Racers Clinch Share Of OVC Title With Win At EIU

Thursday, February 22

Charleston, Ill.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

23-5, 15-2OVC

Eastern Illinois

10-18, 6-11OVC

Murray State

Eastern Illinois

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/22/2018 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers won for the 10^th straight time with a 76-66 victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers Thursday at Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois.

The win for MSU (23-5) clinched at least a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship, MSU's 25^th and first since the 2014-15 season. Doing some scoreboard watching after their win at EIU, the Racers knew they had moved past Belmont into sole first place when the Bruins were defeated at Jacksonville State about a half hour after the Racers' game went final.

The Racers finish the regular-season Saturday with a showdown at Austin Peay in another chapter of the Heritage Bank Battle of the Border.

Terrell Miller, Jr., had his 21^st double-double in his two seasons at MSU and his ninth this season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Ja Morant flirted again with a triple-double with 15 points to go with nine rebounds and nine assists. Shaq Buchanan scored 15 points and had nine rebounds.

Leading 44-36 at the half, the Racers hit EIU with a 10-2 run which included a Buchanan dunk and 3-pointers from Miller and Stark for a 56-40 lead with 13:25 remaining. When EIU cut the lead to seven with 3:26 left, the Racers responded with a 6-0 run to get the lead back to 72-60 with 1:50 left.

In the first half, EIU had its last lead of the game at 20-19 at the 12:13 mark. MSU ended the half on a 10-5 run with 3-pointers from Miller and Morant and a dunk by Byron Hawkins.

The Racers held EIU to 39 percent shooting for the game on 24-of-61, while they hit 49 percent on 26-of-58. The Racers won the rebound battle 39-35.

Game Notes
The Racers have secured at least a share of their 25^th OVC regular-season championship, their first since the Cameron Payne-led team of 2014-15 that ran the table and went 16-0. MSU has won five of the last nine OVC titles. Since UT Martin won it in the 2008-09 season, the last nine years have only featured the Racers or Belmont as champions. Additionally, the Racers have won their last five road games.

Head Coach Matt McMahon is the ninth-straight MSU coach to win the OVC regular-season championship. It all started in the 1979-80 season for Coach Ron Greene and it continued through Steve Newton, Scott Edgar, Mark Gottfried, Tevester Anderson, Mick Cronin, Billy Kennedy, Steve Prohm and now McMahon.

McMahon is now 5-2 against EIU and 56-36 overall in his third season at Murray State. He's 33-16 in OVC play.

Murray State's 10-game win streak is among the longest in NCAA D-I. Michigan State and Grambling have each won 11 in a row, while the Racers, College of Charleston and Rider have won 10 straight. It's MSU's longest win streak since they won an OVC record 25 in a row in the 2014-15 season.

With his 15 points tonight, Jonathan Stark is closing on becoming the all-time two-year scorer at Murray State. The great De'Teri Mayes (1996-98) has 1,340 points and now Stark sits at 1,322.

With a 3-of-8 night at EIU, Stark now has 99 3-point baskets. Last season, he set the MSU single-season record with 108.

Terrell Miller is closing on becoming a member of the MSU 1000-Point Club. With 20 points tonight, Miller has 948 heading into the game at APSU Saturday.

After having just the second triple-double in MSU history (in records that date back to 1984) on Dec. 28 at home against EIU, Ja Morant nearly got another one tonight against the Panthers. He finished the day with 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

The Racers are 46-11 all-time against EIU and are now 18-7 at Lantz Arena.