Murray State University Athletics
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Search For Road Success - MSU Travels To JSU
1/13/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game 16
Murray State
(7-8) (2-3 OVC)
at
Jacksonville State
(8-6) (2-3 OVC)
Thursday 7:30 p.m.
Jacksonville, Ala.
Matthews Coliseum
For the 10th time in their young Ohio Valley Conference series, the Murray State Racers and Jacksonville State Gamecocks meet Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Pete Matthew's Coliseum in a key game for both squads. The Racers are 2-3 in league play after dropping a pair of close games last week, 75-71 outcome to UT Martin on Jan. 5 and a 58-57 game to Austin Peay at home on Saturday. In the APSU game, Drake Reed scored the game winning basket with under 10 seconds remaining for the Govs win. The Racers' three OVC losses have come by only 10 combined points (see more below). MSU enters the game ranked second in the league in scoring defense in allowing only 65.5 points per game and are second in the league in free throws at 73 percent. Danero Thomas leads the Racers in scoring with 11.3 points per game and has led MSU in scoring in six times this season. Kevin Thomas ranks 83rd in the nation with 4.7 assists per game.
The Gamecocks are also 2-3 in the OVC and coming off two losses on the Death Valley trip last week with a 75-67 loss at Eastern Kentucky and a 76-61 loss at Morehead State. The Gamecocks are coached by James Green who is in his first season at JSU. The Gamecocks are one of the most balanced scoring teams in the OVC with five players in double-figures. Jeremy Bynum (11.2), Jonathan Toles (11.0), Brandon Crawford (11.0), Nick Murphy (10.9) and Geddes Robinson (10.4) are all effective weapons for JSU. The team is first in the OVC with 17 assists per game led by DeAndre Bray who is 12th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio and 36th in the nation with 5.6 assists per game.
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SERIES INFORMATION
@ Murray: Racers lead 4-0
@ Jacksonville: Racers lead 4-0
Neutral: Racers lead 1-0
OVC: Racers lead 9-0
OVC Tournament: Racers 1-0
Trend: Five of the last six games have been decided by 10 points or less.
Billy Kennedy vs JSU: 6-2 MEDIA INFORMATION
Television: None
Radio: Froggy 103.7 FM - Neal Bradley & Dave Winder
Internet: GoRacers.com FREE live audio, Free live stats JSUGamecocksSports.com, PAY video at OVCSports.tv
OVC CLOSE CALLS: The Racers have played some OVC games that came down to the final few possessions. In fact, MSU has had the lead inside the four-minute mark in each of their last four league games but have been on the short end of the score in three of them. Here are MSU's close calls: (1) Last Saturday at home against Austin Peay, MSU had a three-point lead with 1:22 left when Ivan Aska hit a jumper, but the Govs still managed to eek out a 58-57 win. (2) Jan. 5, the Racers took a 66-65 lead on Tyler Holloway's jumper at UT Martin with 3:43 remaining, but fell short by a 75-71 score. (3) Dec. 6 at Morehead State, the Racers had a four-point lead after a Matt Fraliex three-pointer at 5:31, but let the lead slip away with 1:10 left in a 79-74 loss.
GETTING TO THE LINE:
Through 15 games, the Racers are having a good season at the free throw line. MSU has made 255-of-346 for a 73.7 percentage. When the first NCAA statistics report came out Dec. 1, the Racers were second in the nation at just over 84 percent. This week they are ranked 37th.HOLLOWAY AND THE THREE:
Tyler Holloway is moving up the MSU list in career three-pointers. Jan. 10, Holloway moved into a share of sixth place on the MSU all-time made three-pointers list with Chris Shumate (1999-04) at 170 when he hit one with 10:34 in the first half. He passed Shumate with 8:36 left in the game with number 171. He will pass fourth place Marcus Brown and Paul King soon at 173. Holloway is one of six players that are ranked in both made three-pointers and three-pointer percentage. The other five are Don Mann, Paul King, Chris Shumate, Rick Jones, and William Moore.
