Late Canaan Three Lifts Murray State Over Belmont 79-74

Thursday, February 7

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

17-5, 8-2OVC

Belmont

19-5, 10-1OVC

Team	1	2	F
Belmont	26	48	74
Murray State	36	43	79

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Late Canaan Three Lifts Murray State Over Belmont 79-74

2/7/2013 8:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score I Box Score(PDF)

The Murray State Racers won for the fourth straight time at home Thursday in a 79-74 victory over the Belmont Bruins at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Racers (17-5) improved their mark in the Ohio Valley Conference to 8-2, while handing the Bruins (19-5, 10-1) their first league loss.

Senior guard Isaiah Canaan led the way with 26 points including the go-ahead three-point basket when the game was tied at 74-74 with 33.9 seconds left. Canaan got to the free throw line 17 times on the night and made 15, both career highs.

The Racer attack also got 16 points from Stacy Wilson and 13 from Brandon Garrett as Ed Daniel had a game-high 10 rebounds. Canaan and Daniel combined for 10 of MSU's 15 assists in the game.

As the clock dipped under the five-minute mark, the Racers had the game comfortably in hand leading 67-53, but the Bruins mounted a rally.

With 2:31 left, Belmont's Trevor Noack hit a three and after the Racers turned it over on the press, Ian Clark hit a three and suddenly the MSU lead was down to 70-66. MSU led by six again on two Canaan free throws with 1:23 left, but BU's Clark hit another three and after a MSU turnover on the press, Clark tied it with a three at 74-74 with 57 seconds remaining. After Canaan's go-ahead three, the Racers held Belmont the rest of the way for the win.

The Racers won the battle of the boards 32-26, while forcing 12 turnovers and only giving it back eight times.

In the first half, MSU used a 9-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 14-8 at the 14:05 mark when Wilson, Canaan and Garrett scored after a pair of steals and a defensive stop. MSU pushed their lead to 32-18 with 4:21 before half when Daniel and Garrett scored down low and Wilson hit a pair of threes that were assisted by Canaan and Daniel. MSU led 36-26 at the half.

Game Notes
The Racers have now won four straight at home since their last loss which was to EKU (Jan. 9).

A season-high 7,141 fans watched the game tonight at the CFSB Center.

MSU is 8-2 this season at home and 23-3 (.884) in the Steve Prohm era. MSU is 180-30 (.857) all-time in their 15^th season in the CFSB Center and 109-20 (.844) in OVC games.

The game today was Belmont's first visit to Murray, Ky. since 1997. MSU leads the all-time series with the Bruins 5-1.

MSU's Isaiah Canaan extended his school record streak of making at least one three-point basket to 30 games by going 3-of-7 tonight.

Canaan's 26 points tonight gives him 1,841 for his MSU career as he closes in on becoming the sixth member of the MSU 2000-Point Club and the 17^th player to do so in the OVC.

The Racers now get ready for a hot Tennessee State team that comes into the CFSB Center Saturday at 7 p.m. The Tigers moved their records this season to 14-10 and 8-3 in the OVC with an 88-82 overtime win at Austin Peay.

Online streaming video will be seen on the OVC Digital Network. Racer Radio originates over the air from WFGE 103.7 FM and streaming audio can be found at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com.