#12 Racers Beat TTU 69-64 For First Undefeated Road Season

Saturday, February 25

Cookeville, Tenn.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee Tech

Photo by: Tab Brockman

#12 Racers Beat TTU 69-64 For First Undefeated Road Season

2/25/2012 7:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers completed their amazing regular season as the first team in 87 seasons of basketball to go undefeated on the road with a 69-64 over Tennessee Tech at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn.

The Racers were 13-0 this season away from home and 28-1 overall, as they bring to a close a fantastic regular season that featured an Ohio Valley Conference title and the top seed in next week's league tournament.

Trailing 34-30 at half time, the Racers needed some second half heroics to finish the OVC season 15-1.

MSU fell behind 41-31 with 17:36 remaining, but turned the game in their favor with a big run. MSU made three straight stops on defense and got baskets from Ed Daniel, Jewuan Long and Latreze Mushatt. Isaiah Canaan gave the Racers the lead at the free throw line and MSU completed a 20-7 run when Long had a rebound and putback for a 51-48 lead with 11:35 remaining.

The rest of the evening was a back and forth game with five lead changes in the final five minutes.

The Racers made 8-of-11 free throws down the stretch and got a key basket by Long with :35 left to seal the win.

Canaan led the way with 18 points as the only Racer in double-figures on 5-of-13 shooting including 3-of-8 from three point range. Daniel, Long, Zay Jackson and Ivan Aska all scored nine points for MSU. Donte Poole added seven points to go with a team-best seven rebounds.

After giving up 54% shooting to the Golden Eagles in the first half, MSU held TTU to 33% in the second half. MSU also controlled the boards 33-28.

MSU's undefeated run on the road is an amazing feat and is the first in the long tradition of the 87 years of the program. The Racers also went undefeated on the road in OVC play for the first time since the 1987-88 season.

Now that the regular season is finished, the ranked Racers (12^th in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 14^th in the Associated Press poll) go into the OVC Tournament with a bye to the semifinals Friday at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

The No. 2 seed is Tennessee State. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds are Morehead State and Tennessee Tech. Both of those teams receive a single bye to Thursday's quarterfinals. The field is rounded out by No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri, No. 6 seed Austin Peay, No. 7 seed Jacksonville State and No. 8 seed Eastern Kentucky.