Williams & Air Tight Defense Equals Win At MTSU

Tuesday, November 18

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

7 p.m.

Murray State

1-1

Middle Tennessee

1-1

Murray State

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Ryan Richardson-Murray Ledger & Times

11/18/2014 6:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers scored their first win of the season Tuesday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in a 68-49 victory over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.

The Racers (1-1) and Blue Raiders (1-1) renewed a rivalry that saw them play against each other in the Ohio Valley Conference from 1952-2000. This was MSU's first trip to the Murphy Center since 2002.

Jarvis Williams had a monster night with 28 points, 11 rebounds for his 16^th career double-double in 36 games at MSU. He also added three blocked shots. He tied his career-high of 28 points.

Cameron Payne added 15 points and six assists to help the Racers to a 48 percent shooting night on 27-of -56. MSU's defense was on from the start and they ended the evening in holding MTSU to 18 percent on 12-of-66 shots.

The Racers put together a 14-4 run at the 13:13 mark of the first half when the game was tied. Justin Seymour hit a 3-pointer and Williams scored his fifth basket in five tries. Kedrick Flomo nailed a 3-pointer and Payne followed with a steal and easy layup. The Racers' then jumped to a 12-point lead at the 4:21 mark when Payne hit from long range. The Racers led 37-25 at the half.

MSU kept the pressure on MTSU at the start of the second half and had their largest lead of the game at 14:52 when Payne hit his second 3-pointer of the game. Williams had back-to-back dunks on fast breaks, the last he started with a steal and went solo for the slam, to put MSU up again by 19 at the 11:41 mark 54-35.

The Blue Raiders dug in on their home court and cut the MSU lead to nine at 56-47, but never got any closer.

Williams hit a shot and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but rebounded it and scored for the rare four-point play as MSU led 60-47 with 6:47 left.

Game Notes
The Racers and Middle Tennessee have now met twice in the last two seasons, marking their first meetings since 2002. The Racers now lead the all-time series with MTSU 103-34 and are 45-19 in Murfreesboro. MSU will host MTSU next season before coming back to the Murphy Center in 2016.

The four-point play for Williams tonight was the first for a Racer since Isaiah Canaan (2-23-13) against South Dakota State. In that instance, Canaan was fouled making a 3-pointer and made the free throw. Williams was fouled on a basket, missed the free throw, but got the rebound and scored.

Once a Racer gets to 500 points in his career, watching for his chance to get to 1,000 is always interesting. After the MTSU game, junior Jeffery Moss has 600, while sophomore Cameron Payne has 608. Senior Jarvis Williams has 543 points and is also climbing up the Racer all-time list of top two-year scorers. He's currently in 24th place, just behind Rick Jones with 548 points. Williams is also moving up the list of the best two-year rebounders at MSU. He now has 361 and is in ninth place, just behind Chuck Glass with 362.

The Racers return home to the CFSB Center Thursday when they meet the Brescia Bearcats at 7 p.m. Former Racer assistant Josh Gibson, a Murray native Murray State graduate, returns for a third straight season to coach Brescia against MSU. MSU is out on the road again (Nov. 24) when they travel to Cincinnati to face the Xavier Musketeers.