Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Oral Roberts
MSU Slips Past ORU 78-76 At San Juan Shootout
12/21/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers ended a three-game losing streak when they scored a 78-76 victory over Oral Roberts University Sunday at the San Juan Shootout in Tao Baja, Puerto Rico.
The Racers had to hang on at the end to get the victory.
After leading by 13 with 9:35 remaining, the Racers watched their lead get cut to two.
ORU made a run and cut the MSU lead to five at the 1:16 mark and what looked like an easy win got very tight at the end.
The Racers had trouble with the ORU press and made three turnovers in four possessions, Danero Thomas scored for a 77-73 MSU lead with 53 seconds left.
Ivan Aska hit one of two free throws with 6.2 seconds left for a 78-75 lead before Robert Jarvis of ORU hit a free throw with 3.3 left to cut the MSU lead to two. The Racers made a decision to foul him before he was able to take a three-pointer and try to tie the game.
Jarvis intentionally missed his second free throw and it was rebounded by Kevin Ford in the lane. His shot at the buzzer was no good and the Racers had survived to get a 78-76 win.
“We hadn't tried that before (fouling Jarvis),” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “We had worked on it in practice, but the bad thing is he (Jarvis) did a great job of missing the second free throw and they got off a good shot at the buzzer.”
The Racers grabbed an early at 14-12 when Danero Thomas scored a three-point play at the 13:21 mark.
MSU put together a 9-2 run that was started by Jeffery McClain's lay up and followed by a pair of free throws from Isacc Miles at the 5:55 mark.
Donte Poole came off the MSU bench and hit a three-pointer and a long jumper to put the Racers in front 38-28 with 3:40 left in the half.
ORU got a pair of free throws from Robert Jarvis with 4.8 left to make it a 44-37 lead for MSU at the half.
In the second half, the Racers came alive from three-point range after they hit only 1-of-8 in the first half.
Tyler Holloway hit back-to-back three-pointers and the Racers built a 12-point lead at 62-50 with 12:39 remaining.
The MSU lead went to 13 when Tony Easley scored a three-point play at 10:43 and the Racers pushed their advantage to 17 points at 9:35 when Donte Poole made a drive and also a steal for an easy two, MSU was in front 69-52.
MSU placed players in double-figures including: Danero Thomas with 16, Donte Poole and Ivan Aska with 12 each, plus 10 from Isacc Miles and Tyler Holloway.
Kevin Thomas added nine assists for MSU.
The Racers shot 45 percent from the field (28-of-62) while ORU shot 39 percent (25-of-64).
MSU got to the line 23 times and made 19 for 82 percent.
MSU also won the rebound battle 43-32.
The Racers are 1-1 in the San Juan Shootout after dropping their opening game to
“They will be one of the toughest teams we've played,” Kennedy said. “They are very hard to score against. They held ORU to eight points in the first 16 minutes of their game on Saturday.”
