Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Jenkins Hits Winner For MSU 62-60 Over EKU
12/4/2009 3:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers won their Ohio Valley Conference opener with a 62-60 win Thursday over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky., to improve to 6-1 overall.
The Racers got back into the contest thanks to a lightning quick strike with their full-court press.
Trailing by eight with 16:45 remaining, the Racers turned the Colonels over and scored quickly on a three by Isacc Miles.
Donte Poole picked off a pass and scored before another MSU steal led to an easy two by Danero Thomas to cut the EKU lead to one. After an EKU miss, Jeffery McClain scored on an offensive rebound and made it a three-point play for a 10-0 Racer run and a 44-42 lead with 14:18 left. It was MSU's first lead since the 8:12 mark of the first half.
However in this OVC rollercoaster, the Racers' work wasn't finished.
EKU went on a 15-4 run to go in front by nine (57-48) with 6:06 left setting the stage for one amazing scene.
The Racers mounted another charge and cut the lead to three on a steal and basket by Isaiah Canaan at 2:05. He missed the free throw for a three-point play, but Isacc Miles made an incredible play and got a jump ball that gave the ball back to the Racers. On the ensuing inbounds play, Canaan fed B.J. Jenkins for a mid-range jumper to pull MSU to 57-56 with 2:01 left.
After an EKU miss, the Racers called timeout and set up a Thomas to McClain play for a 58-57 MSU lead at 1:03.
The Colonels dug in and saw Spencer Perrin score in the lane to put EKU back in front 59-58 at 24.3.
With 11.1 seconds left, Miles drove the lane where his miss was tipped in by Thomas for another Racer lead at 60-59.
EKU's Joshua Jones was fouled before the clock started, but only made one free throw to tie the game at 60.
The Racers pushed the ball down the floor and when the ball went out of bounds and the Racers had the ball under their basket with 3.0 left. They ran a play and got an open jumper for Jenkins who drained it for a 62-60 MSU lead with 2.6 left.
The Racers intercepted the long EKU pass and won the game in front of 3,984 cheering fans at the RSEC.
"We feel very fortunate to win the game," MSU head coach Billy Kennedy said. "We executed and made a shot when we had to. You've got to gut out games like this in order to have the chance at a special season."
Kennedy praised junior forward Jeffery McClain for his great work off the MSU bench where he scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 19 minutes of floor time.
"Jeff is the MVP of the game," Kennedy said. "He made a lot of big plays for us tonight like getting rebounds, plus tip-ins and steals, he played a great game, and all of our guys did."
Tony Easley led the Racers with 14 points to go with nine rebounds, while Miles tossed in 13.
The Racers forced EKU into 20 turnovers for the game and won the battle of the boards 37-24.
MSU returns to action for their second OVC game in three days Saturday when they meet Morehead State at the RSEC in a 7:30 p.m. game. The Racers and Eagles were co-favorites in the OVC Preseason Poll.
GAME NOTES
MSU is now 23-7 in OVC openers since 1980 and have won 13 of their last 14.
Danero Thomas scored seven points tonight and is 14 from becoming the 35th member of the MSU 1000-Point Club.
EKU's 33-30 lead marked the first time since the Nov. 9 opener that the Racers had trailed at half.
How big was MSU's amazing comeback? Consider this. In the Billy Kennedy era, MSU has trailed at the five-minute mark of the second half 33 times and tonight's win is only the third time they've scored a win. Conversely, MSU has been very good when they have the lead with five minutes left going 53-9.
The Racers again defended the opponent's leading scorer in limiting EKU's Justin Stommes to two points, far below his 18.3 average. It's the fifth straight game in which MSU has held the leading scorer under his average.
MSU is now 11-2 all-time against EKU at the RSEC and 37-9 in the Billy Kennedy era. MSU is 94-15 all-time in OVC games in the building. MSU has a six-game winning streak currently at the RSEC.
