Murray State University Athletics
The Second Season - MSU Battles Samford In OVC Tourney
2/26/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OVC Tournament
Samford
(15-15) (12-8 OVC)
at
Murray State
(16-13) (13-7 OVC)
Tuesday 7:30 p.m.
Murray, Ky.
RSEC
The Murray State Racers roll into the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on a two-game win streak after knocking off Tennessee Tech at home last Thursday 60-56 and then ending the regular season Saturday with a 74-52 road win over Tennessee-Martin. Ed Horton led the Racers in scoring each game. Against TTU he scored 16 points and had 15 against UTM. Horton was a combined 10-17 from the field and 6-7 from three point range.
Watch the game - http://www.ovcsports.com
Listen to the gameand see live stats - www.goracers.com
The Racers win at UT-Martin Saturday not only secured a home game in the first round of the OVC Tournament, but it also clinched the program's 20th straight winning season. MSU hasn't had a losing season since the 1986-87 campaign when they went 13-15. Since then, Steve Newton, Scott Edgar, Mark Gottfried, Tevester Anderson, Mick Cronin and now Billy Kennedy have kept the streak alive.
The Racers have enjoyed more success in the OVC Tournament than anyone with 13 all-time titles and 55 tournament wins. The league began holding first round games at campus sites in 1994...In the 13 tournaments since, Murray State has hosted every time. MSU is 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. Today is the 12th time MSU has hosted a first round OVC Tourney game, and are 10-1 with the only loss coming to Southeast Missouri in 2005. In 1994 and 1996, MSU was a 1st seed and received a bye to the semi-finals. MSU has been a 1st seed six times, a 2nd seed once, a 3rd seed three times and a 4th seed three times. In the two previous times MSU has been a 4th seed, they won the tournament in 2004 by defeating Austin Peay in the final 66-60, but lost in the semi-finals 59-58 in overtime to Austin Peay in 2003.
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).
GAME NOTES
DEFENSE SHINES: 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).
SAM-MSU THIS SEASON: Each team has won away from home in the first two meetings.
DEC. 21 AT MURRAY: The Racers dropped a 55-44 loss and notable streaks ended as a result; The Racers streak of 15 straight home wins and 14 straight OVC regular season home wins was halted. MSU's 44 points was the lowest for a MSU team in the RSEC in the nine seasons played here. Shawn Witherspoon's sore foot kept him from playing against Samford, breaking a string of 43 straight starts. MSU cut the Bulldogs lead to eight with 5:40 left on free throws from Ray George, but never got any closer.
JAN. 29 AT SAMFORD: The Racers returned the favor and halted Samford's 11 game home winning streak with a 57-51 win in their final trip to 45-year old Seibert Hall, it was also the Racers first win at Samford since 1936 when the school was known as Howard College. Shawn Witherspoon scored nine points in a MSU 10-0 run in the second half and finished the game with 15. To get the win, MSU erased a 14-point deficit and turned it into a 10-point lead by outscoring the Bulldogs 41-17 from the midway mark of the first half to the midway mark of the second half.
HOME COOKIN: The Racers have fashioned quite a home court advantage at the RSEC. In its ninth season of games, MSU is 106-19 for a winning percentage of .848. Here is how the Racers compare with the rest of the teams in the OVC since the 2003-04 season as of Feb. 23.
Team 06-07 Since 03-04 Pct.
Tennessee Tech 11-1 47- 8 .854
Murray State 8-4 47-10 .824
Austin Peay 12-3 42- 10 .807
Eastern Kentucky 8-3 39-13 .750
Samford 9-4 38-13 .745
Jacksonville St. 6-7 34-20 .629
Tennessee St. 7-6 30-19 .612
UT-Martin 5-8 26-22 .541
Morehead St. 7-7 28-25 .538
SE Missouri St. 5-8 28-25 .528
Eastern Illinois 6-7 23-28 .450
SPOON WATCH: Shawn Witherspoon joined the Murray State 1000-Point Club by scoring 14 points in the EKU Feb. 8.
He had eight points Saturday against UTM and 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. Next up is 28th place Mike Muff (1976-78) who has 1,077 points.
He has scored in 103 straight games. The last time he failed to score was Jan. 26, 2004 during his freshman season. Witherspoon has scored in 118 of his 120 games as a Racer.Witherspoon has enjoyed a career at MSU that will be remembered not by the numbers he has accumulated but by the leadership he has shown.
Here are some of his accomplishments:
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 116 of his 119 games as a Racer.
Has turned in 29 games of 14 points or more.
His career best scoring game came during his sophomore season Jan. 6, 2005 at home against Morehead State when he pumped in 33 points.
Witherspoon has eight career double-doubles and 10 career games of 10 rebounds or more.
He has started in 58 of the last 60 games.
As a freshman in 2003-04, he was part of the MSU team that won its first eight games in route to a 28-6 season and won the OVC Tournament marking MSU's 12th trip to the NCAA Tournament where they played and lost a first round game in Columbus, Ohio against Final Four team Illinois.
As a junior in 2005-06, he was part of the MSU team that went 24-7, won the program's 20th OVC regular season title and 13th OVC Tournament title. In the NCAA Tournament first round in Dayton, Ohio...the Racers took defending champion North Carolina to the wire before losing 69-65. Witherspoon was playing a brilliant game with five points and four rebounds when he broke a bone in his foot eight minutes into the first half.
Witherspoon has helped the Racers to a 54-18 record (.750) in the OVC during his time here. The Racers are also 46-11 record (.807) at the Regional Special Events Center during his time as a Racer.
There are 33 players in the MSU 1,000-Point Club, here are the bottom 10. Bennie Purcell is the first member of the club gaining admission in 1952. ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Racers have traveled approximately 8,800 miles to get to this point in the season. That includes a trip to California in November and games in Chicago, Knoxville, Birmingham, and Richmond, plus the ESPNU BracketBusters game last week in Lawrenceville, N.J. The Racers have logged more than 100 hours on a bus this season!
