Racers Claim 23rd Straight Win On Senior Day

Thursday, February 26

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

25-4 (15-0OVC)

Eastern Illinois

16-13 (9-7OVC)

Eastern Ill.

Murray St.

Photo by: Tab Brockman

2/26/2015 2:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers honored their seniors and extended the nation's second-longest win streak to 23 Thursday in a 65-57 victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

MSU's 23-game win streak ties the Ohio Valley Conference record that was set by the Racers' team in 2011-12.

The Racers (25-4) improved to 15-0 and moved to one win from becoming the first at MSU to go undefeated in the OVC play. MSU plays the regular season final Saturday at UT Martin.

Racer seniors Jonathan Fairell, T.J. Sapp and Jarvis Williams played their final regular season game at the Bank and were honored before and after the game. This senior group played 28 home games together over the last two seasons and won 21.

The Racers jumped out quickly 14-2 at the 12:30 mark on a Williams hook in the lane. After EIU cut the lead to 25-21 at 3:30, the Racers ended the half on a 9-0 run to lead 34-21. MSU had their largest lead of the night at 55-38 when Sapp hit a 3-pointer with 8:28 left. The Panthers got as close as seven with 1:04 left before the Racers closed out their record-tying win.

Cameron Payne led the Racers with 22 points to go with five assists, while Williams was one rebound from a double-double with 17 points. Sapp hit for 14 points and five assists.

Game Notes
The Racers will go for the OVC record win streak Saturday when they tip in Martin, Tenn. The 6 p.m. game will be carried live on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.

MSU's 23-game win streak ties the league and school record that the 2011-12 MSU team set when they started the season 23-0.

The Racers are also one win from becoming just the sixth team in 67 seasons of OVC basketball to go through the league season undefeated. The last to do it was Austin Peay in the 2003-04 season.

The Racers ended the home regular season 14-1 and won their last 13 straight after they lost to Houston in the season opener Nov. 14.

Head Coach Steve Prohm claimed his 100^th career win and is the fastest to 100 in MSU history. Prohm is 100-27 (.787). He broke Carlisle Cutchin's record of 100-46 set in 1932.