Murray State
Tennessee-Martin
MSU Ends Regular Season With 74-52 Win Over UT-Martin
2/24/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers wrapped up the regular season and clinched the program's 20th straight winning season Saturday with a 74-52 win at Tennessee-Martin's
The Racers also finish the OVC season in second place tied with Tennessee Tech and Eastern Kentucky.
MSU will host Samford in the OVC Tournament first round Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the RSEC.
After a closely played game, the Racers pushed out to a double-digit lead when Ray George hit a three-pointer from the top of the key for a 24-14 Racer lead with 6:10 left in the half.
With 3:20 left, Dwayne Paul scored in the paint and the Racers had an 11-point lead.
UTM's Gerald Robinson provided the final points of the half on a three-pointer to cut the MSU lead to 32-24.
The Racers opened the second half on an 8-1 run to open a 15-point lead. Tyler Holloway and Shawn Witherspoon tossed in three-pointers and the Racers had a 40-25 lead with 15:18 left in the game.
Witherspoon was limited to only two minutes of playing time in the first half when he picked up two quick fouls in the first 1:30 of the game. His foul trouble continued into the second half when he picked up his fourth foul with still 12:17 left.
The Skyhawks put together their own 9-2 run to cut the MSU lead to eight when Bryant Craig hit a pair of free throws to make it a 42-34 game with 12:17 left.
The Racers again pushed their lead back to 14 when Marvin Williams picked off a pass and dunked to give MSU a 48-34 lead with 10:09 remaining.
UTM cut the lead to nine and the again pushed their lead to 16. Danero Thomas made a nice pass to Williams for a dunk. It was quickly followed by a Tony Easley block to start a fast break, he finished it with a dunk. Williams scored another dunk the next time down the floor and the Racers had a 61-45 lead with 4:15 left.
The Racers 8-1 run was accomplished with Thomas, Williams and Easley on the floor...all are freshmen.
Witherspoon drilled a three with 2:45 left and the Racers were ahead by 19.
MSU placed three in double-figures with Horton leading the way with 15; Thomas added 13 and Williams 12.
The Racers won the battle of the boards 45-34.
MSU shot 44 percent from the field (24-54) and 36 percent from three-point range (7-19), while they held the Skyhawks to 30 percent from the field (18-60) and 11 percent from three-range (2-18).
GAME NOTES
The Racers home game with Samford Tuesday is the third meeting between the two. Dec. 21 Samford beat the Racers at the RSEC and the Racers returned the favor Jan. 29 in Birmingham.
Here are the OVC Tournament pairings.
(8) Tennessee State at (1) Austin Peay
(7) Morehead State at (2) Eastern Kentucky
(5) Samford at (4) Murray State
(6) SE Missouri at (3) Tennessee Tech
The win clinches MSU's 20th straight winning season. The Racers haven't had a losing season since the 1986-87 season when they were 13-15.
MSU Has 13 all-time titles and 52 tournament wins, the best in the OVC. The league began holding first round games at campus sites in 1994...In the 13 tournaments since, Murray State has hosted every time. Once the tournament begins, MSU will be trying to get to the semi-finals for the 20th time in the last 22 tries and get to the final for the 16th time. The OVC began awarding a MVP for the tournament in 1975. Twelve Racer players have won the award. Popeye Jones won it three times (90, 91, 92) and Chad Townsend won it twice (97, 98).
The Racers now lead the all-time series with UT-Martin 31-2 and are 14-2 in the
MSU is playing some outstanding defense, they lead the OVC in defensive field goal percentage. MSU's three-point defense has been exceptional of late. In the last four games, opponents are only shooting .200 (19-95) and in the last three games in wins over Rider, Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin they are shooting only .137 (8-58).
Shawn Witherspoon joined the
He had eight points tonight means he has taken over the 29th spot on the MSU all-time scoring list with 1,055 points passing the original member of the club Bennie Purcell who has 1,054 points.
He has scored in 102 straight games. The last time he failed to score was Jan. 26, 2004 during his freshman season. Witherspoon has scored in 117 of his 120 games as a Racer.
