MSU Basketball Secures Another Winning Season

The 2008-09 season ended before the Murray State men's team wanted it to when they dropped a 67-50 game to Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals March 6 at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Still many noteworthy things came out of the Racers' 19-12 campaign.

The Racers have more league championships than anyone has in the OVC with 20 and came close again when they finished second for the third straight season.

MSU secured their 22nd straight overall winning season and their 22^nd straight winning season in OVC play. MSU's conference streak is tops in the nation, just ahead of Kansas who has 20 straight in the Big-12. MSU's overall streak is tied for fifth with Connecticut.

Danero Thomas, Isacc Miles, and Ivan Aska were all named to the All-OVC team at the conclusion of the regular season. Thomas, a member of the preseason team, was named to the All-OVC Second Team. Miles and Aska were named to the All-OVC Newcomer Team, while Aska was named All-OVC Freshman of the Year.

RETURNING ROSTER

Here is a look at the returners in the 2009-10 season.

Danero Thomas (Sr.) - He is closing in on becoming the 35^th member of the MSU 1,000-Point Club and will start the 2009-10 season with 912. He had a season-high 30 points Feb. 7 at Austin Peay, the first Racer to score 30 in a game since Shawn Witherspoon in 2005. Thomas led the Racers in scoring with 12.5 points per game after scoring 12.3 in his sophomore season, he grabbed 4.3 rebounds per game and had a season-high eight Feb. 28 against Eastern Kentucky. He enters next season with a string of 66 straight starts. He had 20 double-figure scoring games in the season and has 44 in his MSU career. He was named to the All-OVC Preseason Team and the All-OVC Second Team.

Isacc Miles (Jr.) ? Had a breakout first season with the Racers and was second on the squad with 10.6 points per game and he tied for the team lead in assists with 119. His season-high in points came against Southeast Missouri Feb. 17 with 24. Miles had the first triple-double in known MSU history against UT Martin Feb. 23 when he scored 13 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out 11 assists. He ended the season with a streak of seven-straight games of double-figure scoring and averaged 15.7 points per game. He scored in double-figures 16 times in the season and led the team in scoring nine times. Started all 31 games. He was named the OVC's Newcomer of the Week three times and honored as a member of the All-OVC Newcomer Team at the end of the season.

Ivan Aska (So.) ? Had an outstanding freshman season that led to being named the OVC's Freshman of the Year. He was third on the team in scoring with 10.3 points per game and first in rebounding with 5.8 per game. He was named the OVC's Freshman of the Week three times. In just his third college game Nov. 22, he scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in MSU's win over WKU. Aska had 16 games of double-figure scoring in his first season and two games of double-figure rebounding including 11 against UTM in the same Feb. 23 game when he scored his season-high of 23 points.

He was second on the team with 125 field goals and managed a .527 clip in field goal percentage.

Tony Easley (Sr.) ? He was the team leader with 79 offensive rebounds and averaged 5.4 boards per game. He had four double-doubles including his season-high 11 rebounds against Louisiana Tech Feb. 21. His season-high of 14 points came on two occasions: Dec. 29 against Niagara and Feb. 12 against Tennessee Tech. Enters his senior season in 2009 with six double-figure rebounding games and has led the Racers in rebounding 21 times in his career. Easley was second on the team with 18 blocks and has 64 in his MSU career. He is five blocks from moving to 11^th place all-time at MSU.

Jeffery McClain (Jr.) ? He was second on the team in offensive rebounds with 73 and averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. He had a double-double against Eastern Kentucky Dec. 4 with a season-high 11 rebounds to go along with 12 points. His season-high in points game Nov. 29 when he scored 20 against St. Catharine. He had seven games in double-figure scoring. Had an excellent season from the free throw line hitting 73 percent. McClain tied an MSU single-game record that had stood since 1966 when he made 14-of-14 from the line in the St. Catharine game. He was named the OVC's Newcomer of the Week Dec. 1.

Donte Poole (So.) ? Started the season with a plan to redshirt, but that all changed when teammate Jewuan Long went down for the season with a knee injury Dec. 6. He made his MSU debut Dec. 13 at Missouri and scored six points in 12 minutes of playing time. Unfortunately, his season also ended suddenly when he suffered a broken collar bone against Tennessee Tech Feb. 12. Poole appeared in 16 games, averaged 5.8 points per game, and played an average of 15.5 minutes per game. His season-high of 15 points came Feb. 4 against Tennessee State.

Matt Fraliex (So.) ? Appeared in 25 games in his freshman season coming off a redshirt season and scored 2.6 points per game. His season-high in points was against Lyon College Nov. 15 in the season opener when he had 13. He also scored 12 against St. Catharine Nov. 29. Fraliex was 14-of-16 for the season from the free throw line for 87 percent.

