Racers Fall At SEMO - Still Gain Spot In OVC Tournament

Thursday, February 23

Cape Girardeau, MO.

6:30 p.m.

Murray State

14-15, 8-7OVC

Southeast Missouri

14-16, 9-6OVC

Murray State

Southeast Missouri

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Fall At SEMO - Still Gain Spot In OVC Tournament

2/23/2017 9:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers fell to the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks 82-69 at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

The loss dropped the Racers to 14-15 overall and 8-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference and out of a chance to win the West Division and the coveted No. 2 seed in next week's tournament in Nashville. The Racers did clinch a spot in the eight-team field when UT Martin defeated Austin Peay 76-72.

MSU will be playing for the best seed they can get Saturday when they close out the regular season with a game at UT Martin.

Bryce Jones led the Racers with 18 points and six assists, while Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller each scored 17 points.

The Racers hit 25-of-61 from the field for 41 percent and 8-of-26 from 3-point range for 31 percent.

First Half
The Racers led 14-9 less than five minutes into the game 14-9.

MSU's last lead of the game was after Brion Sanchious scored from the post to make it 20-19 Racers with 10:31 left in the half.

SEMO finished the half on a 16-9 run in the final 7:45 to lead the Racers 40-33 at intermission.

Miller led the Racers with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field including a pair of 3-pointers.

Jalen Dupree was the only Racer off the bench to play in the first half. He scored five points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked one shot.

Second Half
MSU cut the SEMO lead to 43-39 with 15:55 on a jumper by Stark.

MSU did make a run at the 10:40 mark when Stark's 3-pointer cut the lead to 51-46.

Game Notes
The eight-team field for the OVC Tournament has been set. However, the only seed confirmed is the No. 1 seed and that goes to regular season champ Belmont.

The Redhawks sweep the two-game season series over the Racers.

The Racers have fallen below the 500 mark and now their streak of 29 consecutive winning seasons is in jeopardy. With tonight's loss, MSU's run of 13 consecutive seasons of 10-plus OVC victories is over.

The Racers hit eight 3-pointers and have 253 this season. The MSU all-time record for made 3-pointers in a season is 263 from the 2014-15 season. Additionally, the Racers are averaging 8.72 made threes per game, well in front of the team record of 7.83 from the 2012-13 season.