Murray State
Jacksonville State
MSU Scores 63-56 Win At Jacksonville State
1/16/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers scored their third road win of the season 63-56 over
The Racers evened their season mark at 8-8 and moved to 3-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while JSU fell to 8-7 and 2-4.
“This was a hard-fought win in a game that I thought we had a lot of things go against us,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “But I liked our aggressiveness in the game.”
“We didn't play our best, but we found a way to win,” Kennedy added. “We can play better and that's what I told our team, you just keep fighting, and battling and some point we are going to break through.”
MSU did it with some timely shooting from a player that hadn't been seen in a while and some stingy defense in the final eight minutes.
With 7:42 to play, the Racers were down 47-46 after a bucket by JSU's Nick Murphy when they started the run that decided the game.
MSU took the lead for good when Tony Easley scored on a brilliant reverse lay up to go in front 48-47 with 6:30 remaining.
Easley scored again moments later and added a pair of free throws for his own personal 6-0 run as MSU built a 52-47 lead at 4:02.
With 1:50 remaining, Racer senior Tyler Holloway hit a corner three-pointer and MSU had a 55-49 advantage.
The Racers hit 8-of-10 free throws the rest of the way to preserve the 63-56 final and improved their mark against JSU to 10-0 since the Gamecocks joined the OVC in 2004.
Easley played 20 minutes marking his longest night on the floor since playing 25 minutes Dec. 29 against
His stat line of 2-of-2 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line for six points, plus five rebounds was music to Kennedy's ears.
“It was good to have Tony back,” Kennedy said. “He made some plays on the offensive glass and he played big on defense and he helped us a lot tonight, I'm just glad we have him back.”
Isacc Miles led the Racers with 15 points, while Kevin Thomas tossed in 14 and Jeffery McClain added 10.
The Racers shot 42 percent from the floor on 19-of-45 shooting, while JSU shot 44 percent on 22-of-55 shots. The Racers managed to slow the Gamecocks down in the second half holding them to 38 percent.
MSU made 21-of-26 free throws, JSU was 7-of-11.
After falling behind by four early, the Racers still trailed by four 19-15 at 7:01 of the first half when they made a push for the lead.
Isacc Miles had a steal and finish and the Racers also got a three-pointer from Kevin Thomas to take their first lead at 22-21 with 4:42 left in the half.
Tyler Holloway hit a jumper with his foot on the three-point line with 1.4 seconds in the half and MSU trailed at the break 28-26.
GAME NOTES
The Racers got the win after they finished the game on a 17-9 run over the last 7:42.
The Racers have won all five of their games at Matthews Coliseum.
MSU forced a season-high 23 turnovers against Gamecocks.
MSU was successful again when having the lead late in a game. MSU is now 8-1 this season when getting to the five-minute mark of the second half with the lead and 8-2 when leading at the two-minute mark.
The Racers travel to
MSU leads the all-time series with TTU 114-45 including a 41-36 edge in
