Racers Drop Heartbreaker in OVC Title Game

Saturday, March 9

Nashville, TN

6 p.m.

Murray State

21-10

Belmont

26-6

OT 1

Murray State

Belmont

Photo by: Tab Brockman

3/9/2013 9:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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The Murray State Racers lost two late leads in a 70-68 overtime loss Saturday to the Belmont Bruins in the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

The loss snapped MSU's five=game win streak in OVC title games with their first loss since 2000 and the Racers fell to 15-10 all-time.

Isaiah Canaan and Stacy Wilson were each named to the OVC All-Tournament team. Canaan had his first double-double at MSU with 22 points and 10 assists. His nine rebounds meant he was just one board from a triple-double. Wilson tied his career-high of 23 points to go with five rebounds.

Leading 62-58 after a pair of Jeffery Moss free throws with 47.8 seconds left in regulation, the Racers (21-10) missed free throws in the final seconds giving the Bruins a chance to tie the game. Keron Johnson's runner with 9.2 seconds remaining tied the game at 62-62. A long review ensued to determine how much time should be on the clock and where the Racers should inbound the ball, MSU eventually was made to take the ball in the back-court and with 6.2 seconds left. Latreze Mushatt tried a three-pointer at the buzzer which was no good sending the game into overtime.

In the overtime, MSU again led the game 68-66 with a pair of Canaan free throws and a runner in the lane by Wilson with 1:01 left. Belmont (26-6) tied it with 46.8 left on a pair of free throws and when MSU turned it over with 25.1 left, the Bruins played for the last shot. Johnson hit a runner with 1.2 left and when the Racers couldn't get a shot off, their try at a second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament was over.

The Racers made quite the rally in the second half when they trailed 26-21 with 19:00 left in the game, the Racers responded with another of their big runs that they had in the semifinal win over Eastern Kentucky. After a Wilson three, Canaan made a pair of free throws that was followed by two MSU steals converted into points by Ed Daniel. When the dust cleared, MSU had a 14-2 run over a period of 4:21 to 35-28 lead. After a Bruins miss, Canaan made a three-point play and MSU led by their largest margin of the game at 38-28 with 15:29 remaining.

BU came back with 10-0 run to tie the game 38-28 with 12:07 left, but MSU returned the run on a four-point play by Canaan for a 45-41 lead with 9:53 left.

With 5:20 remaining, MSU went ahead 55-49 on a three-point basket by Wilson. He hit another three that came at the shot clock buzzer by to put MSU in front 58-51 at the 3:10 mark.

The Racers made 13-of-16 from the field in the second half for 81 percent and they were 7-of-10 from three-point range in the second half.

In the first half, there were no free throw attempts until there was 4:20 left. MSU did not go to the line in the first half. The Racers didn't allow an offensive rebound to Belmont in the first half. MSU won the rebound battle 33-23.

Wilson tied his career high with 23 points, the same he had in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic (Nov. 16) against St. John's.

The game marked the third time this season that the Racers played an overtime game. MSU beat Austin Peay at home (Feb. 2) 75-68 and won at Morehead State (Feb. 20) 106-100. It's the first time since the 2006-07 season that MSU played three overtime games in the same season.