Big Shots Help Racers To Win Over UTM

Saturday, January 31

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

19-4 (9-0OVC)

UT Martin

13-8 (5-3OVC)

UT Martin

Murray St.

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/31/2015 7:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers won for a 17^th straight time and Cameron Payne eclipsed the 1,000-point mark Saturday in a 65-62 victory over the UT Martin Skyhawks at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

With the game tied 60-60, T.J. Sapp hit a corner 3-pointer for the lead with 44 seconds remaining. After a rebound and score by UTM at 32 seconds to make it a 63-62 MSU lead, the Racers overcame a turnover and held the Skyhawks out of the basket when Payne made a block with four seconds left. Jeffery Moss was fouled and sank a pair of free throws to seal the win.

The Racers improved to 19-4 and 9-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while UTM fell to 13-8 and 5-3.

UTM led early 13-12 when MSU took the lead at the 11:30 mark. The lead went to 11 at the half when Tyler Rambo tipped in a shot that just beat the buzzer.
MSU carried the lead until there was 5:12 left when UTM inched in front 57-56, which set up the thrilling finish as the Racers won for the 10^th straight time at home.

Sapp led MSU with 20 points for his sixth career 20+ game at MSU. Payne became the 41^st member of the MSU 1000-Point Club when he hit a 3-pointer at the 14:08 mark of the first half and finished with 16 points to go with seven assists. Jarvis Williams grabbed 11 rebounds for his 25^th career game of 10+.
With Virginia's loss today to Duke, Kentucky has the nation's longest win streak with their 21-0 start after a win over Alabama. The Racers and Stephen F.
Austin each have the second longest streak with 17 wins in a row.

The Racers' three-game home stand ends Thursday when they host the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in a 7 p.m. tip.

Game Notes
With the win, the Racers have won 10 straight at home since the season-opening loss to Houston (Nov. 14). MSU is 50-7 at the CFSB Center in the Coach Steve Prohm Era.

Prohm is closing on becoming the fastest to 100 wins in MSU history, now with a 94-27 record.

Payne zoomed past the 1,000 point mark with a 3-pointer early in the first half and became the second-fastest in MSU history in records that date back to the 1981-82 season. De'Teri Mayes (1998) did it in 48 games. Payne bested the 60 games by all-time scorer Jeff Martin (1987) and the 62 games by Lamont Sleets (1983). Payne is the first Racer to reach 1,000 since Isaiah Canaan in 2012. Canaan, who is now with the Houston Rockets, took 74 games to reach 1,000.

Tyler Rambo came off the bench and sparked the Racers to the win. The junior had an impressive stat line that reads: 18 minutes, four points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.

The Racers have won seven straight games in the rebounding stat and won tonight over UTM 38-33. MSU is 60-7 in the Prohm era when winning the rebound battle.

The Racers lead the all-time series with UTM 44-4 and are 24-1 at home. MSU plays the regular season finale at UTM on Feb. 28.
Williams is second all-time among two-year MSU players in rebounding with 533. James Singleton (2001-03) leads with 632. In career rebounds, Williams is in 28^th place and will soon overtake Ricky Hood (1981-83) at 544.

The Racers went 9-0 in January for only the fourth undefeated record in the last 37 seasons. The other two occurred in 2009-10 (10-0) and 2011-12 (7-0). The other came in 1998-99 under Coach Mark Gottfried (10-0).