Murray State
Morehead State
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Justin Orr's Double-Double Leads Racers To Eighth Straight Win
2/11/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Racers led second place Samford at the start of the evening by one game and if they can win their final three league games, they'll have their first OVC regular season championship since 2000.
The Racers were sluggish coming out of the gate.
After Justin Orr hit a lay up on a pass from Shawn Witherspoon at the 16:20 mark of the half, the Racers went the next 8:26 without a field goal until Chuck Johnson tipped in his own miss with 7:54 left.
Even though MSU was hitting only three of their first 17 shots from the field, they were making up for it on the defensive end and trailed only 15-12. Morehead was only four of their first 18 shots.
In the final five minutes of the half, the Racers began to get better on offense thanks in part to Justin Orr.
His three-pointer at the 5:10 mark tied the game at 17, and he gave MSU the lead moments later 19-17.
Orr hit another three to put MSU up 24-23 with 2:31 left in the half.
MSU managed to hang on to the lead, 27-25 at the half even with their poor shooting.
The Racers were 8-28 for 28 percent, but they held Morehead State to a low percentage from the field too, 8-27 for 29 percent.
The Racers came out of the half break like a new team and hit three of their first five shots and grabbed a 37-28 lead with 16:31 left in the game. Shawn Witherspoon scored seven points in the 10-3 run.
The Racers had their biggest lead of the day 42-30 with 15:05 left after Jenifer hit a three pointer and Pearson Griffith scored after Witherspoon made a steal.
The Racers lead ballooned to 51-30 when Holloway hit a three pointer with 13:00 remaining.
Just like they did Thursday at Eastern Kentucky when they locked down the Colonels in the second half, they were doing the same to the Eagles, holding them to three of 18 from the field.
Morehead State cut the Racers lead to 13 with 8:02 left but never got any closer.
After the rough start, the Racers finished the game hitting 11 of 24.
Justin Orr finished the game with his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Racers also placed Shawn Witherspoon in double figures with 13 and Darnell Hopkins added 10.
MSU Notes:
The Racers have defeated Morehead State six straight times. The last Eagles win over MSU was in Murray Feb. 22, 2003. MSU has won three straight at Morehead.
Mick Cronin is now 63-33 as the Racers head coach. The Racers now have won eight straight for the third time in the Cronin era. Cronin is 7-0 against Morehead State.
MSU is now 18-5 and two wins away from the twenty-first 20-win season in program history and the second for Mick Cronin in three seasons. MSU went 28-6 in Cronin's first season.
The Racers held Morehead State to 27 points in the first half. It marked the 21st time this season in which the Racers have held an opponent to less than 30 points in a half.
The Racers have a 41 game streak without giving up 80 points.
The Racers defense continues to be their calling card. Thursday they held EKU to 4-19 (.211) shooting in the second half and tonight held Morehead State to 8-27 (.296) in the first half.
