Fairell's Shot Lifts Racers At Evansville

Saturday, December 13

Evansville, IN

1:05 p.m.

Murray State

6-4

Evansville

7-2

Murray State

Evansville

Photo by: Murray State Sports Information

12/13/2014 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

I Box Score (PDF)

Jonathan Fairell hit a shot in the lane with 2.3 seconds left to lift the Murray State Racers to an 81-79 victory over the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The Racers' sixth straight win over Evansville pushed their current win streak to four as they improved to 6-4 this season.

Cameron Payne rode a 20-point first half and finished the day with 32 points and the Racers also got 15 points from T.J. Sapp and 10 from Justin Seymour.
With the game tied 79-79 with :36 seconds left, the Racers had the ball and the opportunity to win the game or go into overtime. Paynes' jumper rimmed out with 2.3 left and UE had their chance. But the Aces ran the home run play and the pass went out of bounds on the other end of the court. Since nobody touched the ball, no time ran off the clock and the Racers got the ball back under their own basket. Jeffery Moss hit Fairell in the paint and the senior hit a layup with 1.1 showing on the clock to give the Racers' a two-point lead. UE's long pass was intercepted near mid-court by Payne and MSU had an 81-79 win on the road.

MSU had fallen behind by a point with 8:18 remaining when Justin Seymour sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around one from Payne to take a 70-63 lead at the 6:50 mark.

The first half was tight as well. MSU got a pair of early 3-pointers from Sapp to make it a 10-10 game less than six minutes in. Payne got hot at the 2;14 mark of the half when he hit a pair of threes for a 20-point first half. MSU lead UE 42-38 at the break.

MSU had their third straight good shooting game in hitting 27-of-54 from the field for 50 percent. They were 58 percent from 3-point range on 11-of-19.
Fairell ended the game with the winning shot, but he also was big on the boards for MSU with nine rebounds, eight on the offensive glass.

Game Notes
MSU has won four straight games since a loss in Nashville (Nov. 29) to Valparaiso.

MSU has won six straight over the Aces dating back to their last loss to UE in 1991. Since then, MSU has wins over UE in 1992, 2002, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. MSU leads the all-time series with UE 25-10 and are 11-7 in road games.

Payne's 32 points is his career high, topping the 29 he had at Belmont last February. He is the first Racer to score 30 since Jeffery Moss had 31 at home against Tennessee Tech last January. Payne also had a season-high eight assists.
Fairell set a new career high with four steals.

MSU began the day ranked 17^th in the nation with 9.7 steals. Today MSU had eight steals and forced 19 turnovers.

The Racers have hit 11 3-pointers in each the last three games. During this run of long range shooting against Bethel, Western Kentucky and Evansville, MSU is 33-of-54 for 61 percent.

The Racers come home for a pair of games next week at the CFSB Center when they host Alcorn State Wednesday in a solo 7 p.m. tip. Saturday (Dec. 20) MSU has a women's and men's doubleheader with Jacksonville visiting the arena for a 1 p.m. game. The second game is a 3 p.m. tip between the Racers and Illinois State.

MSU Athletics is offering a great deal for next week's games and the Dec. 30 game with Alabama State. The Stocking Stuffer deal is one general admission ticket to all three games for only $15. The ticket off can be reached at (270) 809-3000.