Murray State
Samford
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Samford Trips Up Racers, Murray State Falls 61-50
12/22/2005 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With the Racers off to a 3-0 start, MSU head coach Mick Cronin said he could see this loss coming.
"We were going down no matter who we were playing," Cronin said. "Samford played hard and I give them all the credit, but we were over confident."
Cronin added, "We missed numerous offensive and defensive assignments. I take responsibility for that."
In a game that mirrored their game here a year ago, the Racers played a fantastic stretch of 11 minutes when they put together a 23-7 run after falling behind 10-2.
Pearson Griffith was a big part of the run and ended the half for the second consecutive game with 11 points.
But after the Racers grabbed their biggest lead of the game at 25-17 with 5:45 left in the half, the Samford style of deliberate offense started to confuse and wear the Racers down. MSU ended the half managing only two points in the final 5:45.
Samford put together its own run of 12-2 and erased the Racers lead and made it to the half time break with a 34-29 advantage.
The second half was just as frustrating for the Racers.
Issian Redding hit back to back three's and then a floating jumper as the Racers cut the Bulldogs advantage to 42-39 with 14:04 remaining.
Samford answered with back to back three pointers from Joe Merritt and Travis Peterson to stretch their lead to 48-39 with 12:22 left.
Griffith finished the game with a career high 19 points on eight-of-11 shooting.
Peterson's 18 point was also his career high.
Shawn Witherspoon led the Racers on the boards with seven. But the Racers who came into the contest with the best rebound margin in conference play won the boards against Samford but only 27-26.
The Racers now take the Christmas weekend off before returning to action Wednesday Dec. 28 at home against Southern Illinois. The game will be aired by ESPNU to a national television audience in a 9:04 p.m., tip off.
"We'll bounce back, hopefully understanding why we lost," Cronin said. "As a coach you try and stop slippage. You know you're going to have a night like this. We have a veteran bunch and they'll come back."
MSU Notes:
The Racers gave up a season high 12 three pointers to Samford. The previous best against the Racers was seven when the Racers won in overtime at UT-San Antonio on Dec. 3. Coming into the game, the Racers were the best in the OVC at defending the three point shot at .256.
The Racers were poised to notch their 500tth win in OVC play, but were denied. They'll have another chance to get the milestone victory Jan. 5 when they host Tennessee State.
The Racers and Samford have played 14 times now with the series tied with seven wins each. MSU still hasn't won at Samford since 1936.
"Samford executed with discipline and we were breaking down," said Cronin. "They were more physical than we were. But discipline is what it's all about and it added up to a loss. I was really concerned about us being able to handle some success."
