First Half Run Propels Racers Past Govs 89-67

Saturday, January 11

CFSB Center

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

9-7 (4-0,OVC)

Austin Peay

8-9 (2-1,OVC)

Austin Peay

Murray State

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/11/2014 11:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

I Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers came away with an 89-67 win Saturday over the Austin Peay Governors and pushed their Ohio Valley Conference record to 4-0 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Racers (9-7) have won four straight overall and six straight at home, while APSU (8-9) had their three-game win streak stopped.

MSU put six players in double-figure scoring for the second time this season led by Jeffery Moss' 20. Cameron Payne scored 15 points, while Jarvis Williams scored 14 and Tyler Rambo added 13. Dexter Fields and T.J. Sapp tossed in 11.

Jonathan Fairell led the Racers on the boards with 10 rebounds.

The Racers trailed the Govs 23-19 with 7:57 remaining in the first half when they exploded on an impressive run that went to the half.

Moss hit a 3-pointer with 4:50 left to give MSU a 28-25 lead and when another long range shot went down, MSU led by five with 4:03 left. Payne scored on a runner in the lane and was followed by two old-fashioned three-point plays by Rambo. The second one was assisted by Sapp and MSU led 41-28 with 1:12 left. Moss added the final points of the half and MSU led APSU 43-31 at the break. After trailing 25-21 at the 6:38 mark, the Racers ended the half on a 22-6 run.

In the second half, the MSU lead went to 16 points when Payne hit a runner down the lane, but APSU answered to cut MSU's lead to nine (52-43) with 16:56 left. It was as close as the Govs would get the rest of the game as MSU's lead was consistently in the teens the rest of the way. The MSU lead went to 85-66 on a Fields to Williams alley oop with 2:26 left. Sapp put a cap on the evening with a spinning dunk with 1:47 left.

The Racers hit the road next week for a pair of games in the Prairie State. On Thursday (Jan. 16) MSU plays at Eastern Illinois. The game will be aired locally on the Racer TV Network and online at ESPN3.com and OVCDigitalNetwork.com. MSU plays at SIU Edwardsville (Jan. 18) in a 1 p.m. tip on Fox Sports Midwest. All MSU games are heard over the air on WFGE Froggy 103.7 FM. Racer basketball can also be heard online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com.

Game Notes
The Racers are 9-7 and two games above .500 for the first time this season.

MSU has a season-long four game win streak matching their last which came between Jan. 12 and Jan. 24, 2013 with wins over APSU, Eastern Illinois, SIUE and Tennessee Tech.

MSU's home win streak at the CFSB Center is six which includes wins this season over: Evansville, Lipscomb, Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri, UT Martin and APSU. MSU's last home loss was to Middle Tennessee (Nov. 26). The Racers are back at home to host Tennessee Tech Jan. 23. They also host Jacksonville State (Jan. 25).

MSU has won six straight over the Govs after their last loss (01-08-11). The Racers lead the all-time series 76-41 and are 45-10 in Murray, Ky. Game two of their season series is in Clarksville, Tenn. (Jan. 31). The Friday night game will be aired by the CBS Sports Network.

Jonathan Fairell's 10 rebounds was just one board off his career-high at MSU when he had 11 against Bethel (Nov. 19).

MSU's improved free throw shooting continued tonight as they were 21-of-28 (.750). MSU's free throw shooting in the four conference games is now 96-of-132 (.727).

Cameron Payne's eight assists tied his career-high matching the same he had against Bethel (Nov. 19).

MSU's six players in double-figure scoring tonight are the second this season. They also did it against Lipscomb (Dec. 7) with Moss getting 14 points. MSU got 11 each from Fairell, Payne, Fields and Rambo. Williams had 10.