Senior Day Memory - Racers Send Fields Out A Winner - Murray State University Athletics

Saturday, February 22

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

17-9 (12-2,OVC)

Morehead State

19-10 (10-4OVC)

Morehead St.

Murray St.

Photo by: Tab Brockman

Senior Day Memory - Racers Send Fields Out A Winner

2/22/2014 10:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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The Murray State Racers sent senior Dexter Fields out a winner Saturday with a 69-58 victory over the Morehead State Eagles in front of 5,856 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

Fields, MSU's only senior this season, was honored before and after the game as the Racers put a close on the 2013-14 home season with their 11^th straight win on their home court. MSU finished 13-1 at home this season with their only loss coming to Middle Tennessee back on Nov. 26.

The Racers (17-9, 12-2 OVC) turned in what was one of their best defensive halves of the season when they held the Eagles (19-10, 10-4 OVC) to 36 percent shooting (9-of-25) in the first half including 2-of-10 from 3-point range.

MSU took a 10-point lead with 6:13 before half and turned it into a 21-point cushion at the 2:42 mark. MSU led 40-23 at the half and tied their best defensive number in a first half this season. MSU also held Tennessee Tech to 23 points Jan. 23.

The Eagles came out of the locker room and made a serious run at the Racers and got as close as nine (44-35) with 17:05 remaining. The Racers pushed their lead to the largest margin of the game at the 7:49 mark when it was 63-39. The Racers held the Eagles off and brought home their 17^th win of the season.

Cameron Payne had a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He had 18 in the first half making 7-of-11. Jeffery Moss scored 15 points and was 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Jarvis Williams tossed in 13 points and Fields added 10 points to the Racer attack. Jonathan Fairell has his seventh 10+ rebound game with 11.

Free throw shooting at times has been a struggle for the Racers, but not tonight as they were 15-of-18 for a season-best 83 percent. The Eagles only made it to the line five times and made four.

MSU shot 51 percent on the evening on 24-of-47 shots and they were 6-of-19 from 3-point range. The Eagles finished 42 percent from the field (25-of-59) and they were 4-of-21 from 3-point range.

The Racers end the home season, but there are still big games to be played.

Next week MSU plays at UT Martin (Feb. 27) and Southeast Missouri State (March 1) to end the regular season. Both games will be aired on the Racer TV Network and ESPN3.com. The tip time Thursday at UTM is 7 p.m. and the game at SEMO is a 5:30 p.m. start. The local cable systems of Time Warner, Mediacom and Murray Electric will carry the games. All MSU games are over the air on Froggy 103.7 FM and online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com

Game Notes
With the win, MSU pulls into a tie for the OVC Championship with Belmont as both teams are 12-2. The Bruins also finish the season next week away from home with games at SIUE and Jacksonville State.

The Racers will start the 2014-15 season with an 11-game home win streak as a result of the win tonight. MSU finished the season 13-1 at the CFSB Center with their only loss coming to Middle Tenn. (Nov. 26). MSU was 7-0 in OVC play marking their first undefeated home conference run since the 2009-10 team went 9-0. The Racers were 5-1 at home in non-conference games.

MSU has won nine straight at home against Morehead State since the last Eagles win here in 2003. MSU leads the all-time series 106-47 and 59-14 in Murray.

The Racers led at half tonight and are 16-3 this season when leading at the half. MSU has a streak of nine straight games in which they've either had the lead or were tied at the half. The last time MSU trailed at half was at EIU on Jan. 16.

MSU is 35-6 at home in the Steve Prohm era.

The Racers will be trying to sweep the season series from UTM and SEMO. MSU defeated UTM (Jan. 5) at home 91-77 after they had opened the OVC season (Jan. 2) with a home win over SEMO 82-75. MSU has won the last three times at UTM and the last two at SEMO.