High Seed Slips From Racers' Grasp At EIU

Thursday, February 25

Charleston, Ill.

8:30 p.m.

Murray State

15-13, 9-6OVC

Eastern Illinois

13-16, 9-7OVC

Murray State

Eastern Illinois

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/25/2016 11:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Murray State Racers dropped an 83-74 defeat to the Eastern Illinois Panthers Thursday at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill.

The Racers fell to 15-13 overall and 9-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The loss knocked the Racers out of the running for the OVC West division title and the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tournament in Nashville. The best the MSU can do now is a No. 5 seed and a game in the opening round of the event. MSU's seed will be determined at the CFSB Center Saturday on Senior Day against UT Martin.

Damarcus Croaker scored a career-high 26 points including the first 16 points of the game for MSU. Bryce Jones added 14 points, while Jeffery Moss scored 12 points with 10 coming in the second half.

Croaker's amazing start kept MSU in the game, but they trailed 18-17 with 11:00 before the half.

MSU was down by four points with 2:00 before the intermission, when the Panthers went on a 10-2 run to grab a 44-32 lead at the break.

In the second half, MSU started with a 24-16 run to cut the EIU lead to four with 9:58 left, but that was as close as they could get.

For the game, MSU shot 43 percent (25-of-48), while EIU hit 58 percent (29-of-50).

Both Racer teams will enjoy honoring their seniors one last time Saturday. The women's/men's doubleheader has tip times of 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Both teams will honor their senior student-athletes on their final regular season home game. The women's team includes: Bianca Babic, Kyra Gulledge, Jashae Lee and Ajee Smith. The men will honor Terron Gilmore, Wayne Langston and Jeffery Moss.

The day is also a chance for Racer fans to pay their respects to Racer great Bennie Purcell who died (Feb. 12) at the age of 86. The Burton Family Hall of Champions at the CFSB Center will be open from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for fans to see Bennie's sons, Mel and Del. Coming through the Hall of Champions, fans can see some of Purcell's memorabilia that he allowed to displayed.