Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Racers clinch home court with 61-57 win over SEMO
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers clinched hosting a first-round game in the O'Reilly's Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament with a 61-57 win at Southeast Missouri State tonight.
The Racers (16-10, 10-5 OVC) continue a nine-year string of hosting the first round of the OVC Tournament dating to the beginning of the current tournament format in 1997. Murray State has won all of those first-round games. MSU's tournament seed and first-round opponent will be determined following Saturday's games.
At Southeast Missouri, Murray State pushed out to as much as a seven-point lead, 29-22, when Issian Redding hit a three-pointer with 4:50 left in the first half. The Redhawks (13-13, 8-7) then went on a 6-0 run to pull to within a point, 29-28, with 3:20 left, but MSU then went on a 6-0 run of its own when Reggie Jackson hit two free throws, Keith Jenifer hit a jumper and Justin Orr put in a layup to give Murray State a 35-28 lead with 1:15 left in the first period. MSU claimed a 35-29 lead at the half.
In the second half, Murray State had an early nine-point lead, 40-31, before SEMO went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to three, eventually pulling within two points, 44-42 when Mike Nelke hit a three with 10:43 left.
The Redhawks kept the game close throughout the remainder of the game. SEMO cut the Racer lead to two again, 53-51, when Reggie Golson popped in a layup with 4:23 remaining in regulation. A dunk by Redding and a layup by Charles Johnson pushed the Racers back out to a six-point advantage, but a layup and two free throws by SEMO's Dainmon Gonner cut the lead to two again with 1:32 left.
Jackson put in a layup and Gonner hit a basket to make the score 59-57 with nine seconds left, and the Redhawks called a timeout. Having committed only four fouls in the half, SEMO would have to foul Murray State three times to send the Racers to the line with hopes of rebounding an MSU miss and setting up a shot to tie or win the game.
The Redhawks did just that, fouling the Racers three times with only three seconds ticking off the clock. Trey Pearson hit both of his free throws with six seconds left to seal the game.
Murray State was led by Redding's 14 points off the bench. Shawn Witherspoon grabbed a co-game-high six rebounds to go with nine points, while Pearson swiped a game-high three steals to go with seven points.
Southeast Missouri was paced by Gonner's 15 points and six rebounds to go with three assists and two blocked shots. Terrick Willoughby added 12 points, while Golson had 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Derek Winans handed out four assists and had six rebounds for the Redhawks.
Murray State closes out its regular-season schedule on Saturday at Eastern Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
