Late Surge Over St. John's Sends Racers to Charleston Classic Finals

Friday, November 16

Charleston, SC

4:30 p.m.

Murray State

3-0

St. John's (NY)

2-1

St. John's

Murray State

Photo by: Ricky Martin/Ledger & Times

Late Surge Over St. John's Sends Racers to Charleston Classic Finals

11/16/2012 3:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score I Box Score(PDF) I Charleston Classic

The Murray State Racers earned a spot in the Charleston Classic championship game Friday when they scored a come-from-behind 72-67 win over the St. John's Red Storm at TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.

After hitting the first basket of the semifinal game, the Racers trailed for approximately the next 35 minutes, once by as many as 13 points, when they finally hit with lightning quickness.

MSU (3-0) kept chipping away and made a move at the 6:48 mark when they trailed by seven. Brandon Garrett scored in the paint and after a missed St. John's shot, Stacy Wilson hit a three followed by a quick steal and score by Dexter Fields to tie the game at 59-59 with 6:00. The Racers had a 7-0 run in the span of approximately 48 seconds.

The Racers made it a 12-0 run on the Red Storm (2-1) when Ed Daniel made a pair of free throws and Isaiah Canaan hit a three-pointer for a 64-59 lead at 4:19. Fields hit a three at 2:11 and MSU had their largest lead of 70-64. The Racers held St. John's to 2-of-9 shooting from the field in the final 7:31.

MSU made the plays from there to get the win and make a date in the Charleston Classic title game Sunday against Colorado at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be aired by ESPN2.

After a poor first half when they shot only 32 percent from the field, the Racers rebounded to shoot 52 percent in the second half. MSU improved from 27 percent shooting from three-point range in the first half to shoot 41 percent in the second half.

Wilson led the way with a career-high 26 points, with Canaan and Daniel adding 15 each, while Fields scored 11. Daniel also grabbed 11 rebounds to get a double-double.

The Racers were in position to win only from the way they finished the half. MSU ended the half on a 13-3 run to trail at the break 35-32.

Game Notes
The Racers will face Colorado for only the second time when they meet Sunday. In their only meeting in 2002, the Racers lost in Boulder, Colo., 98-71.

MSU is now on a five-game win streak in early-season tournaments in the last two seasons. A year ago, MSU won three straight to take the Great Alaska Shootout and now have won two games here at the Charleston Classic.

The Racers have defeated two teams from power conferences this week at Charleston. MSU took down Auburn 79-59 and now St. John's. Before that, go all the way back to 1996 in Puerto Rico when the Racers defeated Arkansas on Christmas Day and Iowa State the day after.