Racers Return Home With 94-52 Win Over Bethel - Push Home Win Streak to 22

Wednesday, December 15

CFSB Center

7:00 p.m.

Murray State

Bethel

Photo by: Kevin Weaks

Racers Return Home With 94-52 Win Over Bethel - Push Home Win Streak to 22

12/15/2010 11:17:06 PM | Men's Basketball

Boxscore

Boxscore (PDF)

The Murray State Racers pushed their home winning streak to 22 games with a 94-52 win Wednesday over the Bethel Wildcats at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

MSU (6-4) used a hot-shooting first half to produce a 20-7 run after they trailed by six at the 12:16 mark. In a span of less than a minute, MSU saw Isaiah Canaan hit a three-pointer, followed by a steal and easy basket by B.J. Jenkins. Another MSU steal led to a dunk by Ed Daniel and MSU had the lead 32-25 at 6:15.

The Racers pushed to their largest lead of the half at when Jewuan Long hit a pair of free throws to get MSU a 44-31 lead at halftime.

MSU was 16-of-30 in the half for 53 percent, while Bethel was 11-of-33 for 33 percent.

The Racers blitzed the Wildcats (10-3) by scoring the first nine points of the second half to build a 54-31 lead with 17:00 remaining. MSU's lead eventually grew to as many as 44 points with 3:43 left.

“It was a good win and it was good to be home,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said, as the team was playing at home for the first time since Nov. 20. “I thought the first five minutes of the second half we showed maturity. To jump out on them with a 12-0 run, coming against a Bethel team that is a lower classification, however for us to come out like that ready to go really shows maturity on our seniors part.”

MSU had 12 players scratch the scoring column led by 15 points from Canaan, followed by 12 each from Daniel and Jeffery McClain. B.J. Jenkins added 11. Aska tied his career-high with 14 rebounds and he also scored six points.

The Racers ended the game hitting 35-of-65 from the field for 53 percent, while holding Bethel to 28 percent on 19-of-68 shots.

NOTES

The meeting between the Racers and Bethel was their first since 1987. MSU now leads the series 17-3.

Aska's 14 rebounds matched his career-best from his game last season at East Tennessee State (Dec. 12, 2009). Aska has back-to-back games with double-digit rebounds, the first Racer to do it since Bruce Carter against SEMO (13) and Samford (11) in 2008. The last Racer to have three straight such games is Pearson Griffith in 2006 against Samford (10), Austin Peay (10) and Jacksonville State (11).

Billy Kennedy moved another step closer to his 100^th win as MSU coach and 200^th in his career. He now has 90 with the Racers and 194 in his 13^th season as a head coach.

MSU's win streak at home is the fifth-best in the nation and stands at 22.

MSU is now 149-25 (.856) all-time in 13 seasons in the CFSB Center.

B.J. Jenkins consecutive games with at least one made three-point basket ended at nine when he went 0-1.

Ivan Aska's free throw streak ended at 15. The longest for MSU so far this season is 21 straight by Jenkins.