Racers Roll At EKU 77-64

Wednesday, January 8

Richmond, Ky.

6 p.m.

Murray State

8-7 (3-0OVC)

Eastern Kentucky

10-6 (1-2OVC)

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky University

Photo by: Austin Ramsey-Ledger & Times

1/8/2014 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

I Box Score I Coach Prohm Post Game

The Murray State Racers won their third straight to start the Ohio Valley Conference season Wednesday in a 77-64 victory over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky.

The Racers' first road win of the season matched a season-best three-game win streak and pushed their overall mark to 8-7.

Jarvis Williams recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He was 9-of-9 from the field to help the Racers to a 51 percent shooting clip for the game.

Cameron Payne also added 19 points to the MSU attack, but also assisted five times, had seven rebounds, plus three blocked shots and steals.

Dexter Fields scored nine of his 15 points in the first few minutes of the game as the Racers broke from the gate 14-3 only 3:15 into the game.

After EKU rallied to tie it 19-19, T.J. Sapp scored five points and assisted on a fast break finish for Fields. The Racers went ahead 28-21 when Williams dunked on a fast break at the 6:22 mark.

MSU ended the half on a 10-2 run to grab a 38-29 lead.

MSU's lead bulged to 14 when Jonathan Fairell scored at the 15:43 mark of the second half. Williams scored his ninth field goal with 4:45 remaining and the Racers were able to hold off a late EKU challenge that got them as close as 10 points with 1:08 to go.

The Racers dominated the boards as Williams grabbed 11 and Fairell and Payne seven each. Tyler Rambo added six rebounds off the MSU bench. MSU is 7-0 this season when they win the rebound battle and are 37-5 in the Coach Steve Prohm era.

MSU defended Glenn Cosey well and held the EKU leading scorer 15 points under his average on 2-of-13 from the field and 1-of-7 in 3-point shooting.

The Racers now return home for a Saturday women's/men's doubleheader with Austin Peay. Tip time at the CFSB Center is set for 5:15 p.m. for the women and 7:30 p.m. for the men. The Murray State ticket hotline is 270-809-3000. Office hours for tickets at the CFSB Center are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Every MSU game is heard over the air on WFGE Froggy 103.7 FM and online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com. Online streaming video is available at no charge at OVCDigitalNetwork.com.

Game Notes
Jarvis Williams recorded his seventh double-double game of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He ranked 23^rd in the nation in this category as the night started and was eighth in the nation with a 10.9 per game rebound average. His 9-of-9 night from the field was the best for MSU since Ivan Aska was 9-of-9 against Mo.-St. Louis (11-14-09). Jarvis just missed tying the school record of 10-of-10 that was accomplished twice by James Singleton (2-27-03) and Cuthbert Victor (1-30-01). Both games were against Tennessee State.

The Racers have won the rebound stat in all three of their OVC games by a combined 122-83.

MSU never trailed in the game. It was tied twice at 19 and 21.

The Racers have won back-to-back games against EKU and they've won five straight at McBrayer arena. MSU's last loss at EKU was in 2008. MSU leads the all-time series with EKU 96-60 and are 36-34 at EKU.

Since the OVC is now using a divisional format, the two are not scheduled to meet again this season unless in post-season play. EKU is in the OVC East Division and MSU in the OVC West Division. Next season EKU will play in Murray, Ky.

The Racers' three-game win streak with wins over SE Missouri, UT Martin and EKU matches their earlier streak this season when they defeated Evansville, Lipscomb and Southern Illinois.

MSU's road win at EKU snapped a six-game losing streak this season away from home and was their first since win since a double overtime victory last season at Morehead State (2-20-13).