MSU's Amazing Season Continues 86-49 Over SIUE

Wednesday, January 27

Murray, Ky.

7:00 p.m.

Murray State

SIU Edwardsville

1/28/2010 5:03:00 AM | Men's Basketball

The Murray State Racers won for the 10^th straight time and the 14^th straight at home Wednesday when they defeated the SIU Edwardsville Cougars 86-49 at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.

MSU led by seven at the 10:24 mark of the opening half when they ran off a 16-1 run to take a 36-14 lead with 4:24 remaining on a three-pointer by Danero Thomas. MSU hit their first five from long range and were 7-of-13 on the evening.

MSU didn't take long to increase their 38-19 halftime lead.

Jewuan Long gave the Racers a 63-32 lead with 12:07 left, and MSU eventually led by as many as 40 in the closing minutes.

Racers head coach Billy Kennedy was pleased with his team even though they were against an over-matched opponent.

"We had good focus tonight," he said. "That's the strength of our team. I can't say that we've had a bad game all season from an effort standpoint."

"Defensively we kept up with what we've been doing all season," Kennedy added. "We didn't take a step back."

Eleven players scored for Murray State including Tony Easley with 13 points, with Danero Thomas and Isaiah Canaan adding 12 and 11.

B.J. Jenkins had seven assists for the Racers.

MSU is 19-3 and one win from their 23^rd all-time 20-win season. Their overall win streak is10 and MSU has won their last 14 at home.

Saturday, the Racers take a 10-0 record in the Ohio Valley Conference into their 1 p.m. game at UT Martin. The contest at the Elam Center will be aired by ESPNU.

GAME NOTES

MSU's game at UTM Saturday will air on ESPNU with Dave Weekley handling the play-by-play and Sedric Toney providing color commentary.

The Racers are now 141-25 (.849) in the RSEC including a 55-9 (.859) mark in non-OVC games. The Racers are 87-16 (.845) against OVC teams. MSU is 21-2 in the last two seasons.

MSU has won 14 straight games at home and look to extend that the next time they play in front of the home fans Feb. 4 against Tennessee State.

MSU has won 22 straight games when holding the opponent under 60 points.

The Racers entered the game as one of only three teams leading their leagues in scoring offense and scoring defense. The other two are BYU in the Mountain West Conference and Saint Mary's from the West Coast Conference.

MSU is also part of a group of six schools leading their leagues in field goal defense and steals. The others are Army (Patriot), Hampton (Mid-Eastern), Old Dominion (Colonial), Minnesota (Big-10) and Maine (America East).

MSU is second in the nation with 11.3 steals per game, just behind Missouri who averages 12.1.

Tony Easley scored the first seven points of the game for the Racers.

The Racers held the opponents' leading scorer under his average for the 10^th straight time and for the 20^th time in 22 games. SIUE's Mark Yelovich entered tonight's game at 15.4 ppg and ended with 11.

Fans will see more of SIUE as the seasons go by as the Cougars begin their journey in the OVC. SIUE is making the move from NCAA D-II to D-I and is in a two-year reclassification process. SIUE had played in D-II since their founding in 1967. They will play a full OVC schedule in the 2011-12 season and be eligible for the OVC Tournament at the end of the 2012-13 season.