Racers Stay Perfect In Front Of CFSB Center Sellout - 82-74 Over TTU

Saturday, January 14

CFSB Center

5 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee Tech

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Racers Stay Perfect In Front Of CFSB Center Sellout - 82-74 Over TTU

1/14/2012 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Boxscore I Boxscore (PDF)

The Murray State Racers remained as one of the three undefeated teams in the country with an 82-74 win Saturday in front of a sellout crowd at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Racers got a career-high 28 points from Donte Poole to go with a career-high eight rebounds and 24 points from Isaiah Canaan to improve to 18-0 and set the school record for overall win streak. MSU's start to the season is also a school record.

MSU had to battle a determined bunch from Tech who trailed by as much as 15 points in the opening half, but closed the MSU lead to 39-36 lead at the half.

In the second half, MSU saw the Golden Eagles tie the score three times. The final tie was with 9:34 left at 58-58.

Jewaun Long's three with 3:31 left and three-point play by Poole at 2:37 turned the game as MSU took a 73-65 lead.

MSU, who struggled from the free throw line most of the day, sealed the win by hitting 10-of-11 in the final seconds.

MSU finished the day 23-of-61 from the field for 37 percent, while Tech broke MSU's 11-game streak in winning the shooting battle at 42 percent (26-of-61). The Racers finished the game 67 percent from the line on 27-of-40, while Tech was 16-of-28 for 57 percent.

Game Notes
MSU's win pushed their home win streak to 17 straight since their last loss to Eastern Illinois on Jan. 20, 2011. MSU is 167-27 (.860) in their 14^th season in the CFSB Center.

Today's sellout crowd of 8,691 is a record for the CFSB Center, surpassing the 8,602 that watched the Racers play Southeast Missouri State on Feb. 11, 1999. Today's attendance was only the third over 8,000 in the history of the arena. The other on Jan. 23, 1999 against Austin Peay was 8,352.

Donte Poole and Isaiah Canaan's day marked the third time MSU has had two 20-point scorers in a game this season. The first was at Morgan State (Nov. 14) when Canaan had 23 points and Ivan Aska 21. The other was against San Francisco (Nov. 25) in the Great Alaska Shootout with Poole getting 22 and Canaan 21.

MSU's win streak of 18 surpasses the previous record of 17 set by the 2009-10 team. The OVC record for best start to a season is 21-0 by the Western Kentucky team of 1953-54. MSU's 18-0 continues to set the school record.

MSU now hits the road next week for a trip they've never had before. Wednesday, MSU plays at Morehead State in a 6 p.m. central time game and plays at SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 21). The Morehead game will air on the Racer TV Network and the SIUE game on ESPNU.