MSU Plays 4th OT of Season-But Loses 64-60 to TSU

Wednesday, February 14

Murray, Ky.

7:00 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee State

2/14/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

For the first time since the 1989-90 campaign, the Racers played in their fourth overtime game of the season, and this time came out on the wrong end of a 64-60 loss to the Tennessee State Tigers Wednesday at the Regional Special Events Center. The loss drops the Racers to 13-13 overall and 11-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The game was similar to the Racers home loss last week to Eastern Kentucky, in that MSU had control of the contest until the final minutes. This time the Racers never trailed until the game was into overtime.

In the extra time (It was the second OT game against the Tigers this season) the Racers fell behind by five 58-53 when Clarence Matthews scored an offensive rebound and basket with 2:22 left.

MSU cut the lead to two on a pair of free throws from Tyler Holloway, but TSU's Ladarious Weaver hit a long three-pointer as the shot clock expired to put the Tigers up 61-55 with 1:00 left.

The Racers had a chance to tie the game trailing by three with 12 seconds left, but Ed Horton was called for an offensive foul while driving to the basket.

For most of the game, MSU looked like they could run away with it at any moment.

The Racers held TSU to no points in the first 5:30 of the game, covering seven possessions to grab a 7-0 lead. Bruce Carter hit a three-pointer from the corner for a 3-0 lead and the Racers also got two free throws from Marvin Williams and a jumper from Shawn Witherspoon.

The Tigers got on the board when Andrae Belton hit a three at the 14:30 mark to make it a 7-3 MSU lead.

MSU pushed their lead to 10 with 9:41 left on a jumper by Danero Thomas.

TSU cut the lead to two at 1:40, but the Racers ended the half with a three-point play by George and enjoyed a 26-21 lead at the break.

This was a classic back and forth battle with the Racers leading by nine at the second half start, and TSU occasionally cutting the lead to six as they did at the 14:19 mark when Courtney Bohannon scored in the paint. The MSU lead was 37-31.

With MSU unable to score the knock out punch, the Tigers made their move at the 4:40 mark when they completed a 9-2 run. TSU scored an easy basket by Belton off a MSU turnover and the Racers lead was down to 51-48.

After Witherspoon missed a three, Jerrell Houston got loose inside for a dunk and the Racers lead was 51-50 with 3:20 remaining.

Larry Turner scored in the paint with 2:31 left and the game was tied 52-52.

After each team had a fruitless possession, the Racers inbounded the ball with 31 seconds left. George dribbled at mid-court until there were eight seconds left then made his move to the left wing were his jumper at the buzzer was no good.

TSU outscored the Racers 12-8 in the overtime period to score their first-ever win at the RSEC in 11 tries dating back to when the building opened for the 1998-99 season.

Shawn Witherspoon paced the Racers attack with 17 points on 7-15 shooting. Bruce Carter added 12 and Marvin Williams 10.

The Racers field goal percentage of .383 was their worst shooting game since shooting .362 at Tennessee Tech Jan. 23. TSU ended up at .471 from the field. The Racers were held to 5-17 from three-point range, while the Tigers were 7-16.

GAME NOTES

Shawn Witherspoon scored 17 points tonight and now has 1,030 in his MSU career. He is tied with Hector Blondet for 31^st place on the MSU all-time scoring list. Witherspoon has scored in 99 straight games and in 114 of his 117 games as a Racer.

The Racers played a low scoring first half against the Tigers. The 47 combined points by both teams was the second lowest output this season in a first half. The lowest came Jan. 29 when the Racers and Samford combined for only 43 points in the first half.

This game was the Racers first Valentine's Day game at home since 1953.

MSU is now 7-4 at the RSEC this season and 105-19 (.846) in nine seasons in the building. TSU wins its first ever game in the RSEC and are now 1-10 here. UT-Martin, and Jacksonville State are OVC teams that still haven't won at the RSEC.

This was the Racers fourth overtime game of the season, the first time they've played four in a season since 1989-90. MSU is now 21-13 in overtime games since 1983. It was the second against TSU this season.

MSU will travel to Nashville, Tenn. Thursday and spend the night before flying out to Philadelphia, Penn. early Friday. The Racers will bus to Lawrenceville, N.J. where they'll play Rider University Saturday at 6 p.m. central time in the ESPNU BracketBusters event.

The Racers return home next Thursday for senior night against Tennessee Tech. Shawn Witherspoon, Ed Horton and Dwayne Paul will play their final regular season game at the RSEC.