Racers Second Half Run Stalls At Belmont

Thursday, January 14

Nashville, Tenn.

8 p.m.

Murray State

8-9, 2-2OVC

Belmont

12-6, 4-0OVC

Murray St.

Belmont

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/14/2016 7:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers dropped an 81-73 decision Thursday to the Belmont Bruins at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The Racers fell to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Bryce Jones led the Racers with 20 points, while Gee McGhee scored 17 with Damarcus Croaker adding 10.

The Racers return to the court Saturday at Tennessee State. The game at the Gentry Center in Nashville begins at 7:30 p.m.

Early on, the Racers got a pair of 3-point shots from Croaker and McGhee and trailed 10-9.

At the 4:40 mark of the half, the Bruins had their largest lead of the day at 34-24. The Racers responded with a Justin Seymour jumper and the first field goal of the game for Jeffery Moss and Wayne Langston. McGhee hit a 3-point shot and MSU trailed 35-34 with 2:20 left.

The Racers had the last shot of the half and Jones hit a basket running down the lane to cut Belmont's lead to 39-38 at intermission.

MSU started the second half with a pair of threes from Croaker and McGhee as part of a 15-6 run to get their biggest lead of the night at 53-45 with 15:51 remaining.

But from there, it was a Belmont 16-0 run that gave them a 61-53 lead with 8:44 left and the Racers never recovered.