Murray State
Illinois-Chicago
Murray State Battles Illinois-Chicago
11/28/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers started fast Tuesday at Illinois-Chicago, but couldn't finish like they started in a 74-68 loss at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill. MSU held the lead until 2:10 left but fell to 2-5 on the season and now prepare for a Friday contest at Tennessee.
Trailing by a point with 11:30 left in the half, the Racers' offense and defense started to click.
Ed Horton picked up a lose ball in the paint and scored a three-point play to put MSU ahead by three. Moments later he beat the shot clock with a jumper for a five point lead with 9:13 in the half.
The Racers put together a 9-2 run that ended with a Shawn Witherspoon three pointer for a 26-14 lead at the 6:24 mark of the half.
The Racers took their largest lead of the half, 13 points with 2:38 left on a jumper by Horton. UIC made six free throws and cut the lead to 35-27 with 38 seconds left and Witherspoon sent the Racers into the half with a buzzer beating three for a 38-27 MSU lead at the break.
Witherspoon, who came into the game without a double-digit scoring game in the last four games had 17 first half points on 5-of-7 shooting including 4-of-5 from three point range. He also had seven rebounds.
MSU held UIC to 26 percent shooting in the first half (6-23) and shot 50 percent (14-28).
The Flames opened the second half on an 11-5 run that was capped by Othyus Jeffers' three-point play that cut the MSU lead to 43-38 with 16:30 left.
The Racers called timeout and scored back-to-back baskets to push their lead back to 10 on a three-pointer from Danero Thomas and a put back from Tony Easley with 15:37 left.
UIC kept making charges at the Racers and with 9:57 they again cut the Racers lead to six on back-to-back three-pointers from T.J. Gray.
UIC cut the lead to one on a three-pointer by Spencer Stewart and a free throw from Jeffers to make it a 63-62 MSU lead with 2:57 left.
After a MSU miss, Bush nailed a three for the Flames first lead since 11:30 of the first half at 65-63 with 2:10 left. MSU turned the ball over seconds later and Karl White made a slam dunk for a four point UIC lead with 1:55 left.
Curtis Parker was called for an offensive foul on the Racers next trip, UIC turned that into a lay up for a 69-63 lead with 1:13 left.
The Racers cut the lead to three on a Bruce Carter three-pointer with 20 seconds left but were forced to leave
MSU plays at Tennessee Friday.
