MSU And Aska Impressive In 89-61 Victory Over WKU

Saturday, November 22

RSEC

7 p.m.

Murray State

Western Kentucky

11/22/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

The Murray State Racers scored an 89-61 win over Western Kentucky in the 146^th meeting between the two at the Regional Special Events Center in front of 7,038 Saturday night.

The Racers got the job done on defense where they jumped to an early 17-6 lead and never looked back in upping their record to 2-1.

“We really set the tone of the game in the first 15 minutes with our defense,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “We made some easy baskets and that went a long way in how the rest of the game went.”

By the time the game was a little more than 13 minutes old, the Racers had a 20-point lead at 31-11 and led 44-23 at halftime.

The Racers pushed in front 58-30 with 15:11 remaining before WKU cut the lead to 19, but MSU quickly made it a 24-point advantage with 6:57 left.

The win proved to be MSU's largest margin of victory in the series that began in 1932. The Racers won by 28 points tying the 55-27 win over the Hilltoppers on Jan. 19, 1946.

When the dust settled from the Racers' stampede there were many to thank for it.

Freshman Ivan Aska continues to impress in his young MSU career finishing the night with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He's the first MSU freshman to score 20 points in seven years. Aska added six rebounds in 26 minutes of floor time.

“Ivan was a force in the middle,” Kennedy said. “When you get 20 points with a freshman on the inside, that's huge.”

Isacc Miles had a strong night with 15 points, while Danero Thomas and Jewuan Long each added 12.

The Racers bench provided 30 points in the game with Tony Easley (four points, six rebounds), Matt Fraliex (eight points, and Tyler Holloway (five points) all contributing key minutes to the MSU victory.

“We had good balance tonight all the way,” Kennedy said. “Everyone that played scored except Georges and Jarad. We won this game on the defensive end and we won it by rebounding the ball. We finished around the basket and got to the free throw line.”

Indeed the Racers had one of the best games in a long time from the line where they made 22-of-23 for an amazing 95 percent.

The Racers shot 56 percent from the field (31-of-55), while holding the Hilltoppers to 39 percent (21-of-53).

MSU's advantage on the boards was significant at 39-27.

GAME NOTES
The Racers win in the 146^th meeting means WKU leads the series 94-52. The Racers now have a 32-29 lead when playing in Murray and 4-1 in the RSEC. The win for MSU was the first since 2003.

The Racers upped their mark in their 11th season of basketball in the RSEC to 121-23 (.840) and are 16-2 in the last two seasons. MSU is 37-9 (.804) all-time in the RSEC against non-Ohio Valley Conference teams. MSU has won 15 of their last 17 games against non-conference D-I teams dating back to 2002. The Racers are 17-4 since 2001 in non-conference D-I games at the RSEC.

Ivan Aska is three games into his Racer career and already has shown to be a talented player. His 20 points against WKU marked the best Racer freshman performance since Danero Thomas scored 19 at Rider on Feb. 27, 2007 and the first to score at least 20 points since Cuthbert Victor had 27 against Tennessee State on Jan. 30, 2001. Aska is leading the Racers with 13.7 points per game and second on the squad with 6.7 rebounds per game. He is shooting 60 percent from the field (17-of-28) and 77 percent (7-of-9) from the free throw line.

Jewuan Long's 12 point performance was his career high. The previous best for the sophomore was 11 last season as a freshman against Avila on Nov. 23, 2007.

The announced attendance of 7,038 was the seventh largest crowd in RSEC history, and the seventh crowd of more than 7,000. The last was when WKU visited the RSEC in 2002 when 7,288 watched the game. The record for the RSEC is the 8,602 that watched the Racers take on Southeast Missouri in 1999.

The Racers had a big night from the free throw line going 22-of-23 good for a percentage of .957. Only MSU's 24-of-24 effort against Austin Peay in 1966 was better.

The Racers had the lead against WKU at the break and are 28-8 in the Billy Kennedy era when taking the lead at halftime.

The Racers have an excellent mark when getting to the five-minute mark of the second half with the lead. MSU is 33-8 in the last three seasons.

Tyler Holloway is on his way to becoming the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point club. He has 829 points and is 171 points from the magic number. Danero Thomas is more than half way to 1,000 now with 558. Kevin Thomas has 152 career assists. Tony Easley has led the Racers in blocks in two straight seasons and has 47 in his career. He needs 22 to catch 11th place Danny Jarrett (1976-78) and Mike Lahm (1983-85).

The Racers hit the road for a night-before Thanksgiving game in Terre Haute, Ind. to take on Indiana State in a Wednesday 6 p.m. central time tip. MSU played the Sycamores last season in February in the ESPN BracketBusters game at the RSEC and had an 11-point lead before losing 79-62. The Racers trail the all-time series with ISU 7-2 with their two wins both coming at home 85-39 in 2002, and in 1945 in a 54-45 victory. MSU will be looking for their first win at ISU. MSU lost there in 1945, 1946, 1975, and 2001.