Murray State
Samford
Racers Drop Out Of OVC Tourney With Loss To Samford
2/27/2007 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
In a season that showed remarkable improvement, the Murray State Racers met a sudden end to the 2006-07 season Tuesday in a 70-60 loss to the Samford Bulldogs at the
After playing Samford to a 26-26 first half tie, the Racers watched the Bulldogs run off 10 straight points to start the second half and MSU could not recover.
“I would like to congratulate Samford,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “Their two seniors in Jerry Smith and Randall Gulina ? kids I am very familiar with because they visited my summer camps a few years ago, they got 40 out of their 70 points, and that's what seniors do.”
Caught in the sudden end to the season are MSU seniors Shawn Witherspoon, Ed Horton and Dwayne Paul.
Witherspoon leaves
“A lot of people have told me I've had a great career,” Witherspoon said. “I was blessed to be in this program.”
“There are a lot of positives from this season,” Witherspoon added. “All our young guys played this year, now they'll have this summer and fall to work out: they'll be a completely different team next season.”
The first half was well played by the Racers.
MSU took its first lead when Horton tipped a pass and Danero Thomas grabbed the steal. He fed Tyler Holloway on a fast break for an 8-6 Racer lead with
The Racers again had a one point lead when Shawn Witherspoon scored in the paint at the
The Bulldogs put together an 11-4 run over the next five minutes to take a 20-14 lead. Travis Peterson and Randall Gulina each hit three point baskets.
The Racers hammered out their own run of 9-2 to regain the lead 23-22 with
The Racers had a four point lead when Witherspoon burned the nets on another three from the right wing at the
Joe Ross Merritt scored with
Gulina hit to free throws to tie the game with
Peterson hit a three from the top of the key to start the run that helped Samford get control in the first minutes of the season half. The Bulldogs built a 36-26 lead with
The Racers cut the Samford lead to 40-38 on a nice baseline drive and short jumper by Ed Horton with
But again the Bulldogs ran the lead back to nine on a Smith three with
Gulina nailed a long three for a 55-45 Samford lead at the
The Racers cut the lead to nine with
Horton scored 16 and ended his MSU career leading the Racers in scoring in each of the final three games. Witherspoon and Holloway each added 10.
Gulina and Smith each had 20 for Samford.
