Murray State
Bellarmine (Exhibition)
Racers 59-53 exhibition win over Bellarmine like a 'real' game
11/5/2005 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Head coach Mick Cronin was pleased to get in such a competitve game in the exhibition season.
"The way we're looking at it, we have two home openers to get ready to play Cincinnati on the 19th," Cronin said. "We needed a good game, and Bellarmine came in here and were prepared to battle us, and they did."
With the Knights packed into a zone during the first half, the Racers called on one of their newcomers to contribute. Freshman Tyler Holloway hit a three to give MSU a 16-15 lead with 8:14 left in the half. It was Holloway's first shot in a Racer uniform; he finished with nine points, all on three-pointers.
After falling behind 26-15 with 5:27 left in the half, MSU answered with a 14-3 run to end the half tied at 29. Holloway hit two threes in the run, and Issian Redding hit three free throws after being fouled taking a three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left.
The Racers came out of the half using their full-court press, and it paid off to the tune of an 8-2 run and a 37-31 lead on a bucket by Pearson Griffith.
The Racer defense was more effective, as Bellarmine's 62.5-percent shooting mark in the first half was whittled to 40 percent midway through the second half. The Knights missed their first four attempts from three-point range in the second half.
Bellarmine's Matt Miller broke the streak when he hit a three-pointer at the 12:15 mark to tie the game at 39, but the Racer defense held the Knights scoreless for the next 6:30. When the drought ended on a Miller jumper, the Racers had a 50-41 lead.
The Racers pushed to a 10-point lead with 3:25 left on a three by Witherspoon, but Bellarmine would not go away. With 1:23 remaining, Kyle Thrasher's three cut the Racer lead to 55-51. The Racers missed four free throws in the final seconds, but held on for the 59-53 win.
Shawn Witherspoon led the Racers with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds and four assists.
"We did a lot of small things defensively to win tonight," Witherspoon said. "Last year, we really depended on Trey, but this year, Trey can be more comfortable. If he doesn't have a good night, we're so deep that it won't matter if Trey has a bad game."
Trey Pearson, who has been battling a case of conjunctivitis, was still feeling the effects of it and was held to four points.
Scotty Davenport, Bellarmine's head coach, has seen his team play Louisville to a seven-point game and the Racers to a six-point game.
"Murray is just tenacious," he said. "They are very physical, and they are great defensively. Any time you are great defensively, your offense will come."
Cronin was pleased with the Racers' effort the first time out.
"We played hard tonight, and we got a lot of good things out of it," he said. "We won this game because of our offensive rebounding.
"We had nine offensive rebounds in the second half, and that's why we shot 50 percent in the half. We have a chance to be a great rebounding team. I thought Pearson Griffith did a great job in the second half, giving us extra shots with extra effort on the offensive glass."
Griffith scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Holloway was the most impressive of the Racer newcomers, scoring nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the three-point line.
The Racers host Christian Brothers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in their final exhibition game before traveling to play Cincinnati on Nov. 19.
