Murray State
Jacksonville State
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Racers Take Down Jacksonville State, Stay On Top Of The OVC
2/4/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
With the Racers leading 16-14 with 15:01 left in the first half, the Racers began to build a lead with an 11-4 run.
Justin Orr and Shawn Witherspoon hit back-to-back three-pointers and the Racers lead grew to 27-18.
MSU and Jacksonville State traded baskets the rest of the first half, and Murray State took a 42-34 lead into halftime.
MSU started the second half on a 9-5 run, capped off by a three-pointer by Darnell Hopkins with 17:27 left in the game. That was Hopkins's first bucket of the night after six misses.
After Trey Pearson added two free throws, Hopkins scored and was fouled, and his free throw gave the Racers a 51-39 lead with 16:25 left.
But JSU is a dangerous team and clawed back and made it a 51-46 game at the 15:34 mark when Anthony Wilson made two free throws.
The game stayed as a five-point lead for the Racers when Tim Lewis hit a three-pointer for JSU to cut the MSU lead to 56-51 with 12:04 remaining.
Dorien Brown's old-fashioned three-point play with 10:19 left cut the Racers lead to 58-56, while Walker Russell's free throws with 8:19 left cut the MSU lead to 61-60.
The JSU comeback was complete when B.J. Spencer drained his fourth three-pointer of the game to give the Gamecocks a 63-61 lead.
The Racers got the lead back 66-64 on a Shawn Witherspoon three-pointer from the right wing with 4:30 left.
Pearson Griffith blocked Carlos Lumpkin's shot on the next trip and Trey Pearson was off to the races even though he was taking on three JSU defenders. Pearson made an incredible lay up and MSU went on top 69-64 with 4:07 left.
Justin Orr's runner in the paint gave the Racers a 72-66 lead with 2:19 left.
The Racers used their trademark pressure defense when it counted most.
After JSU had taken a 64-63 lead, the Racers held JSU to two of 11 shooting from the field in the final 5:19.
After the game, Racer head coach Mick Cronin was pleased with his team's defensive intensity in the last five minutes.
"We played well in stretches, but Jacksonville State never goes away," Cronin said. "That was a fear of mine that we would get up by about 12 points and wish they would go away because we were tired- our gas tanks are teetering near empty- but I was happy with the way we defended in the last five minutes of the game."
The Racers will travel to Richmond, Ky., on Thursday to face Eastern Kentucky University. The game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
MSU Notes:
The Racers have now played 111 games all-time in the Regional Special Events Center and have a record of 95-16. MSU's home streak moves to eight straight since losing to Southern Illinois on Dec. 28. MSU also has a string of 13 straight home wins in OVC regular season home games. MSU is 11-1 at home this season and 8-0 at home this season in OVC games.
Additional quotes:
Justin Orr: "We basically tried to focus on playing hard, and we came through at the end of the game. We had a stretch where we caused turnovers, and stopped fouling so much. We had to put it together. It was tough down the stretch but we hit big shots and caused turnovers."
"Spoon gives us a spark. He plays hard every night. But tonight our freshman Marqise Wright stepped up and played pretty well. He gave us energy when we needed to be productive with Spoon out with foul trouble."
"We feel confident going on the road. We need to keep our mental toughness- it's all mental from here. We need to play hard every game- that's our mentality. We know we have some tough games coming up, and we need to go in with the mental edge and get rested."
Mike LaPlante: "Witherspoon made big play after big play after big play all night. He hit a big three-pointer late, he was 6-for-8 from the field, eight assists, and four offensive rebounds. He made a lot of good plays in different areas. Also, Courtney Bradley, one of our top scorers, he did a good job guarding him. I thought Witherspoon had a solid, dominant all-around game."
Mick Cronin: "I thought we had good production from the 3 spot. Justin Orr and Issian Redding combined had 20 points, six rebounds, and only one turnover. They were highly productive. Marqise also played well- he's been playing well in practice, and he gave us a nice lift. He did some good things- he played with strength and that was good to see."
"I knew with about 5:20 left, I had to put Spoon back in the game. I was thinking it was either now or never, and I didn't want to wait incase we got down seven or eight points. He's a redshirt junior, so he knew how to handle the situation- playing without fouling."
"We had to dominate them in the paint, but some of our big guys struggled finishing. In terms of our free throws, we missed 16, but in effect we missed about 20 because we missed a lot of the front end of the bonus."
"Obviously, at this point in the season I would like to have a two-game lead but I don't foresee Samford getting beat. We have to play like Samford won't get beat, and find a way to win every game. A good thing is that we have stepped up late in games and do what you have to do to win close games. We did it against Tennessee Tech, at Southeast Missouri, at Austin Peay, and again tonight."
"The final score is irrelevant to our previous conference games. Every game from here on out will start out 0-0 with 40 minutes to play. Every game our opponents will have the mental edge, because they have seen what we done to win. We faced the same thing at Austin Peay. Everybody we play in the conference from here on out, we have beaten, but the last time we played them is irrelevant. Our approach going into those games is to find a way to win, not expect to win. We need to try to play every game like it's March. If you lose, you go home. That way, we can be prepared to be in that situation when it actually comes to March."
