Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois's sharp shooting pushes Panthers past Racers
1/16/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Racers got off to a rough start when they hit only one of their first six field-goal attempts and trailed 5-2.
MSU tied the game at 8-8 on a steal by Justin Orr, and Tyler Holloway fed Issian Redding for the easy lay-up at the 12:35 mark.
The Racers fell behind 14-8 after a Bobby Catchings drive at the 10:52 mark.
Murray State battled to a 14-14 tie on back-to-back three-pointers by Darnell Hopkins and Trey Pearson at the 9:42 mark.
The rest of the first half was a back-and-forth contest. The Racers fell behind 19-14 with 6:30 left in the half on back-to-back baskets by Catchings, but cut the lead to three on Trey Pearson's second three-pointer of the half. However, Pearson picked up his second personal foul moments later and did not play the rest of the half.
With 25 seconds before half, the Racers tied the game on a Redding steal and Keith Jenifer jumper, and after EIU missed at the buzzer, the game was tied at 26-26 at the half.
The Racers saw Pearson Griffith score their first five points of the second half before he picked up his third personal foul with 17:10 left in the game, and the Racers trailed 34-31.
Murray State scored what amounted to a five-point play moments later when Jenifer hit two free throws and then caused EIU into a turnover on the inbound pass. Redding hit his first three of the game to give the Racers a 35-34 lead with 15:35 left.
EIU's Catching and Josh Gomes had an outstanding game, and they triggered a 9-3 run to give Eastern Illinois a 43-37 lead with 12:22 left. Catchings hit one three in the run, and Gomes hit two.
However, the Racers battled back and tied the game with 9:43 left in the game on two free throws by Pearson, and the game was tied at 43.
With 4:50 remaining, the Racers were down 51-45 when Pearson hit a three-pointer to cut the EIU lead to 51-48.
Again, the Racers were hanging on when Witherspoon hit a three to cut the Panthers' lead to 53-51 with 3:10 left in the game.
Catchings missed a three-pointer with 2:10 left. The Racers had a chance to tie or take the lead, and did when Witherspoon nailed a three-pointer to give the Racers the lead at 54-53 with 1:45 left.
EIU worked a shot at the free-throw line for Gomes, and he connected to give the Panthers a 55-54 lead.
MSU missed with 1:02 left and lost the rebound out of bounds, but EIU gave the ball back with 38 seconds left when they threw the ball out of bounds.
With 22 seconds left, Darnell Hopkins drove into the paint, but had his shot blocked, and MSU fouled Mike Robinson, who went to the line with 21.8 seconds left with a chance to increase EIU's 55-54 lead. Robinson hit both free throws for a 57-54 lead.
The Racers worked the ball around the three-point line, then with 2.7 seconds left, Witherspoon's three was blocked. The Racers fouled with 1.5 left, and Robinson went to the line again. The EIU freshman hit both to seal the Panthers upset win 59-54.
Witherspoon led MSU's scorers with 14 points to go with a co-team-high five rebounds. Pearson added 13 points and a co-game-high two steals for the Racers. Griffith also had five rebounds, while Jenifer handed out a co-game-high five assists.
The Racers were held to 36.4-percent shooting (20-for-55), shooting 22.6 percent (7-for-31) from three-point range. MSU was 7-for-11 from the line and forced 17 EIU turnovers, committing only 11 of its own.
Eastern Illinois (4-12, 3-7 OVC) was paced by Catchings and Jake Sinclair, who each had 17 points. George Tandy and Billy Parrish each grabbed a game-high six rebounds, while Catchings had five. Robinson and Gomes handed out five assists apiece.
The Panthers shot 46.7 percent (21-for-45) from the field, 50 percent outside the arc (6-for-12), and hit 11 of their 12 free-throw attempts. EIU shot 57.9 percent (11-for-19) in the second half to MSU's 31.3 percent (10-for-32), and out-rebounded the Racers 32 to 30 in the game.
Murray State has the rest of the week to prepare for its next game, a Saturday tilt at Tennessee-Martin. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
