Murray State
Tennessee Tech
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Holloway Gets 1,000th Point - MSU Handles Tech 73-52
2/12/2009 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers used a big dose of defense and Tyler Holloway Thursday night to earn a 73-52 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Tennessee Tech at the
With the win, the Racers improved to 8-5 in league play and 13-10 overall. The Golden Eagles dropped to 11-14 and 5-10.
Senior Tyler Holloway led the Racers with a team-high 20 points on a night when he put his name in the record books as the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club in the 150th MSU game at the RSEC.
“It was the last thing on my mind tonight,” Holloway said. “It was good to get it over with because we don't need to be worrying about things like that. But it was a good night and something I'll always remember.”
Holloway's big night drew praise from head coach Billy Kennedy.
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The Racers also needed Holloway's effort to get a big win in front of the homefolks.
After the MSU lead was cut to two with 10:54 left in the game, Holloway hit his fourth three-pointer to put the Racers in front 49-41.
Holloway dropped his fifth three of the game for a 12-point MSU lead at 7:01.
The MSU lead grew to 23 with 2:33 left when Holloway hit his sixth three-pointer of the night tying his career-high.
MSU's tough defense showed its teeth again when they held Tech without a field goal from the 9:13 mark to 3:11, a span of 6:02.
MSU held Tech to 29 percent shooting from the field in the second half and 30 percent overall, while shooting 36 percent themselves.
MSU finished the game on a 30-11 run after Tech cut the lead to two at 10:54.
“We really challenged our team to step up tonight,” Kennedy said. “We had already done a pretty good job defensively on them and to do that was impressive.”
The Racers won the three-point stat hitting 40 percent (8-of-20), while Tech shot 27 percent (3-of-11).
MSU had a season-high 20 offensive rebounds and beat TTU in total rebounding 49-36.
Ivan Aska (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Tony Easley (10 points, 12 rebounds) provided two double-doubles for MSU.
The Racers largest lead of the first half occurred twice when they pushed ahead by 10.
MSU led 23-13 at 7:13 when Holloway hit a three-pointer, and again the Racers were in front 27-17 at 4:51 when Kevin Thomas made a steal under the goal for an easy two.
Donte Poole made steal and basket with 7.7 before the half and MSU had a 31-28 lead at the break.
GAME NOTES
Tech started the game 0-of-6 from the field, while the Racers were 4-of-8 at 15:29. TTU's first field goal came at the 14:04 mark when Elijah Cunningham-Muhammad hit a three.
With the win, the Racers are 21-3 in the last two seasons at the RSEC and have won seven of eight this season. MSU is 126-24 (.840) all-time in the RSEC in their 11th season. Tech is 2-11 in the building and have lost the last five here with their last win coming in 2001. Tonight was the 150th MSU game at the RSEC.
Billy Kennedy is 47-37 (.559) in his third season at the helm of the MSU program and 5-4 against TTU with all of the wins coming at the RSEC.
The Racers now lead the all-time series with TTU 115-46 and are 68-8 in home games.
Tyler Holloway became the 34th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club and can begin to move up the list before ending his senior season. It was fitting that he got to the magic number on a three-point basket at the 18:39 mark of the second half to give him 1,002. Holloway is the first to join the club since Shawn Witherspoon did in 2007. Chris Shumate, Antione Whelchel, and Cuthbert Victor joined the club in 2004.
28. Mike Muff 1976-78 51 1,077
29. Shawn Witherspoon 2003-07 121 1,065
30. Bennie Purcell 1948-52 116 1,054
31. Mike Coleman 1972-74 50 1,038
32. Hector Blondet 1968-71 69 1,030
33. Tyler Holloway 2005- 114 1,016
34. John Namciu 1962-65 66 1,003
Holloway's 20 points was the eighth time in his career he scored that number or better. His career high is 29.
Ivan Aska scored his first career double-double. MSU has five double-doubles this season, three by Tony Easley. Jeffery McClain has one.
MSU continues its healthy home stretch (they have five of their final six at home) when they host the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State Saturday at 7:30 p.m. MSU is 10-0 against JSU since they joined the OVC in 2004 and 4-0 at the RSEC.
The Racers return to live TV on Tuesday, Feb. 17 when the Racer TV Network airs the Racer game against
