Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Victor's Big Night Leads Racers Past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73-53
2/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Senior forward Cuthbert Victor had a dominating night with 22 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots to lead the Murray State Racers to a 73-53 non-conference home win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi tonight at the Regional Special Events Center.
Victor, a 6-5 native of the Virgin Islands, was 9-of-13 from the field, grabbed two steals and dished out two assist while earning his 13th double-double of the season and the 29th of his career. The six blocked shots matches a career-high for Victor and led the Racers as they set a new school record with 13 blocks as a team, breaking the old record of 12 set on Dec. 20, 2001 against Tennessee State.
Overall, four Racers scored in double-figures as senior guard Chris Shumate knocked down a pair of three-pointers en route to 13 points to go with a game-high seven assists. Senior forward Antione Whelchel and junior forward Kelvin Brown chipped in with 10 points each as MSU went 27-of-53 from the field, good for 50.9 percent.
After TAMUCC (14-10) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, the Racers (23-5) bounced back to score the game's next eight points and gain the lead for good. MSU pushed its lead out to as much as 14 in the first half after senior guard Kevin Paschel knocked home a three-pointer with 7:37 to go to make it 26-12.
The Islanders answered the run to cut the lead back down to four at 27-23 with 2:37 left. MSU pushed the margin back to seven at 30-23, but TAMUCC scored the final two points of the half to make it 30-25 at the halftime break.
The Racers came out of the dressing room and scored the first eight points of the second half to push the lead back out to 13 at 38-25 after a Brown layup with 17:25 left in the game. After the Islanders cut the lead down to six at 38-32 with 15:30 to go, MSU responded to make it 51-38 with 11:02 left.
TAMUCC got no closer than eight the rest of the way while MSU's largest lead of the night was 20 at the final horn.
Overall, MSU controlled the paint outscoring TAMUCC 40-22 in the lane while outrebounding them 38-34. The Racers held the Islanders to just 34.4 percent from the field on 21-of-61 shooting, and MSU outscored them 20-2 on fast break points. The Racers also converted 18 Islander turnovers into 24 points.
Up next, the Racers return to Ohio Valley Conference play on Thursday as they host Southeast Missouri at 7:15 p.m. at the Regional Special Events Center.
NOTES:
-- MSU improves to 20-0 this season when scoring more than 70 points and moves to 19-0 when outrebounding its opponent.
-- Victor now has 151 blocked shots in his career, No. 1 all-time at MSU.
