Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
St. Mary's (Calif.)
MSU Ends California Trip With 62-44 Loss to Saint Mary's
11/12/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers dropped their final game of the Shamrock Invitational Sunday evening to the host team Saint Mary's 62-44 and ended the season opening event 0-3.
MSU got off to a slow start from the field and were 0-7 until Tyler Holloway hit a three-pointer with 14:01 left in the half, the Racers trailed 12-3. MSU played the first 10 minutes of the game shooting 1-11 from the field.
The Racers second basket was a three-pointer from Ed Horton, but the Racers were still trailing 17-6.
MSU put together a 6-2 run that included two baskets and a steal that started a fast break basket from Dwayne Paul to cut the SMC lead to nine at 24-15 with 7:00 left in the half.
Saint Mary's stretched their lead to 33-17 at the half, with MSU struggling to get anything going on the offensive end of the floor. MSU scored two points in the final seven minutes of the half and ended the period shooting 28 percent on 7-24 from the field. Saint Mary's managed 11 field goals in 22 tries for 50 percent.
From three-point range the Racers were 2-3 while SMC was 3-8. MSU was beaten on the boards in the first half 22-9.
In the second half, the Racers kept fighting and finally were able to cut the Saint Mary's lead to 10 points on a bucket by Rob Kennedy with 8:41 remaining.
The Racers did it by holding the Gaels to three for 10 shooting from the field.
Again the Racers had the SMC lead cut down to 10 on a pair of Rob Kennedy free throws with 5:11 left in the game but could not get any closer.
The Racers will travel home Monday beginning with a flight from
MSU's next contest is the home opener Thursday at 7 p.m. when the Racers host Belhaven at the
