Murray State
Southeast Missouri
Chiles Scores 16 Points To Lead MSU To An 80-74 Road Win Over SEMO
2/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Adam Chiles scored a team-high 16 points as the Murray State Racers used a 19-1 second half run to earn an 80-74 come-from-behind road win over Ohio Valley Conference rival Southeast Missouri today at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Chiles, a native of Louisville, Ky., was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line and 4-of-9 from the field to lead three Racers scoring in double-figures. Chiles was also one of four MSU players to dish out three assists on the day.
Junior forward Kelvin Brown chipped in with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and three assists in 19 minutes, while senior forward Antione Whelchel had 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists for MSU (19-4, 9-1 OVC), which continues to sit alone in second place in the conference standings.
The Racers trailed for much of the game as the Indians (10-11, 3-7 OVC) took command at 17-16 with 11:04 to go in the first half after the teams exchanged the lead five times during the first 8 minutes, 30 seconds of action. SEMO led by as much as 12 on four occasions in the first half with the last coming at 42-30 at halftime.
MSU calmly chipped away at the Indians' lead in the second half, and after SEMO had pushed its lead back to eight at 65-57 with 7:15 to go, MSU senior guard Kevin Paschel converted a layup with 6:53 left to start the Racers' decisive 19-1 run.
The Racers eventually regained the lead at 68-66 on a Cuthbert Victor layup with 2:25 left in the game. MSU followed that by scoring the game's next eight points to push its lead out to 76-66 on a Brown dunk with :26 seconds to play and cap the 19-1 run which covered a span of 6 minutes, 27 seconds late in the game.
Overall, the Racers were 31-of-66 from the field for 47 percent, including an impressive 18-of-32 (56.3%) in the second half. SEMO was 28-of-62 from the field for 45.2 percent, but the Indians were just 13-of-34 (38.2%) over the final 20 minutes.
MSU outrebounded SEMO 41-33 led by senior forward Cuthbert Victor's 10 caroms and Whelchel's nine rebounds. The Racers turned 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points, and MSU's bench players outscored the Indians' 32-8.
Up next, MSU continues its five-game road swing with an important OVC matchup with Tennessee Tech on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Cookeville, Tenn.
NOTES:
-- With today's 80-74 victory, MSU improves to 17-0 on the season when scoring at least 70 points.
-- Today's meeting was the 50th in the all-time series between MSU and SEMO, with the Racers controlling the rivalry 35-15 overall and 17-8 in Cape Girardeau.
-- MSU is now 154-8 since 1994 when scoring 80 points or more in a game. The last loss came at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 6, 2003 when the Racers fell 91-83.
-- Today's game was televised regionally on Fox Sports Net South, and the Racers are now 2-0 on the network this season after dispatching of Morehead State in Murray last Saturday in front of a regional television audience.
POST-GAME COMMENTS
MSU head coach Mick Cronin:
"We didn't play 40 minutes of great basketball today, but we stayed with what works for us and we found a way to win. You've got to earn road wins, especially in conference play, and that's what we did today. We continued to play for 40 minutes and we were able to control the last 10 minutes for the victory."
"We knew we'd see SEMO's best shot, but our guys did enough to get out of here with another win. We didn't do a good job of seeing the floor defensively in the first half, and that led to some easy baskets for SEMO. As the game went on, we did a better job defensively and I think we were able to wear them down at the end. Overall, I'm always happy to get a road win, and we've opened this five-game road swing the way we wanted."
"I think we did a pretty good job of pushing the tempo a little more in the second half, and we were able to get more transition opportunities. Our intensity and execution got better as the game went on, and I think that was the big key for the improvement in our field goal percentages on offense and defense in the second half."
"We've got to continue to stay focused on what we've got to do to accomplish our goals. We've earned a pair of important road wins this week, but we can't harp on that because we've still got a bunch of work to do. Our next job will be to prepare for another tough opponent at Tennessee Tech next week. We can't look back at our wins, and we can't look ahead to any other games outside of the one that's next on our schedule."
