Murray State
Southern Illinois
Murray State Battles SIU To 62-46 Loss
11/19/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers battled the Southern Illinois Salukis Sunday afternoon at the SIU Arena in a 62-46 loss in
MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said he saw some improvements from his inexperienced squad that features 10 new players, including five freshmen.
“SIU is a team we want to be like,” Kennedy said. “I thought our kids gave great effort for the entire game. Now we've got a choice to make; either use this as a positive or a negative.”
“I'm going to use it as a positive and I'm communicating that to our team.”
The Racers were down early in the contest 15-7 at the 11:48 mark after Rob Kennedy's three-pointer was sandwiched between three-pointers from Tony Young and Jamaal Tatum of SIU.
MSU hit three of their first seven shots, while SIU was 6-11.
Then foul trouble started to mount for the Racers when Rob Kennedy and Shawn Witherspoon picked up their second personal fouls, while Bruce Carter got his third.
MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy at one point had three freshmen (Danero Thomas, Daniel Ard and Tony Easley), and sophomore Tyler Holloway, plus senior Dwayne Paul on the floor. This group of five played with much energy and kept the Racers in the game.
It was Ard and Holloway who each scored a three-point play that kept the Racers close. Ard cut the SIU lead to 18-12 with 7:44 left in the half, and Holloway made it a 20-15 game at the 6:19 mark.
SIU pushed out to their lead to largest lead of the half when Tatum and Matt Shaw each hit three-pointers at the shot clock buzzer, the Salukis were up 26-11 with 3:52 left before half.
However the Racers were only able to score one more field goal and two free throws in the rest of the half and trailed the Salukis 32-19 at the break.
The Racers foul trouble was extreme, at the half MSU had 15 personal fouls, SIU had eight.
SIU led the rebounding battle 14-10. MSU shot .438 (7-16) from the field in the half, while SIU shot .455 (10-22). Kennedy hit the only three for the Racers in five first half tries, SIU was 5-7. MSU hit 4-5 from the free throw line; the Salukis were 7-11.
Witherspoon hit his first basket with 14:52 left in the game to keep the Racers within 13 of the Salukis.
With 14:24 remaining, Holloway made two free throws and MSU trailed 41-30 with 14:24 left.
The Racers never got any closer.
Tyler Holloway led the Racers with 10 points on ;2-6 shooting, he was 5-5 from the free throw line.
Jamaal Tatum was the Salukis scoring leader with 20.
The Salukis have now won seven of the last ten meetings with the Racers. MSU's last win at
GAME NOTES:
Through five games, the Racers have trailed at the half four times including today 32-19 to SIU
Carter and Witherspoon only played a combined 26 minutes in the opening half because of foul trouble. Witherspoon didn't take a shot in the half and Carter was 2-5 for four points. Carter fouled out with 16:45 left in the game. Witherspoon hit his first field goal with 14:52 left in the game, a three pointer. For the game, MSU committed 27 fouls, SIU had 15.
OVC OPENER: It won't be long before the Racers play their earliest OVC opener ever when they host
HOME STREAK: MSU will be trying to extend a 12 game winning streak. The Racers streak is tied with George Mason for 10th best in the nation. MSU's last home loss came last season on Dec. 28 when they lost to SIU 57-53. The Racers will also be trying to win for the 100th time in the RSEC against only 15 losses. This is the ninth season for the Racers in the building.
Here is the current MSU home win streak:
12-30-05 Rice Won 83-65
1-5-06
1-7-06
1-9-06
1-12-06
1-26-06
1-30-06 Samford Won 59-38
2-18-06 Illinois-Chicago Won 72-68
2-25-06 UT-Martin Won 81-63
2-28-06 UT-Martin Won 65-52
11-16-06 Belhaven Won 73-72
