Murray State
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati gets past Racers in OT
11/19/2005 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Racers hung tough, even though they battled foul trouble and Pearson missed his first several shots of the game. The Racers trailed 9-5 five minutes into the contest, but battled back to take the lead 14-12 at the 12:08 mark after a basket in the paint by Charles Johnson.
Cincinnati put together a 10-4 run and took a 24-18 lead with 7:45 left in the half.
The Racers were again down by six with 5:35 left when freshman Tyler Holloway came off the bench and hit a three, but Cincinnati's Armein Kirkland answered with a three, and the Bearcat lead was 29-23. Cincinnati pushed the lead to 31-23 after a near-steal by Pearson with 3:45 before the half.
MSU has two shots with two minutes left to cut the lead to six, but missed two threes in the possession. Eric Hicks scored for Cincinnati with 1:35 left in the half to give the Bearcats a 35-25 lead.
In the final minute, the Racers rallied to get back in the game. Pearson finally scratched the scorecard with 50 seconds left when he was fouled taking a three-pointer. He made all of them, and the Racers were down 35-30. Cincinnati held the ball for the final 30 seconds to take the last shot, but with five seconds left, Keith Jenifer made a steal from Bearcat guard Johad Muhammad, and on the fast break, Justin Orr hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, and the Racers had completed an 8-0 run, and the Cincinnati lead was cut to 35-33 at the break.
Even with Pearson missing on all six of his shots in the first half, the Racers were in the game. Murray State held its own on the boards with the physical Bearcats trailing only 21-20 in rebounds at the half and an 11-10 edge in offensive boards in the first period. Pearson had three offensive rebounds in the first half, as did Shawn Witherspoon.
Justin Orr looked very comfortable playing in his hometown, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor, including 1-for-4 from three-point range. Orr was the only Racer in double-figures at the break with 11.
The Racers continued their run to start the second half when Witherspoon hit a three-pointer and then scored on a putback after MSU stole the inbounds pass. Murray State had the lead, 38-37, with 17:24 left in the game. The Racers had put together a 13-2 run, including the 8-0 run that ended the first half.
At the 15:51 mark, Cincinnati reclaimed the lead on an inside hoop by James White, but the game was tied at 40 when Pearson Griffith made a hook over Hicks with 14:15 remaining in regulation.
With Cincinnati trapping at midcourt, Orr missed a three from the left wing. Darnell Hopkins made a dive over the baseline and save the ball to Johnson, who scored and drew a foul. He made the free throw, and the Racers led 43-41. After a Cincinnati miss, Orr scored inside, and the Racers' lead was 45-41 with 12:31 left.
Pearson made his first field goal with 11:10 remaining on a three-pointer from the right side. Cincinnati's DeAndre Coleman answered to tie the game again at 48, but an unlikely three from Kennedy banked in and gave the Racers a 51-48 lead with 10:38 left in the game.
Pearson scored and was fouled at the 8:55 mark. He made the foul shot, and the Murray State lead was 56-50. After a moving screen foul call against Cincinnati, Johnson made two free throws to give the Racers their biggest lead at 58-50 with eight minutes left.
The run you knew the home team would make came moments later, when Jenifer missed a jumper in the paint and James White finished the fast break to cut the Racer lead to 61-58 with 5:35 left.
Murray State had a 70-65 lead with 58 seconds remaining in regulation when White scored and drew a foul with 45 seconds left. After making the free throw, the Bearcats were within 70-68, but the Racers threw the ball away on an inbounds pass, and Cincinnati had the ball with 44.3 seconds left.
The Bearcats missed a shot from the corner with 39 seconds left. Witherspoon rebounded the ball. Murray State tried to run down the clock, with a four-second difference between the game clock and the shot clock. White took the ball from Pearson at midcourt and dunked the ball to tie the game at 70-70 with 5.8 seconds left.
After a timeout, Witherspoon's shot from the corner was blocked, but the officials ruled that the shot came after time had expired, sending the game into overtime.
In the overtime, Pearson drained a three from the top of the key to give MSU a 73-72 lead with 3:40 left. The Racers came up empty on their next three possessions. Griffith fouled while going for a rebound, and after White made the free throws, Cincinnati led 75-73 with 1:56 left.
White was called for an offensive foul with 1:07 left, and the Racers had a chance to take the lead. Pearson's runner down the lane hung on the rim, but fell off with 35 seconds left. MSU was unable to get any closer in the 79-75 overtime loss.
"We're a better team than we were before this game started," said MSU head coach Mick Cronin. "If we play with that kind of toughness and effort, we're going to have a great season. I saw things tonight that I didn't see all of last season, even in our wins.
The loss marks an end to the Racers' 11-game season-opening win streak. Their last season-opening loss was at Arkansas to open the 1993-94 season. The Bearcats have now won 40 straight season-openers.
Murray State returns home on Tuesday to host Campbellsville. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
