Jonathan Fairell's 17 Points Helps MSU Win At TSU

Saturday, February 8

Nashville, Tenn.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

14-9 (9-2OVC)

Tennessee State

3-23 (2-10OVC)

Murray State

Tennessee State

Photo by: Tab Brockman

2/8/2014 4:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

I Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers built a 13-point lead and held on for a 73-65 win over the Tennessee State Tigers Saturday at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The win pushed the Racers to 14-9 overall and 9-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers lead the OVC West Division ahead of second place SIUE at 6-5.

Jonathan Fairell scored a career-high 17 points hitting 8-of-9 from the field to go with seven rebounds.

Jarvis Williams and Cameron Payne each added 16 points. Williams recorded his 11^th double-double of the season while Payne led the Racers with six assists.

The Racers hit 3-pointers from Payne and Jeffery Moss for a 9-3 run and a 25-16 lead with 8:25 remaining in the first half. When T.J. Sapp made a 3-pointer and Moss finished a fast break, the Racers were up by 13 at the 3:28 mark. But TSU chipped away and MSU's lead at the half was 37-28.

Fairell scored the Racers' first six points in the second half and Payne added a 3-pointer to keep MSU in front by nine points with 15:42 left. MSU's lead went to 13 again (60-47) with 8:20 remaining. MSU survived an offensive slowdown but still led by eight with 1:51 left on a Fairell fast break dunk. The Racers salted away the remaining time for the 73-65 final.

The Racers went 2-1 on their three-game road swing with wins at Austin Peay and TSU, sandwiched around a loss at Belmont. MSU now gets three straight home games starting with SIUE Thursday at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. on Racer Radio on Froggy 103.7 FM and online at GoRacers.com and Froggy103.com. The OVC Digital Network will provide online streaming video. MSU carries an eight-game home win streak into the Thursday game.

Game Notes
The Racers now lead the all-time series with TSU 50-16 and 22-7 on the road. MSU has won four in a row both overall and at TSU.

MSU is 9-2 in the OVC West ahead of SIUE (6-5) who beat UT Martin today at home 84-78. The Racers lost the first meeting (Jan. 18) with Cougars on their home court 67-60.

Jonathan Fairell set a career-high with 17 points, besting the 12 points he had at home against Bethel (Nov. 19).

Jarvis Williams had his 11^th double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. He leads the OVC in this category and ranks among the top-20 players in the nation.