Murray State
Jacksonville State
Racers Remain Unbeaten In OVC Play, Dispatch Jacksonville State 91-72
12/19/2005 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Racers had not played since Dec. 10 when they overwhelmed Morehead State in Murray 92-40. During the past week, MSU was off while the players concentrated on final exams.
The Racers battled foul trouble in the first half. Issian Redding, Pearson Griffith and Keith Jenifer had their minutes limited due to foul trouble.
The Racers fell behind 12-9 almost five minutes into the game, but rallied with an 18-6 run to lead 27-18 with 8:48 before half. Pearson Griffith, even with his foul trouble managed to lead the Racers with 11 points and six rebounds.
Murray State led at the break, 42-36 and enjoyed a rebounding edge of 23-8.
Racers head coach Mick Cronin was not happy with the Racers 18 turnovers, but overall it was a great road win.
"JSU is a tough team to guard. When they were shooting over 40 percent I wasn't happy," Cronin said. "We had some turnovers, but we adjusted well as the game went on."
"I thought Pearson Griffith was big in the first half," Cronin added. "We beat a team in our conference that was 2-0 by twenty, so I can't be too unhappy."
Trey Pearson made his first start after coming off the bench in the last two games.
"He had a great week, I'm really happy for him," said Cronin. "I put him back in there, I think he's getting his confidence back."
With Murray State leading 46-40 with 17:55 left in the game, the Racers put together an impressive segment of basketball in which they hit eight straight field goals and outscored the Gamecocks 26-17 over the next seven minutes to lead 72-57. Redding, who was held to four minutes because of foul trouble in the first half, hit four straight threes during the run.
The Racer lead was 15 and JSU never closed any closer than 13 the rest of the way.
The Racers put six players in double figures: Issian Redding had 16, Darnell Hopkins and Trey Pearson each finished with 13, Charles Johnson added 12 points and Shawn Witherspoon and Pearson Griffith each totaled 11.
Redding scored all of his 16 in the second half, and Griffith scored all of his 11 in the first half.
MSU's six in double digits was their best since putting five there against UT-Martin last January 15th.
The Racers ended the game with a 41-22 edge on the boards. MSU has now won the rebound battle in four consecutive games and during that stretch are winning by an average of 18.
The Racers reached the magic number 80 for the fourth straight game, they have won all of them. In the Mick Cronin era, the Racers are 32-2 when scoring 80 or more, and 204-24 since 1990.
Next up for the Racers is a Wednesday, 7:00 p.m., contest at Samford, a team that Mick Cronin is 0-2 against since becoming the Racers coach. Cronin knows it is a big game.
"You've got to get up every night especially on the road," Cronin said. "And we'll have to be up for a very good Samford team Wednesday night."
