Racers Show Promise In 151st Meeting With WKU

Saturday, December 21

Bowling Green, Ky.

1 p.m.

Murray State

5-6

Western Kentucky

7-4

Murray State

WKU

Photo by: J.S. Robinson-WKU AMR

12/21/2013 5:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

I Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers battled the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for the 151^st time and led much of the game before losing a 71-64 decision Saturday at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky.

The Racers jumped out to a 20-8 lead less than nine minutes into the game and led by as many as 14 points before they took a 33-28 lead into half. Leading by eight (42-34) with 15:42 remaining, the Racers couldn't hold off the home standing Hilltoppers (7-4) and were outscored 37-22 the rest of the way to enter the Christmas break 5-6. The loss snapped the Racers' three-game win streak.

T.J. Sapp, playing in only his second game as a transfer from Clemson, led MSU with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting including 5-of-7 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. It was Sapp's back-to-back threes in the first half that helped the Racers to a good start.

Jarvis Williams scored a career-high at MSU with 24 points on 9-of-11 from the field and was the only other Racer in double-figure scoring along with Sapp.

Dexter Fields led the Racers on the boards and his eight rebounds, one off his career high. The senior scored eight points and had four assists.

The Racers led until the 10:35 mark when WKU's T.J. Price hit a 3-pointer. MSU answered when Cameron Payne scored his first field goal of the game at the 8:42 mark for what would be MSU's final lead of the day at 49-48. The Racers cut the WKU lead to one point on a pair of free throws from Williams with 6:06 left, but could never retake the lead.

MSU held the edge in several categories including shooting 49 percent for the game on 24-of-49 from the field. MSU held WKU to 40 percent on 26-of-65. But MSU lost its lead in rebounding as WKU had a 39-30 edge at the end. MSU managed only 55 percent from the free throw line (10-of-18) while the Hilltoppers shot 76 percent (13-of-17).

The Racers now get to spend some time with their families for Christmas. The team returns to workouts after the holiday in preparation for their trip to play the Dayton Flyers Dec. 29.

The opening of the Ohio Valley Conference season is just around the corner when the Racers host Southeast Missouri State (Jan. 2) and UT Martin (Jan. 5).