Racers Suffer First OVC Setback In Road Loss At TTU

Saturday, January 7

Cookeville, Tenn.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

8-9, 2-1

Tennessee Tech

7-11, 3-0

Murray State

Tennessee Tech

Photo by: Tab Brockman

1/7/2017 11:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State suffered a 71-67 loss on the road to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, at the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn.

The Racers (8-9) took their first loss in the Ohio Valley Conference a fell to 2-1 in league play. Tech (7-11) is 3-0 in the OVC.

Jonathan Stark led MSU with 21 points and seven assists, while Terrell Miller, Jr., had his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Bryce Jones added 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range.

In the first half, MSU dug in on defense after they trailed 16-4 and pumped out a 23-6 run, while holding TTU to only two field goals in a 6:15 span.

Tech held a 29-28 lead at the intermission.

The Racers had the ball to start the second half when Miller hit a 3-pointer for a 31-29 lead, MSU's first lead since scoring the first basket of the game. MSU had a 7-2 run to build a 35-30 lead with 17:52 remaining.

TTU made a 12-7 run to take the lead back from the Racers 57-56 with 12:17 left. The Racers never got the lead back.

Miller made a pair of free throws with 17-seconds remaining to make it a 67-65 TTU lead, but the Golden Eagles hit four-straight free throws to seal the game.

The Racers never got going on offense and ended the game 22-of-62 from the field for 35 percent, including a 26 percent clip from the 3-point line on 8-of-31.

Game Notes
The loss marked MSU's first at TTU since 2009 and it snapped a five-game win streak at the Eblen Center.

McGhee's nine rebounds was a season-high, besting the seven he had at Southern Illinois (Nov. 29).

Miller's 13 rebounds was a career-high, topping the 11 he had against Wright State on Dec. 22.

Stark hit one 3-pointer today and has hit one in all 17 MSU games this season.

MSU lost the turnover stat for the first time since a 12-11 day at Ole Miss (Dec. 15). Today they committed 13 and TTU had 12.

The Racers continue their four-game road swing next week with a trip north to Eastern Illinois Thursday and then Saturday (Jan. 14) at SIUE. The EIU game airs on OVCDigitalNetwork.com and Fox Sports Midwest will air the SIUE game. All MSU games can be heard on Froggy 103 (WFGE 103.7 FM). Online streaming audio provided by Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com.