Jewuan Long (So.) ? His season ended suddenly only seven games into his sophomore season when he went down to a season-ending knee injury at Morehead State Dec. 6. Before his injury, Long scored 12 points Nov. 22 against WKU to mark his career-high at MSU. His six rebounds against Indiana State Nov. 26 was also a career-high.

Georges Fotso (Sr.) ? Appeared in 23 games for the Racers grabbing 1.1 rebounds per game. Averaged 6.6 minutes per game off the MSU bench. Played a season-high 14 minutes against Jacksonville State Feb. 14 with three points and four rebounds.

B.J. Jenkins (Jr.) ? He will be a junior in 2009-10 after sitting out the 2008-09 season as a transfer from Liberty University. As a sophomore at Liberty in 2007-08 he appeared in all 32 games and made 31 starts in scoring 9.9 points per game and 4.4 rebounds. He scored a career-high 24 points on against Niagara ... In his freshman season, he saw action in 31 games.

INCOMING FRESHMEN

The Racers have three student-athletes set to join the program in the fall as freshmen. More information on how these student-athletes finished up their prep senior seasons will be coming soon.

Isaiah Canaan (Fr.) - He is a 5-11 guard from Biloxi, Miss High School.

Edward Daniel (Fr.) ? He is a 6-7 forward from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Ala.

Colin Slotter (Fr.) ? He is a 6-5 forward from North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Ga.

2008-09 SEASON HEADLINES

GETTING TO THE LINE: The Racers flirted for a while, with the MSU team mark of 76.9 set in the 1994-95 season. And while they had a better start to the season than a finish, they still marked a good season from the line at .715. MSU had eight games with 20 or more made free throws this season and

had eight games in which they shot 80 percent or better and had four better than 90 percent.

SOUND DEFENSE: The Racers continued to play great defense in 2008-09. They led the OVC in scoring defense when teams only managed a 63.2 average per game. MSU also held opponents to .432 overall in field goal percentage which was third in the OVC. MSU has led the league twice in the Billy Kennedy era and this season's finish was a good one too. The Racers also defended the opponent's top scoring threat. For example, they held Eastern Kentucky's Mike Rose to two points Dec. 6 when the Colonel senior was averaging 20.2 points per game. MSU held Eastern Illinois sharpshooter Romain Martin to a combined eight points in two games which was more than 22 points below what his two-game average was. MSU held the opponent's leading scorer under his average in 23 games.

THE NUMBER SIX: MSU had six players hit double-figures in their OVC quarterfinal win over Tennessee State Mar. 3. The group was made up of Ivan Aska (17 points), Isacc Miles (15), Danero Thomas (14), Tony Easley (12), Kevin Thomas (12), and Jeffery McClain (10). The last time the Racers did that was Mar. 1, 2008 when Kevin Thomas, Tyler Holloway, Danero Thomas, and Tony Easley hit the magic number along with Bruce Carter and Ray George.

SEEING DOUBLE: The Racers had two players get double-doubles against Tennessee Tech Feb. 12 when Ivan Aska scored 13 points and 10 rebounds and Tony Easley had 10 points and 12 rebounds. It marked the first time MSU had two get double-doubles in the same game since Shawn Witherspoon and Pearson Griffith did it in 2006. This has happened only three times since 2004 when Cuthbert Victor and Antione Whelchel did it against Morehead State.

ASSIST STREAK ENDS: Kevin Thomas had an amazing streak of 50 straight games with at least one assist come to an end at Eastern Illinois on Feb. 11.

WHEN YOU'RE HOT: Kevin Thomas had a perfect night from the field against UT Martin Jan. 5 when he hit 7-of-7 shots. The MSU record of 11-of-11 by Cuthbert Victor against Tennessee State in 2001 still stands as MSU's shooting mark for a single game.

WHAT A TRIP: The Racers' eight-game road trip (All of December and early January) was the longest for the program since the 1964-65 team played the same away from home going 4-4. In that season, Cal Luther's Racers played at the Sun Devil Classic, defeated Texas Western 65-58, and lost to host Arizona State 107-96. The trip continued to Louisville, Ky. for the OVC Tournament when it was routinely played in the middle of the season. MSU won the tournament with victories over Morehead State (89-82), Tennessee Tech (79-75), and Western Kentucky (77-68). MSU then lost at WKU (72-61), Morehead State (89-72), and East Tennessee (91-72). The Racers had a seven-game road trip in the 1986-87 season and went 2-5 with wins over UT Chattanooga and Louisiana-Lafayette, and losses to Southern Illinois, USC, Mercer, Memphis State and Minnesota.

