Racers Take OVC Opening Thriller 74-72 At Eastern Kentucky

Thursday, December 2

Richmond, Ky.

7:00 p.m.

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky

Photo by: Tommy Dillard

Racers Take OVC Opening Thriller 74-72 At Eastern Kentucky

12/2/2010 7:29:22 PM | Men's Basketball

Boxscore

Boxscore (pdf)

The Murray State Racers opened play in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 74-72 win Thursday at Eastern Kentucky in McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky.

The Racers (4-3) earned the win after they came back from a first half 14-point deficit to get their fifth straight win over the Colonels (3-4).

MSU trailed 68-66 with 1:49 remaining when a pair of Ivan Aska free throws tied it. On EKU's following trip down the floor, the Racers got a steal and Aska tipped in a missed shot to give MSU the lead for good with 1:10 left.

EKU tied the game for the seventh time, but Isacc Miles made a baseline drive and basket to put MSU up again 72-70 with 23.8 seconds left.

Isaiah Canaan iced the game with a pair of free throws with 4.7 seconds left and EKU's Willie Cruz made a meaningless two pointer for the final margin.

The Racers and Colonels each had 23 field goals, each had six three-point baskets, but the difference in the game was at the free throw line where MSU hit 22 to EKU's 20.

“This was a good hard-fought win and we found a way to win,” MSU Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “We did it by getting the ball inside and attacking the paint like we wanted to.”

Indeed, in scoring 50 points in the second period, the Racers found gold in the paint as Aska and Ed Daniel hit the Colonels with several baskets and MSU also grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the second half. Aska finished with eight rebounds, five on the offensive end and Daniel got three offensive boards to go with a career-high 11 points off the bench.

“We've wanted our post guys to step up and the production Ed gave us, he was our MVP by far, “Kennedy said. “He did lot of good things for us. Tonight he played like he's capable of playing, that comes with maturity.”

Canaan's clinching free throws helped him go 10-11 on the night and he scored a game-high 17 points. Aska tossed in 16, with 13 coming from Isacc Miles and 10 from B.J. Jenkins.

MSU was 22-26 (.846) from the free throw line, while EKU was 20-23 (.870).

In the first half, MSU trailed 24-10 with 5:42 left when they closed the half on a 14-3 run to get back in the game trailing 27-24.

MSU took its first lead of the second half on an Aska hoop with 6:54 left.

MSU now heads north for Saturday's 7 p.m. central time game with the Morehead State Eagles who were 70-49 winners over UT Martin at Johnson Arena. The game, set for a 7 p.m. central time tip will be seen on the Racer TV Network. Froggy 103.7 FM carries the Racer Radio broadcast and free live audio is also on GoRacers.com.

NOTES

The Racers have now won five straight in the EKU series after losing four straight prior.

This game marked the fourth straight season the Racers have opened OVC play against the Colonels. MSU has now won 14 of their last 15 OVC openers and are 24-7 since 1980.

B.J. Jenkins was 2-3 tonight from three-point range and has hit at least one three in all seven MSU games this season.

Ed Daniel's 11 points represents a career-high for him as he bested the 10 points he scored against Tennessee Tech last season on Feb. 11.

MSU broke out of its shooting slump in the game hitting 23-47 for a tick under 49 percent, their best in six games this season against D-I teams. MSU's 40 percent shooting against Stanford (Nov. 25) was their previous best.

MSU leads the all-time series with EKU 92-59 and are 35-34 in Richmond, Ky. MSU is 50-21 at home against the Colonels and will play them at the CFSB Center on the final game of the regular season Feb. 26.

MSU is now 571-307 (.650) all-time in OVC games.

Billy Kennedy moved closer to his 100^th career win as MSU coach and 200^th of his career. He is now 88-47 (.651) in his fifth season with the Racers and 192-173 (.526) in his 13^th season which also includes stops at Centenary and Southeastern Louisiana.

MSU continues this road swing with a game Saturday at Morehead State. The Racers and Eagles were picked one-two in the OVC Preseason Poll and the two split their two regular season games in 2009-10 and MSU won the OVC Tournament title game last spring against the Eagles in Nashville, Tenn.