Murray State University Athletics
MSU To Miami For Coaches vs Cancer Classic
11/19/2009 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game 3
Coaches vs Cancer Classic
Murray State (1-1)
vs
James Madison (0-1)
Friday 3 p.m. CST
US Century Bank Arena
Miami, Fla.
The Murray State Racers take on the James Madison Dukes in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic Friday in Miami, Fla., at US Century Bank Arena in a 3 p.m. central time tip. The trip to Miami marks the first time in Racer Basketball to play on the west and east coasts before Thanksgiving (MSU started the season Nov. 5 at California). After an off day Saturday, the Racers continue play against North Carolina Central with a 7 p.m. cst tip against North Carolina Central followed by a Monday 6 p.m. cst game with host Florida International. The Racers will meet NCCU for the first time and FIU for the first time since 1993.
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Murray State is 1-1 after starting the season Nov. 5 in Berkeley, Calif., with a hard-fought 75-70 loss to the 12th ranked Bears. MSU trailed by 18 points with 9:34 remaining but managed to make a strong run at the end of the game. Last Saturday MSU won their 20th straight home opener with a 92-54 win over Missouri-St. Louis. Through two games, the Racers have a quartet averaging double-figure scoring. Ivan Aska leads the way at 18.5 per game, while Isaiah Canaan adds 12.5, B.J. Jenkins 12.0 and Danero Thomas 11.5. Tony Easley leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per game. The Racers are shooting an impressive 55 percent from the field in the first two games and 35 percent from three-point range.
Senior forward Danero Thomas is closing on becoming the 35th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club and starts the UMSL game needing 65 points to reach the magic mark. 46 double-figure scoring games in his career have helped him along. Thomas has also been a durable player for MSU with appearances in 92 games including 71 starts. He was named to the All-OVC Preseason Team and the All-OVC Second Team as a junior.
With an 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 as each received 10 first-place votes in the balloting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The MSU-EKU game will be aired by ESPNU.
