Murray State
Southeast Missouri State (ESPN2)
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What A Finish! MSU Beats SEMO 86-85
1/26/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers kept their winning ways going Saturday at the Regional Special Events Center when they scored an 86-85 victory over Southeast Missouri State. The win was the Racers seventh straight improving their overall mark to 12-7 and 8-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The largest crowd of the season at the RSEC, 5,898, enjoyed a contest between two rivals that had the feel of a post-season tilt and was also seen on ESPN2.
To get the win, MSU had to come from behind after trailing by eight points at the half, something they had not been able to do in six tries this season.
"I'm very thankful to be on the winning side of an exciting game," MSU head coach Billy Kennedy said. "The fans got their money's worth. Give SEMO credit, they played with a lot of confidence."
MSU faced a double-digit deficit with 16:08 left (58-48) when they made a push.
Danero Thomas drilled a three-pointer on a fast break, followed by a bucket by Tyler Holloway and Kevin Thomas to make it 60-57. Kevin hit another three and the MSU run was 12-2 to tie the game 60-60 at the 13:23 mark.
When Bruce Carter hit a pair of free throws with 11:48 left, the Racers had their first lead since 10:25 in the first half (17-16) at 63-62.
Southeast responded to take a 77-71 lead with 6:05 left, when Danero Thomas hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the score again at 77 with 5:02 remaining.
From this point to the end, there were five more lead changes and there were 10 total in the game.
At 2:39, MSU went in front 80-79 on a Marvin Williams put-back, but Southeast edged ahead by one point seconds later.
MSU had another one point lead with 1:46 left when Danero Thomas scored an offensive rebound put-back for an 82-81 lead, but SEMO's Roderick Pearson again gave his team a one point lead at the 1:32 mark.
With 22 seconds remaining, MSU trailed 85-82 when they were able to send Tyler Holloway to the free throw line. The MSU junior who was 8-of-8 on the day hit both to cut the Redhawks lead to one.
MSU pressed full-court and caused Pearson to let a pass to mid-court slip off his finger tips out of bounds.
Now with a chance to win the game, Holloway was fouled in the corner and went back to the line with 5.8 seconds remaining. He swished both for an 86-85 MSU lead.
After a Southeast timeout, Pearson cut through the MSU defense and got off a shot from inside the paint, but it bounced off the rim as time expired. With the MSU student section flooding the floor, the Racers escaped with an 86-85 win.
For the second time this season, MSU placed five players in double-figures in the scoring column. Holloway and Danero Thomas each had 17, while Carter added 15 and 11 came from both Easley and Kevin Thomas.
Carter also had 13 rebounds giving him the Racers' third double-double this season.
For the first time in their winning streak, the Racers didn't completely shut down an opponent as Southeast shot 52 percent from the field (33-of-63), while they hit 7-of-17 from three-point range for 41 percent.
The Racers were 28-of-67 from the field for 41 percent and hit 7-of-24 from three range for 29 percent.
MSU made up the difference from the free throw line where they were 23-of-30 for 76 percent. The Redhawks were 12-of-17 for 70 percent.
Holloway commented on the foul with 5.8 seconds remaining that sent him to the line with a chance to win the game.
"My original plan was to pass the ball to Danero in the corner," Holloway said. "I tried to drive and my defender cut me off and he fouled me."
The Racers have little time to rest with a Tuesday home game against Samford and an opponent that likes to slow things down, SEMO doesn't.
"That's the great thing about basketball," Kennedy said. "We scored 87 today and 60 will look good against Samford."
In looking back at the first half, the Racers had an early 13-7 lead, but fell behind 28-21 with 6:20 left when Southeast put together a 21-8 run.
At 4:17 MSU cut the SEMO lead to five when Tyler Holloway grabbed a steal and fed Marvin Williams for a dunk. The Redhawks answered with a three-pointer from Will Bogan and a fast break basket by Jaycen Herring for their biggest lead of 39-29 at the 3:21 mark.
MSU trailed 47-39 at the half and faced an uphill climb in second half.
GAME NOTES
The seven-game winning streak for MSU is the longest in 10 seasons of being a head coach for Billy Kennedy. His previous best was six during the 2004-05 season at Southeastern Louisiana. It's the longest winning streak for MSU since the 2004-05 season when they won 10 in a row. MSU's longest streak ever is 16 straight accomplished twice in the 1930's by legendary coach Carlisle Cutchin.
Holloway was 8-of-8 from the line today and has now hit 16 straight. For the season he is 43-of-49 (.877) Holloway had a streak of 19 straight earlier this season. The longest this season in the OVC is 31 by Julio Anthony of Eastern Illinois. Today was the second time this season a Racer has toed the line in the final seconds of a game to hit a pair of game-winning free throws. In the season opener Nov. 10, Kevin Thomas hit a pair with two-tenths of a second remaining to beat Rider 66-65. MSU is now 41-48 (.854) when the game's final two minutes when the leading team is ahead by 10 or less.
Holloway was 1-of-5 from long range today and has 132 career three-pointers good for 8th place on the MSU list behind 7th place Rick Jones (2002-04) who had 133.
Before today, MSU was 0-6 this season when trailing at half time.
The Racers had seven turnovers at the half, but only had one in the second half.
The last time MSU had five players in double-figures was earlier this season Jan. 5 when they did it against Tennessee State in a game that started the Racers current win streak.
With 4:04 remaining in the game, Tony left Easley risked getting his fifth personal foul when he made a gutsy play by drawing a charge on SEMO center Michael Rembert. Easley's move paid off as Rembert picked up his fourth personal foul.
MSU improved its record in 10 seasons in the RSEC to 114-22 (.838). MSU has won six straight at home and are 79-14 (.849) against OVC teams.
The Racers are 43-16 all-time against Southeast and 20-8 in Murray, Ky.
