Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Tennessee State
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Racers Take Down TSU 76-54 - Now 12-0 In OVC
2/4/2010 9:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers won their 12th straight game in a 76-54 victory Thursday over Tennessee State in Murray, Ky., at the Regional Special Events Center and won their 15th straight game at home.
MSU moved their overall record to 21-3 and improved their first place mark in the Ohio Valley Conference to 12-0.
Leading 35-24 at the half, the Racers started the second half with a 14-5 run.
The Racer run was keyed by defense on a day when they had 18 steals.
A steal by Danero Thomas led to a rebound slam by Ivan Aska and he hit another shot while tumbling through the lane for a 43-27 MSU lead with 17:47 remaining.
Tony Easley scored on a rebound slam that was followed by a long three from B.J. Jenkins.
Isaiah Canaan gave MSU a 20-point lead with a baseline drive as the Racers led 49-29 with 14:30 left.
The MSU lead was trimmed to 18 at 6:10 but the Tigers couldn't get closer.
Jenkins paced four MSU players in double-figure scoring with 17 points, with 12 coming from Thomas. Canaan added 11, while Aska added 10 to go with a team-best seven rebounds.
The Racers forced the Tigers into 25 turnovers, but had 18 of their own.
"We really played well in the first five minutes of each half," MSU head coach Billy Kennedy said. "We got sloppy with the ball when we did force turnovers and couldn't convert. It was a solid effort by TSU, give them credit because they competed."
As MSU has racked up win after win, Kennedy has been challenged to keep the team on the right track even as easy wins have been the norm.
"It's a long season and we're getting toward the end of it," Kennedy said. "It's not easy to keep your edge when you're winning games easy. It has been a mental drain the last few games, we've been heavily favored and we've tried to keep it going."
As MSU eyes a possible OVC title, the next challenge is Saturday when the Racers host Austin Peay at the RSEC at 7:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES
Saturday's game is MSU Hall of Fame Day at the RSEC when the class of 2010 is honored. MSU basketball legends Marcus Brown and Coach Steve Newton join golfer Jenny Daag, football's Don Heine and track's Stephanie Saleem in the class.
Brown is MSU's third all-time leading scorer and his jersey no. 5 will be retired at halftime.
Here are the various winning streaks the Racers have now.
25 - Holding opponent to 60-pts or less
19 - Consecutive OVC regular-season wins
15 - Consecutive home wins
12 - Consecutive wins overall
7 - When scoring 80-pts or more
6 - Consecutive road wins
MSU is now in the conversation to challenge the program record 16 straight wins that has stood since the 1930's when the Racers were coached by Carlisle Cutchin whose teams did it twice. His 1935-36 squad started the season 16-0 before losing to Union (Tenn.). That same team finished the season with four wins and then started the 1936-37 season 12-0 when the streak was stopped by Western Kentucky.
MSU senior Tony Easley surpassed the 800-career mark in points tonight and now has 805. He already surpassed the 500-career mark in rebounding and has 538. Easley had three blocks and has 63 this season and is tracking the MSU all-time single season record held by Pearson Griffin with 79 in the 2005-06 season. Tony's 127 blocks has him up to third place on the MSU all-time list.
