Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Tennessee Tech
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See You In Nashville - MSU Wins 77-74 Over Tech
3/5/2008 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Danero Thomas hit a shot with 2.3 second remaining to lift the Murray State Racers to a 77-74 win over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at the
The win sends the Racers to the semi-finals Friday where they'll meet
MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy saw some determined play from his team.
"It was a hard-fought game,” Kennedy said. “I'm proud of the guys for making plays when we had to there at the end.”
How the game got to the final seconds was simply riveting college basketball with two teams that left everything they had on the RSEC court.
The game certainly had the feel of a postseason tilt when the Racers and Golden Eagles traded the lead five times in the first five minutes. The Racers had a 9-9 lead on a Bruce Carter finger-roll with 15:00 left in the half.
Kevin Thomas gave the Racers their largest lead of the half with a three-point play at the 12:38 mark, 17-10, and Marvin Williams matched it with another hoop and foul at 10:30, MSU had a 22-15 advantage.
The MSU lead went to eight (30-22) with 7:23 remaining when Kevin Thomas hit a three-pointer.
Tech used a 17-10 run to cut MSU's lead to 40-39 at the half.
The Racers fell behind by a point when Tech's Rashaud Nixon scored on a put-back at the 15:08 mark.
MSU matched its largest lead of eight at the 8:08 mark when Kevin Thomas hit one of two from the line to make it a 62-54 game.
Tech took the lead after an MSU turnover when Nixon scored inside at 70-68 with 3:06 left, but Bruce Carter muscled a shot in down the lane with 2:43 left to tie it again at 70-70.
Anthony Fisher was fouled with 2:14 left and hit two from the line for a two-point lead, Ray George answered with two free throws with 1:49 to go to make it 72-72.
The Racers got a stop when Frank Davis missed a three-pointer before Amadi McKenzie stepped on the far sideline while grabbing the rebound and the Racers had the ball back with 1:17 left.
George fed Carter with a beautiful pass to put MSU ahead 74-72 with 47.5 left, but Daniel Northern was fouled on the other end during a rebound and hit two from the line for another tie game at 74-74 with 25.9 left.
MSU's Kevin Thomas held the ball at the mid-court line until there were six seconds left and drove the lane where he found Danero Thomas cutting in from the left baseline for a lay up and a 76-74 Racer lead with 2.3 left.
Tech threw a long pass to mid-court where Danero Thomas intercepted it. He was fouled with .8 left. He hit one of two to make it a 77-74 MSU win.
"It was great for the team and the program with the win tonight,” Kennedy said. “We're getting into the tournament type of thinking. We only have one player that's been to
The Racers improved to 18-12 on the season and are 10-1 all-time in the OVC Tournament against Tennessee Tech.
Bruce Carter scored his third double-double of the season with 24 points and 12 rebounds.
Kevin Thomas and Ray George each added 14 points.
The MSU defense held Tech to 40 percent shooting (26-65), including 1-of-13 from three-point range in the second half.
GAME NOTES
The Racers end the season with a nine-game home winning streak against OVC teams. MSU's only home loss of the season came in December against
The Racers' chances of winning go up when they have the lead at the half as they did tonight, although it was only by a 40-39 score. MSU has had the lead at halftime 19 times this season and won 17. Conversely, they are 1-10 when they trail at the intermission. MSU is 26-7 in the Billy Kennedy era when leading at the break.
The 2nd seeded Racers head to
The Racers are in the semi-finals for the first time since they won the OVC Tournament for the 13th time in 2006. The Racers lead the OVC in all-time wins with 56. TSU won the OVC title in 1998, and won for the first time in nine games since when they beat
The other semi-final contest begins at 6 p.m. when 1st seed Austin Peay faces 4th seed UT-Martin. The Governors handled 8th seed
MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy briefly talked about the TSU game. "
The Racers are 8-3 all-time at the Municipal Arena, and have won the title there in 1995 and 2004 and lost in the championship game in 1994 and 1996.
1989 2 MSU 7 TSU Won 90-71 quarter
1989 2 MSU 3 APSU Lost 74-65 semi
1994 1 MSU 5 MOR Won 104-86 semi
1994 1 MSU 2 TSU Lost 73-72 champ
1995 2 MSU 7 MTSU Won 75-67 quarter
1995 2 MSU 6 EKU Won 78-72 semi
1995 2 MSU 5 APSU Won 92-84 champ
1996 1 MSU 5 TTU Won 85-71 semi
1996 1 MSU 3 APSU Lost 70-68 champ
2004 2 MSU 3 MOR Won 94-72 semi
2004 2 MSU 1 APSU Won 66-60 champ
FIRST ROUND - TUESDAY, MARCH 4 (CAMPUS SITES)
@#1 Austin Peay 76, #8 Eastern Kentucky 51
@#2 Murray State 77, #7 Tennessee Tech 74
#6 Tennessee State 68, @#3 Morehead State 61
@#4 UT Martin 101, #5 Samford 94 (3OT)
SEMIFINALS - FRIDAY, MARCH 7 (MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, NASHVILLE, TENN.)
No. 1 Austin Peay vs. No. 4 UT Martin, 6:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
No. 2 Murray State vs. No. 6 Tennessee State, 8:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
CHAMPIONSHIP - SATURDAY, MARCH 8 (MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, NASHVILLE, TENN.)
4:00 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