BLINK OF AN EYE: On Dec. 13 at Missouri, Kevin Thomas had the best game in the steal department with eight against the Tigers. Thomas tied the MSU single-game record set by Brian Stewart on Feb. 7, 1983. Thomas' game was the best for a Racer since Pearson Griffith had six steals against Eastern Illinois in 2006.

FRESHMAN DEBUT: Ivan Aska earned OVC Co-Freshman of the Week honors Nov. 24. Aska, a 6-7 forward from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. averaged 16.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in MSU games against Arkansas State and Western Kentucky. He scored 20 points against WKU, becoming the first MSU freshman to score 20 or more points in a game since Cuthbert Victor scored 27 against Tennessee State on Jan. 30, 2001.

TOP-10 RSEC CROWD: The announced attendance of 7,038 the MSU-WKU game Nov. 22 was the seventh largest crowd in RSEC history, and the seventh crowd of more than 7,000. The last was when WKU visited the RSEC in 2002 when 7,288 watched the game. The record for the RSEC is the 8,602 that watched the Racers take on Southeast Missouri State in 1999.

HOME OPENER: The Racers defeated Lyon College Nov. 15 in their home opener 84-46. MSU has won 19 straight home openers and haven'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.

HOME COURT NUMBERS: The Racers went 12-2 at home in the Regional Special Events Center in the 2008-09 season and are 34-9 there in the Billy Kennedy era. They were 14-2 at the RSEC in 2007-08. MSU will begin 2009-2010 with a four-game home winning streak. After losing the ESPNU BracketBusters game to Louisiana Tech Feb. 21, they reeled off wins over UT Martin, Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky, and Tennessee State.

One amazing note to the Racers' record in the RSEC is that they have only 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. In that stretch, MSU lost four straight at home to New Orleans (2-4-87), Morehead State (2-7-87), Eastern Kentucky (2-9-87), and Akron (2-21-87).

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).

SENIOR MEMORIES

The Racers said goodbye to three great seniors who meant so much to the program. Tyler Holloway (Decatur, Ala.), Kevin Thomas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla), and Jarad Key (Lone Oak, Ky.) were seniors for the Racers in the 2008-09 season.

Tyler Holloway - Finished his career in second place on the MSU all-time list for made three-pointers. He passed Justin Burdine (1998-02) who had 198 on Feb. 21 against Louisiana Tech. Holloway passed second place Don Mann (1985-89) at 204 on Feb. 23 and finished his career with 210. Frank Allen (1989-93) is tops at MSU with 251. Holloway is one of only six Racers who rank in the top-10 in both made three-pointers and three-point percentage, he is ninth place with a career percentage of .398. Holloway also joined Mann and Allen as the only Racers to lead the team in made threes in three seasons. Allen led MSU in four seasons. Holloway is the first to lead the team in three-point percentage in three seasons. He surpassed his career-high for a single season with his 60 threes in 2008-09.

Holloway became the 34th member of the Murray State 1,000-Point Club Feb. 12 when he hit a three-pointer with 18:39 remaining against TTU. The game marked Holloway's eighth career game of 20 points or more. His career-best is 29 against Tennessee State from a game in Nashville, Tenn. Jan. 4, 2007. Holloway was the first to get to 1,000 since Shawn Witherspoon joined the club in 2007. Chris Shumate, Cuthbert Victor, and Antione Whelchel joined the club in 2004. Tyler finished 28^th on the MSU list with 1,083 points. He was also named to the National Basketball Coaches Association Honors Court.

Holloway is a marketing major at MSU.

Kevin Thomas - He distinguished himself as one of the driving forces behind the Racers and ended his career ranked as one of the best two-year players in MSU history. Thomas ranks second among two-year players at MSU on the all-time assist list with 258, and had a career-high 10 assists against Austin Peay in 2008. He had an amazing streak of 50 straight games with at least one assist and led the Racers in assists 36 times during his career. His career-high in points was 23 points against Jacksonville State in 2008. He had a 7-for-7 night from the field Jan. 5 against UT Martin, marking the Racers' best shooting game since 2001. Also this season at Missouri Dec. 13, Thomas tied the Racers' single-game record when he had eight steals tying the MSU mark that was set in 1983.

Thomas is an integrated studies major.

Jarad Key ? He was the first member of the Men's Basketball team to achieve being named to the OVC Commissioner's Honor Role for four consecutive years since Michael Turner in 1999-00. Key was also selected to the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society for the past two years. He was the recipient of the Carr Scholarship, James Lassiter Scholarship, and Wilson W. Lambda Scholarship at Murray State and was named to the Dean's list six times. In 2008, Key was named to the National Basketball Coaches Association Honors Court. He appeared in 24 games at MSU and scored his career high of seven points against Morehead State in 2005.

Key is a business administration major.

Murray State University Athletics

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