Murray State
Tennessee Tech
MSU Drops 61-55 Heartbreaker At TTU
1/17/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers lost a tight battle with
The Racers' Ohio Valley Conference mark fell to 3-4 and 8-9 overall.
MSU's downfall was poor shooting when they made only 34 percent from the field, 22 percent from three-point range and 62 percent from the free throw line.
“We've haven't played terrible,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “But we haven't shot the ball well. I feel bad that they aren't tasting victory from the effort they're putting out. The shooting problems are mental, it's not like we're the best shooting team in practice, but we've got to get better.”
The Racers started the second half trailing by seven, but came back to tie the game with some great play from Danero Thomas who jumped out of a recent shooting slump in fine fashion.
Thomas hit a pair of free throws, then hit a corner three-pointer and added a finish to an MSU fast break to tie the game at 36-36 with 16:56 left.
MSU extended their lead to three on a long three by Tyler Holloway for a 39-36 lead at 14:56.
The game was tied again at 44-44 when the clock dipped inside the eight-minute mark.
MSU trailed by two again when Isacc Miles tied it with a jumper at 48-48 with 4:17 remaining.
MSU saw Tech's Elijah Muhammad make an incredible shot in the lane, and then Will Barnes scored off a Racer turnover for a 52-48 Golden Eagles lead with 3:00 left.
The Racers dug in and came back when Miles scored inside and then finished on a break after a Kevin Thomas steal and the game was again tied with 2:00 left at 52-52.
Daniel Northern made a pair of free throws to put Tech up by two at 1:30.
Kevin Thomas missed a three for the lead at 1:01, and Tech scored to go up by a 56-52 count at 52 seconds left.
Danero Thomas scored a three-point play with 37 seconds left to cut the TTU lead to 56-55.
Holloway fouled Elijah Muhammad and put him to the line when no time came off the clock. Muhammad hit both free throws for a 58-55 lead.
The Racers had two looks from three-point range by Kevin Thomas and Miles in three possessions, but could not get the tying basket to go down.
Tech made three of four free throws in the final seconds for a 61-55 final.
Danero Thomas led the Racers with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Ivan Aska scored 10.
MSU shot 34 percent from the field on 19-of-55 shooting, while Tech managed 48 percent on 21-of-43.
Kennedy was pleased with the game the Racers got from Danero Thomas after a recent shooting slump.
“He made the extra pass and it was good to see him come back and have a good game,” Kennedy said. “But we went through a half and had three starters not score, and we can't have that.”
Kennedy also looks forward to the Racers' shooting problems being a thing of the past.
“We're playing hard and trying,” Kennedy added. “You have to think that it's all going to pay off at some point.”
The Racers battled foul trouble in the first half when Miles and Kevin Thomas each picked up their third personal foul when the clock edged under four minutes.
MSU had a 23-22 lead when Danero Thomas drilled a three-pointer at 4:16, but sputtered for the rest of the half.
TTU regained the lead and pushed it to six at 1:56 when Al Jones hit a three-pointer.
MSU got a pair of free throws from Holloway and Donte Poole, but TTU's Kevin Murphy hit a three with one second on the clock and Tech had finished the half on a 12-4 run to take a 34-27 lead.
MSU did not make a field goal in the final 4:16 of the half.
GAME NOTES
The Racers return to the
MSU now leads the all-time series with TTU 114-46 and have lost their last four games in
Danero Thomas had two three-pointers tonight marking his first multiple make game since hitting three against
