Murray State
UT Martin
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Racers take 79-73 win at Martin
1/23/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
But it wasn't easy.
Using the three-pointer and timely free throws, the Skyhawks cut the Racer lead to 75-71 with less than 20 seconds left before the Racers made four straight free throws to seal the win.
In the first half, the Racers put together a strong run after falling behind 9-5. Issian Redding scored an old-fashioned three-point play to start the run, and when Trey Pearson and Redding hit back-to-back three-point shots, the Racers had forged ahead 20-11.
Later in the first half, Tyler Holloway's three-pointer from the corner at the 2:27 mark was the Racers' first field goal since the 6:51 mark and gave MSU a 37-28 lead, and just like that, the Racers regained what they had lost.
Griffith scored inside, and after a UTM miss, Redding's three from the corner equaled the Racers' biggest lead of 12 at 42-30 with 1:21 left. MSU enjoyed a 42-31 lead at the half.
The Racers expanded their lead to 15 early in the second half when Justin Orr hit a jumper for a 50-35 lead with 17:08 left.
UTM had the ball with under seven minutes left with a chance to cut the MSU lead to under 10, but a steal and easy hoop by Hopkins put the Racers back in front 64-51 with 6:23 left.
Newson hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 10 just seconds later, and MSU was in front 64-54 with 6:23 remaining.
Another UTM miss led to an unlikely inside basket by MSU guard Keith Jenifer. Amongst the giants in the paint, Jenifer got the ball in the hoop for a 71-56 MSU lead with 4:04 left.
But UTM would not go away, and made the game closer still with 2:18 left when Newson hit two free throws to cut the MSU lead to 72-64.
With 1:29 left, and under heavy pressure from UTM, Jenifer was called for traveling, and the Skyhawks had the ball, trailing by seven with 1:29 left.
With under a minute left, the Skyhawks were forced to foul and put Orr to the line with 30.5 seconds left, where he made the first and missed the second. On the break, Newson hit his fifth three-pointer of the game to cut the Racer lead to 75-71 with 19.4 seconds remaining.
Holloway was fouled with 14.3 seconds left, and hit both free throws for a 77-71 lead for MSU.
Kelly missed a three-pointer with 7.5 seconds left, and Jenifer was fouled and he made both to seal the game.
Ferrell scored at the buzzer, but MSU had a 79-73 win.
Griffith led Murray State with 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds and a game-high two blocked shots. Hopkins scored 10 points togo with a game-hgih six assists and two steals. Rob Kennedy grabbed a game-high six boards, while Shawn Witherspoon had five for MSU.
Tennessee-Martin was paced by Newsom's 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field -- 5-for-6 from three-point range. Kelly and McKale Jones each had 11 points and Ferrell had 10. Jones grabbed a game-high eight rebounds for the Skyhawks, while Cleve Woodfrok had six.
MSU Notes:
The Racers are now 27-2 against UT-Martin and have won the last nine. The last UTM victory in the series was in Martin in 2001. The Racers are 13-2 when playing at UTM.
Tonight's game marks the halfway mark of the Ohio Valley season. MSU is 8-2 and played every team once except Tennessee Tech, and the Racers will host the Golden Eagles Thursday.
The Racers had another good night in dishing out assists with 14. They now have 298 on the season, best in the OVC and seventh out of 332 NCAA Division I teams.
Mick Cronin improves to 56-22 in his third season as the Racers' head coach. UTM is one of three OVC teams Cronin has not lost to; he is 5-0 against them. Jacksonville State (3-0) and Morehead State (6-0) are the other two.
Redding scored nine points and was fortunate to play the entire game after taking a nasty fall in the game's first three minutes. Redding was going for a lay-up on a fast break when his legs were taken out from under him and he crashed to the floor on his back and head. Redding was not able to attempt his free throws, and Tyler Holloway was selected to take them. He hit one of two. Redding was able to return moments later in the first half and didn't show any lingering effect of his fall.
MSU led another game at the half tonight (42-31), marking the ninth time in 16 games they have done so. MSU is 8-1 when leading at half, with the only loss to Tennessee on Nov. 30.
The Racers were average at the free-throw line, making 21 of 34 for 61.8 percent. Pearson's streak of seven straight ended when he missed with 3:50 left in the game. Jenifer now has the longest current streak for the Racers with four in a row. He was 4-for-4 tonight.
