Racers Move To 8-1 OVC With 96-88 Win At APSU

Friday, January 31

Clarksville, Tenn.

8 p.m.

Murray State

13-8 (8-1OVC)

Austin Peay

9-13 (3-5OVC)

Murray State

Austin Peay

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/31/2014 7:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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The Murray State Racers came away with a 96-88 win over the Austin Peay Governors Friday at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn.

The Racers (13-8) pushed their mark in the Ohio Valley Conference to 8-1 as they won their seventh straight in the series with the Govs.

Jarvis Williams recorded his ninth double-double of the season on a career-high 28 points to go with 14 rebounds. Williams was 12-of-16 from the field. MSU also got a career-high 12 assists from Cameron Payne and 12 points which was his first MSU double-double. Dexter Fields had his best game this season from 3-point range hitting four straight in the first half and 5-of-7 for the game to finish with 17 points. T.J. Sapp came off the bench to score 15 points, while Jeffery Moss added 14 to make five Racers in double-figure scoring.

Leading 45-37 coming out halftime, the Racers had to work hard to stop an APSU charge when the Govs took their first lead of the day 61-60 with 12:43 remaining. The Govs largest lead of the game was 69-66 when Sapp hit a 3-point basket to tie it up 69-69 at 10:00. MSU trailed for the final time by two points with 5:13 left and took the lead for good 81-80 on a banked in 3-pointer from Sapp with 4:57 left.

APSU cut the lead to 87-86 with 2:26 left, but the Racers managed to make some big plays in the final frantic push.

Sapp hit his third three of the game for a 90-86 lead at 1:10 and when Jonathan Fairell grabbed a rebound off an APSU miss, the resulting fast break was completed by Moss for a 92-86 lead with 20 seconds left.

Payne made four straight free throws to seal the win.

In the first half, the Racers jumped out quickly on a pair of fast break baskets by Williams and Moss, both assisted by Payne and MSU led 18-7 at the 12:35 mark.

Starting at the 7:30 mark, Fields got hot from long range and hit four straight 3-point shots and MSU led the Govs 41-24 with 4:47 remaining.

The Racers battled foul trouble in the first half and APSU played some catch up at the free throw line to cut the MSU lead to 45-37 at half.

The Racers had four players (Fairell, Moss, Payne and Sapp) with four fouls when the game ended. MSU went to the line 17 times, but only managed eight makes, while APSU was 21-of-31.

MSU won the battle of boards 45-32 and hauled in 17 from the offensive glass. Williams' 14 rebounds was his 12^th double-digit game of the season and MSU's ninth straight from either Williams or Fairell who had seven boards tonight.

The Racers' three game road swing continues next week when they play two games in Nashville. Thursday MSU takes on Belmont at the Curb Events Center in an 8 p.m. tip on ESPNU. Saturday (Feb. 8), MSU plays at Tennessee State in a 7:30 p.m. game on the Racer TV Network. All MSU games are heard over the air on WFGE 103.7 FM and free online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com.

Game Notes
Payne had a career-high 12 assists and the first Racer to top 10 assists since B.J. Jenkins had 10 against Western Kentucky on 12-18-10. Chad Townsend has MSU's single game record of 16 against Eastern Ill., 02-20-1997. The last Racer to get 12 assists in a game was Aubrey Reese against Eastern Kentucky on 2-2-1999.

The Racers have won five straight at APSU and seven straight overall in the series. MSU has evened their mark at APSU 27-27 and lead the overall series 78-41.

The Racers have won 8-of-9 in OVC play after going 5-7 in a tough pre-conference season that included games against the likes of: Saint Mary's, Dayton, Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky.