebounding its opponent.
-- The Racers are now 156-8 since 1994 when scoring 80 points or more in a game. The last loss came at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 6, 2003 when MSU fell 91-83.
