Murray State University Athletics
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MSU Plays Home Opener Against Missouri-St. Louis
11/13/2009 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game 2
Missouri-St. Louis
at
Murray State
Saturday 7 p.m. CST
RSEC
Murray, Ky.
The Murray State Racers face the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons Saturday in their home opener at the Regional Special Events Center. The game will be the second in the series with the first played at old Racer Arena in 1980, a MSU win. The Racers are coming off their season opener last Monday at 12th ranked California, a 75-70 loss. UMSL, an NCAA D-II program, has played an exhibition game (Nov. 2) at Missouri State and suffered an 86-48 loss. Zach Redel led the Tritons in scoring with 12 points.
CAL RECAP: The Racers did a lot of great things in Monday's season opener at California. The 75-70 loss saw the Racers trail by 18 points with 9:34 remaining, but managed to cut the lead to six with 2:30 on the clock. The Racers were led Ivan Aska's 17 points, with 16 coming from B.J. Jenkins and 12 from Danero Thomas. Tony Easley led the Racers in rebounding with eight.
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RSEC-HOME SWEET HOME: Last Season, the Racers went 12-2 at home in the RSEC and begin 2009-10 having won their last four. The Racers are 34-9 in the RSEC in the Billy Kennedy era. One amazing note to the Racers' record in the RSEC is that they have lost back-to-back games only four times in 11 years and have never lost three straight in the building. The last time MSU lost three straight games at home was in old Racer Arena in the 1986-87 season. MSU's all-time mark at the RSEC in 11 seasons 131-25 (.839) including an OVC mark of 93-15 (.861) and a Non-Conference mark of 38-10 (.791).
MSU has won its last 19 home openers. MSU hasn't lost one since 1989 when they fell to Southern Illinois in triple overtime at old Racer Arena. MSU is 11-0 in home openers in the RSEC.
CLOSING ON 1000: Senior forward Danero Thomas is closing on becoming the 35th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club and starts the UMSL game needing 76 points to reach the magic mark. 45 double-figure scoring games in his career have helped him along. Thomas has also been a durable player for MSU with a string of 67 consecutive starts. He was named to the All-OVC Preseason Team and the All-OVC Second Team as a junior.
OVC FAVORITES: With the early pair of Ohio Valley Conference games coming Dec. 3 and 5 against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, the Racers want to get up to speed quickly. The Racers and Morehead State are co-favorites to win the lead in a preseason vote.
RACER DEBUTS: Some MSU players had impressive debuts in the blue and gold in the California game. B.J. Jenkins poured in 16 points against the Bears on 6-of-10 shooting. Isaiah Canaan scored eight points, while Edward Daniel pulled down six rebounds in only 14 minutes on the floor. Canaan and Daniel are both freshmen, Jenkins is a junior. Here are the scores so far from the Coaches vs Cancer Classic.After the Racers play UMSL, they'll continue the Coaches vs Cancer event with three games in Miami, Fla. MSU will play at the home court of Florida International University's US Century Bank Arena. The Racers face James Madison (Nov. 20), North Carolina Central (Nov. 21), and the home team Panthers (Nov. 22). FIU's new coach is NBA great Isiah Thomas. MSU has won its last 19 home openers. MSU hasn't lost one since 1989 when they fell to Southern Illinois in triple overtime at old Racer Arena. MSU is 11-0 in home openers in the RSEC.
SCOUTING UMSL: The Tritons return eight lettermen and two starters from last season's squad that went 14-13 and 6-11 (4th place in west division) in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Jeremy Brown is a senior who started 18 games last season and scored 9.3 points per game. Brown came back to college basketball after spending the last three years as a prospect in the minor league system of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sophomore Beaumont Beasley returns after leading UMSL in scoring as a freshman with 11 points per game.Zach Redel is a transfer to UMSL from Central Missouri and was part of the Mules 30-win season in 2008-09. The Tritons were picked to finish 3rd in the five-team west division in the GLVC preseason poll.
UMSL played on exhibition game against Missouri State Nov. 2 in Springfield, Mo. and came away with an 86-48 loss to the Bears. Zach Redel was the leading scorer for the Tritons with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. UMSL was outrebounded in the game 47-27 and suffered 22 turnovers. Missouri State had a 52-21 lead at half.
COACHES VS CANCER SCOREBOARD:
Nov. 9
Florida International 72
4 North Carolina 88
Alcorn State 60
17 Ohio State 100
Albany 43
25 Syracuse 75
Nov. 11
North Carolina Central 42
4 North Carolina 89
Robert Morris 60
25 Syracuse 100
Detroit 61
12 California 95
Nov. 12
James Madison 44
17 Ohio State 72
