Murray State
UT Martin
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Racers oust UTM 81-63, will face Skyhawks in OVC quarters
2/25/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Racers jumped out to a quick start, just like they have done many times this season. Back-to-back three-pointers by Issian Redding and Shawn Witherspoon put the Racers in front 13-0.
UTM's first basket came at the 16:06 mark, a Jeremy Kelly three to make it a 13-3 MSU lead.
The Racers' lead was 17-7 when UTM put together a 7-0 run and made it a 17-14 game when Kelly made a steal and layup with 12:20 in the half.
The rest of the half was a close and intense contest.
With 1:51 before the half, the Racers, who missed nine straight free throws in the first half at Tennessee Tech on Thursday, hit five of six at the line to build a 39-31 lead.
Then, the Racers put together some baskets in the final minutes as well. Witherspoon scored inside with 1:06 left ,and after a UTM miss, Trey Pearson grabbed his own miss on a fast break and made it a 43-33 MSU lead.
Pearson capped the half with a jumper with 4.3 seconds left for a 45-33 MSU lead at the break, as the Racers ended the half with a 13-2 run after UTM had cut the lead to 32-31 with 3:22 left.
MSU started the second half with a bucket by Keith Jenifer and two free throws by Darnell Hopkins to lead 49-33 with 18:15 left.
UTM then went on an 11-2 run to cut the MSU lead to 51-44 on a Jared Newson jumper with 14:33 left.
But on the Racers' next three possessions, they got a Tyler Holloway three-pointer, an old-fashioned three-point play by Pearson Griffith, and another three-pointer by Pearson to cushion Murray's lead at 60-45 with 12:33 left.
A Kelly jumper at 6:24 cut the Racer lead back to single digits at 64-55, but that was as close as the Skyhawks would get, as the Racers led by as many as 21 points en route to the 18-point victory.
UTM's Kelly ended the night with a game-high 25 points, while Zerek Knight finished with 13 points and Newson amassed 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers.
The Racers also placed three players in double-figures, led by Pearson's 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point land and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Witherspoon ended the night with 17 points and 13 rebounds, good for his eighth career double-double. Pearson Griffith also chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.
With those four blocks, Griffith now moves into eighth place in all-time career blocked shots in MSU history, moving past MSU Hall-of-Famer Paul King tonight. He now has 101 blocks in just two seasons with the Racers.
Tonight also marked the first time the Racers scored 80 or more points since their 81-68 win at Southeast Missouri on Jan. 7 at the RSEC.
The 17 conference wins by the Racers also sets a new OVC record for conference wins in a season, which was previously at 16. That mark was set three times, with Austin Peay winning 16 games in 2003-04, and Murray State doing two seasons in a row from 1997-98 and 1998-99. The OVC just changed its conference game format to 20 games for the first time this season.
Racer head coach Mick Cronin was happy with the win, but he is now focused on their "second season."
"It was a great regular season," Cronin said. "Tonight was a great way to end the regular season, and it's always good to win your conference by three games. Our kids have stayed focused and they played as a team, but like I've said in the past, the post-season is a new season.
"I'm already worried about Tuesday. We're going to have to come back on Tuesday and be ready to play. As you saw tonight, Tennessee-Martin is a very dangerous team. They can beat anybody in the conference. They have won six of their last eight games, they have one of the best players in the league in Jared Newson and Jeremy Kelly, who is one of if not the top guards in the league. They also have a great coach in Bret Campbell. They are very capable of being a giant-killer in the post-season."
The quarterfinals of the 2006 O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference tournament will be held Tuesday night, with UTM visiting Murray, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. For a complete schedule of first-round games, see below.
MSU Notes
With tonight's win, the Racers are now 208-25 since 1990 when scoring 80 or more points. The Racers are 35-1 under Cronin when scoring 80 or more points.
Tuesday Quarterfinals
(8) UT Martin at (1) Murray State
(7) Tenn. State at (2) Samford
(6) Austin Peay at (3) Tenn. Tech
(5) Eastern Kentucky @ (4) Jacksonville St.
There was a three-way tie for fifth place between Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay and Tennessee State, all with 11-9 records. They were all 2-2 against each other. The tie-breaker first looks at what they did against the top seed, MSU. All were 0-2 against the Racers. Next, they are compared when playing Samford. APSU and EKU were 1-1 against Samford. TSU was 0-2. TSU drops out of the tie-breaker and is the seventhth seed. Next, EKU and APSU are compared against Tech. EKU was 1-1 against TTU and APSU was 0-2, so EKU gets the fifth seed and APSU is the sixth seed.
Additional quotes
Mick Cronin:
"I hate playing teams twice in a row. It's tough to beat a good team, and Tennessee-Martin is a very solid, tough team. They have played well late in the season. It's tough to beat anybody two times in a row."
On selecting Pearson Griffith to shoot the technical foul free throws late in the game: "I was trying to give him confidence, and show my appreciation to him because I thought he was the difference in the game on the defensive end."
"We understand that we lost last year on Tuesday. Don't think that the guys forgot. Tuesday is the game that matters. Our guys have stayed committed to our goals: to make it to the NCAA Tournament, and to also stay undefeated at home in the OVC."
