Racers Look For Needed Momentum At TSU

Thursday, January 6

CFSB Center

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee State

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Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/15/2016 3:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Murray State Notes I Tennessee State Notes I Live Audio I Live Stats I OVCDN

Murray State Racers (8-9, 2-2 OVC) at Tennessee State (13-4, 4-0 OVC)

Date-Time: Jan. 17 - 7:30 p.m. CT Site: Nashville, Tenn. Arena: Gentry Center
TV: None Radio: Racer Radio - WFGE 103.7 FM Neal Bradley & Kenny Roth
Web Streaming: Audio: GoRacers.com & Froggy103.com Video: OVCDN
Live Stats: TSUTigers.com
Twitter In Game: @RacersHoops @RacerDave23

Series
Overall: Racers lead 51-16 Home: Racers lead 28-6 Away: Racers lead 22-7
Neutral: Tigers lead 3-1 OVC: Racers lead 45-15 OVC Tournament: Racers lead 6-3
Last Meeting: 2015 Racers Away Won 73-67
First Meeting: 1983, Racers won home 65-68 OT

Next
Racers: Jan. 21 home vs SIUE
Tigers: Jan. 23 away vs Belmont

The Murray State Racers' first road trip of the Ohio Valley Conference continues Saturday at Tennessee State. The 7:30 p.m. tip from the Gentry Center will be the 68th all-time meeting between the Racers and Tigers.

All Murray State games are heard over free radio on WFGE Froggy 103.7 FM and online at Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com. Neal Bradley is in his 25th season as the Voice of the Racers. Former MSU assistant coach Kenny Roth provides analysis and commentary. The game is also available on free online video at OVCDigital.com.

The Racers are coming off an 81-73 defeat Thursday at Belmont. MSU fell to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Bryce Jones led the Racers with 20 points, while Gee McGhee scores 17 with Damarcus Croaker adding 10.
Trailing 39-38 at half, the Racers started the second half with 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. The Racers never recovered.

The loss snapped MSU's eight-game OVC road winning streak. Their last loss was at SEMO in the final regular-season game in 2014. MSU also had won eight-straight OVC road openers since losing at Eastern Kentucky in 2007.

The Racers and Tigers meet for the 30th time at the Gentry Center. The Racers are 22-7 at TSU all-time and have won four straight since their last loss there in 2008. Overall, the Racers have won five in a row in the series since 2012.

TSU is off to a hot start under second-year head coach Dana Ford. Joining Racer Coach Matt McMahon as one of the youngest coaches in NCAA D-I, Ford has quickly turned the Tigers into a threat to win the OVC championship. At 13-4, TSU enjoyed a seven-game win streak in the pre-conference season and are now off to a 4-0 start in the OVC. The Tigers started with road wins at SEMO (72-66) and Eastern Illinois (66-61) before beating SIUE at home 72-66. Thursday, TSU outscored Austin Peay at home by seven points in each half to earn a 66-52 win.

With 1,166 career points, Jeffery Moss is close to becoming the 28th MSU player to reach 1,200 points. earlier this season, Moss became the 43rd Racer to join the MSU 1000-Point Club. The TSU game will be his 116th career game and his 87th career start.

After the game at TSU, the Racers are back at home next week for home games against Eastern Illinois (Jan. 21) and SIUE (Jan. 23).