Murray State University Athletics
Racers bring back loads of confidence from Canada trip
9/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers are back from a successful exhibition tour of Canada in which the team played and won three games over two days in Ottawa.
"What a great experience it was for our team to see Canada and some places they've never seen before," said MSU head coach Mick Cronin.
The Racers ended their series late Saturday with a 67-63 win over Carleton University.
The Racers led from the tip to the eight-minute mark of the first half, and then trailed at the break 31-26 to Carleton, a team that has won the last three college national titles in Canada.
The Racers finally took the lead back for good with under eight minutes left in the game and held on for the win, giving them a 3-0 mark on the trip.
The Racers were led by Trey Pearson, who scored 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-4 from three-point range. Issian Redding added 17 to go along with seven rebounds. Justin Orr scored 10 and Shawn Witherspoon added 8 to go with his seven rebounds.
The Racers trailed in the rebounding column by eight at the half, but managed to win that category by the end of the game 31-28.
MSU had its hands full with Carleton's Aarron Dornekamp, a 6-7 guard who scored 29 against the Racers on 6-for-8 shooting from behind the three-point line.
In all, it was a good end to the summer for the Racers, who had 10 NCAA-allowable practices, and then three games in Canada.
Cronin is looking forward to seeing how this trip affects preparation for the season which begins with the first practice on Oct. 14.
"The guys had a good chance to get to know each other again, and they bonded," he said. "This puts us ahead of schedule when we begin practice in October."
Once the Racers begin practice, they can look forward to two exhibition games: Nov. 5 at home against Bellarmine and Nov. 10 at home against Christian Brothers.
The Racers open the regular season on Nov. 19 at Cincinnati.
