MSU Goes Down 76-68 To Seattle-Pacific

Saturday, November 11

Moraga, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

Murray State

Seattle Pacific

11/11/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

The Murray State Racers got off to a slow start against Seattle-Pacific in the second round of the Shamrock Invitational hosted by Saint Mary's College Saturday night, the result was a 76-68 loss dropping the Racers to 0-2.

The Falcons, a NCAA Division-II semi-finalist last March started the game with the hot hand in hitting 11 of their first 17 shots, including 8-13 from three-point range. The Racers quickly fell behind 23-17 at the 12:41 mark of the first half on a three by Dustin Bremerman who hit four of six threes in the first half.

The Racers battled back to cut the Falcons lead to nine on a fast break bucket by Ed Horton with 6:00 left in the half, but SPU pushed the lead back to 13 points on a pair of scores in the paint by center Robbie Will.

The half ended with SPU putting together an 8-4 run that ended when Jojay Jackson hit a half-court shot at the buzzer. The SPU lead was 47-28 at the break and it marked the second straight night MSU had a half-court heave go in against them. Friday night, the Racers were seemingly headed to overtime when San Diego State's Brandon Heath hit a half-court shot to win the game 87-84.

At the half, Murray State was shooting .407 (11-27) from the field, SPU (17-31) shot .548. From three-point range the Racers were 0-5 in the half, a night after hitting 11 against SDSU. SPU made a living on the long shots, hitting 10 of 21 for 47 percent.

The Racers had a run of 10-2 to start the second half and cut the SPU lead to 50-38 with 15:38 left, Shawn Witherspoon and Dwayne Paul each scored twice.

MSU cut the Seattle-Pacific lead to nine on a jumper by Marvin Williams, the Racers were down 59-50 with 9:30 remaining. The Racers cut the deficit to eight on a free throw by Dwayne Pail with 5:41 left and again with 1:55 left.

Ed Horton's free throws with 1:28 left made it a six point game, but the Racers never got any closer.

Murray State will play its final game in California Sunday at 9:30 CST against the host Saint Mary's.

GAMENOTES:

Proving again the game of basketball is a game of streaks, the Racers were 27-60 from the field tonight for 45 percent. Just 24 hours earlier against San Diego State the Racers shot 59 percent on 32-54 shooting. Against SDSU the Racers were 11-21 from three-point range, but fell off against Seattle-Pacific and hit 2-12.

Turnovers have been a problem for the Racers in the first two games of the season. The Racers turned the ball over 24 times against SDSU and followed that with 20 against SPU.

The Racers brace for a Sunday night game against a Saint Mary's team that defeated Seattle-Pacific Friday night 71-60. The Gaels led 39-27 at the half and held the Falcons to 36 percent shooting from the field. Brett Collins led SMC with 18 points and Diamon Simpson added 15. The Racers have met Saint Mary's only once before. In 2004 in Moraga, Calif. MSU met Saint Mary's in the championship game of the Shamrock Invitational and lost 75-62.

Murray State Head Coach Billy Kennedy continues to tweak his starting lineup. He exchanged Tony Easley at the center position for Curtis Parker against Seattle-Pacific. The other four starters from game one; Shawn Witherspoon, Tyler Holloway, Ed Horton and Dwayne Paul stayed the same.

The Racers have out-fouled their opponent in both games this season. The Racers have committed 46 fouls while SDSU and SPU combined for 29 fouls.

MSU is off to a good start from the free throw line which will benefit them plenty through the course of a season. Against SDSU, the Racers were 9-9 from the line and against SPU they hit 12-14. MSU's two-game total is 21-23 good for .913 percent.

Shawn Witherspoon entered the SPU game needing 222 points to join the Murray State 1,000-Point Club. His 17 tonight means he now has inched to 205 points of the magic number.