Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Rice
Racers race past Rice 69-63 in ESPN Bracket Buster matchup
2/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers used a 12-2 run late in the game to push past host Rice and claim a 69-63 win in MSU's ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday matchup.
Trailing 56-49 with 5:43 left in regulation, Murray State (15-10) began its tear, as Shawn Witherspoon hit a three and Justin Orr hit a layup to pull MSU to within two.
Rice's Lorenzo Williams hit a basket to push the Owl lead back to four, but a trey from Orr followed by a laup from Trey Pearson put Murray State ahead for good, 59-58, with 3:57 remaining. A Pearson layin capped the run.
After a free throw from Rice's Jamaal Moore, Issian Redding gave Murray State a basket, then Keith Jenifer hit two free throws to give the Racers a 65-59 lead with 1:01 left. Rice's Jason McKrieth hit a bucket, but Jenifer hit two more free throws with 35 seconds left, then Pearson hit two free shots to ice the game, 69-61, with 19 ticks remaining. Rice's Brock Gillespie hit a jumper with nine seconds remaining to close out the scoring.
"Our second-half defense was the difference," said MSU head coach Mick Cronin. "We started getting into it a little more and got some steals.
"This game is big for Murray State to get this kind of national exposure, plus we have Rice coming back to Murray in November, and they will be in Conference USA next year.
"We rested yesterday," Cronin said. "We didn't have any practice; we watched game film and relaxed a little. We had a walk-through and pre-game practice today, and it worked out well for us. Now, we've got some time to get some legs back for next week's run against SEMO and Eastern Illinois."
Murray State completed a string of five games played over a 10-day period.
Murray State was led by Pearson and Witherspoon, who scored 17 points apiece. Witherspoon added a co-game-high eight rebounds and shot 7-for-11 from the field.
Justin Orr put in 14 points, while Jenifer handed out a game-high six assists.
Rice (13-10) was paced by Michael Harris, who put in 24 points on 11-for-16 shooting from the field and pulled down a co-game-high eight rebounds to go with six blocked shots. McKrieth added nine points and eight rebounds, while Gillespie had a team-high five assists.
Both teams had nine turnovers apiece, and free throws were even as each team went 8-for-11 from the line. The big difference was in three-point shooting, as MSU went 11-for-24 from behind the arc, while the Owls hit three of their nine three-point attempts.
Murray State closes out its regular-season schedule this week, visiting Southeast Missouri on Thursday at 7 p.m., then ending the regular season at Eastern Illinois on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
