Racers Set First Half Record In Rout of Bethel

Saturday, December 29

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

110

Bethel (TN)

Murray St.

110

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

12/29/2018 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

The Murray State Racers pushed their home win streak to 16 with a 110-82 win over the Bethel Wildcats Saturday at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky, and set the program record for first half scoring with 64 points.

Winners of five of their last six games, the Racers finish the non-conference portion of the season at 9-2 and open the 71st season of Ohio Valley Conference Thursday at home against Morehead State.

Against Bethel (9-3), the Racers saw all 12 players that entered the game score with Ja Morant leading the way with 23 points to go with four rebounds and 13 assists, while Tevin Brown added 18. In his first MSU start, KJ Williams scored 12 of his 16 in the first half and was 8-of-10 from the field. Darnell Cowart has back-to-back double-figure scoring games with 12 points tonight. Jaiveon Eaves was 4-of-4 from the 3-point line in the second half and gave the Racers five double-figure scorers.

MSU's record-setting first half was a thing to behold as they led Bethel 16-14 with 14:38 on the clock. Brown hit a 3-point basket and then hit Morant with a sweet alley oop that Morant turned into a reverse dunk for a 25-14 Racer lead. Brown and Morant scored again and the MSU defense locked the Wildcats down on a 19-0 run for a 33-14 at the 10:43 mark.

The Racers' 62 points sets a new program record that was set first in 1970 in a win over Illinois College in the Coach Cal Luther era and matched in Coach Mark Gottfried's first game at MSU against Berry College in 1995. MSU's first 20 minutes saw them outscore Bethel by 30 (64-34) and hit 60 percent from the field (23-of-38). MSU only allowed two offensive rebounds to the Wildcats and has 18 assists on their 23 field goals.

Game Notes
MSU's home winning streak is now 16 in a row. Their last loss at home was in December 2017 to Auburn.

MSU is 41-10 at the CFSB Center in the Coach Matt McMahon era.

The Racers are 251-44 (.000) all-time in 21 seasons at the CFSB Center.

Tevin Brown has hit a 3-point basket in his first 11 games as a Racer.

Freshman KJ Williams is finishing around the basket at a high level these days. Getting his first start at MSU tonight, he was 8-of-10 from the field and finished with 16 points. In the last six games, Williams is 22-of-30 from the field for 73 percent. He missed his first two shots tonight and then hit six in a row.

The win marks the second 100-point effort this season for the Racers and the eighth in the McMahon era. The most points scored in his MSU tenure was 118 against Brescia in 2017.

MSU's 64 points set a new first half scoring mark. The old record was 62 twice. The first was under Coach Cal Luther on Dec. 7, 1970 against Illinois College in a 113-60 win. The other was against Berry College in the season opener on Nov. 25, 1995 which was a 108-62 MSU win in the first game for Coach Mark Gottfried.

The Racers open the 71st season of OVC Basketball next week when they host Morehead State (Jan. 3) and Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 5). Both games are the second part of a doubleheader when the Racer women host the same teams with 5 p.m. tips.