MSU Takes First Road Win At Jax State 79-65

Tuesday, December 18

Jacksonville, Ala.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

Jacksonville State

12/19/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

The Murray State Racers rolled past Jacksonville State Tuesday in scoring their first road win of the season in a 79-65 decision at Matthews Arena in Jacksonville, Ala. The victory moved the Racers to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“I'm proud of our guys,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “We played rusty at times, but it was great to get a road win and our team finished this game strong.”

Indeed, another good start was in the cards for MSU when the Racers grabbed their third steal of the game at the 12:52 mark which led to an easy two by Ray George for a 15-6 MSU lead.

The Racer defense played well early in the game in holding JSU to 3-of-11 from the field.

Murray State picked up the pace and made it a 21-8 lead after Bruce Carter fed Tony Easley for a dunk and then the Racers made a steal that led to an easy lay up for Tyler Holloway with 8:35 remaining.

MSU made it a 17 point lead when Holloway nailed his second three pointer of the half to put the Racers in front 27-10 at the 6:44 mark.

The Racers had the lead at the half 39-25.

MSU had 13 points off of eight JSU turnovers.

Tony Easley and Danero Thomas crashed the boards at the start of the second half. The two kept the ball alive with offensive rebounds three times before Easley finally scored the basket for a 43-26 lead with 18:03 remaining.

Jacksonville State made a 9-0 run to cut the MSU lead to 61-53 with 7:24 left, but never got any closer.

The Racers pushed the lead back to 14 when Jewuan Long made a nice drive the basket and moments later made a steal and fed Holloway for a lay up to make it a 69-55 lead with 4:35 remaining.

Long made another drive the length of the floor to put MSU in front 73-57 with 3:13 left.

“This was a good team effort,” Kennedy said. “We played unselfish.”

Tony Easley turned in the first double-double for the Racers since Shawn Witherspoon had one Feb. 22 at TennesseeTech. Easely's first career double-double goes down as 12 points and 10 rebounds.

“Tony's been aggressive for us,” Kennedy said. “That's the first double-double we've had since I've been at Murray State from the four or five position.”

The 10 rebounds for Easley was a career high, but there were other career bests for the Racers on this night.

Danero Thomas led the way with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Georges Fotso added a career-high seven points and four rebounds.

Tyler Holloway scored 14, while Ray George was the fourth Racer in double figure scoring with 11 points.

The Racers now prepare for a Thursday night game at Samford in Birmingham, Ala.

“It's a difficult game,” Kennedy said. “We're going to have to do a good job of attacking and not be willing to settle for long three pointers. They're going to make you guard for 35 seconds each time they have the ball.”

GAME NOTES

The Racers are now 8-0 all-time against Jacksonville State and 4-0 at Matthews Arena.

Tony Easley had a string of nine straight made free throws (the longest this season for Murray State) until his missed in the first half. Ray George now has the best current streak at eight straight, Danero Thomas and Tyler Holloway have hit seven in a row.

The MSU starting five of Kevin Thomas, Tyler Holloway, Bruce Carter, Tony Easley, and Danero Thomas started for the fifth straight game.

Danero Thomas has hit a three-point basket in eight straight games.

Billy Kennedy is 5-2 all-time against the Gamecocks.

The Racers will take on the Samford Bulldogs Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Samford's new Hanna Center. The Racers first trip to the Hanna Center will also be their last for the foreseeable future as Samford is set to leave the OVC after this season and join the Southern Conference next season. The Racers won at Samford last season, but lost at home twice to the Bulldogs including an OVC Tournament quarterfinal contest that ended their season.