Record Crowd Watches Racers Fall To Belmont

Thursday, January 24

CFSB Center

8 p.m.

Murray State

Belmont

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

1/24/2019 10:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers saw their seven-game win streak and run of 17 consecutive wins in the Ohio Valley Conference come to an end Thursday in a 79-66 defeat to the Belmont Bruins. A record crowd of 8,969 in the 21 seasons of the CFSB Center watched it in Murray, Kentucky.

Ja Morant led the way for the Racers with 20 points, but had a rough night in going 5-of-19 from the field and he finished one assist from a double-double. Darnell Cowart scored 14 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in 24 minutes. MSU's other double-digit scorers were Tevin Brown and Shaq Buchanan who each tallied 11 points.

In the first half, the Racers hit quick with a pair of 3-point baskets from Morant and Buchanan for a 6-2 lead, but by the time the game reached the under 12 time out, Belmont had a 12-0 run and a 10-point lead at 11:05. Brown hit a pair of threes and the Racers cut the Bruin lead to four at 9:13. Morant finished the Racers' lowest scoring first half of the season with a pair of free throws to cut the Belmont lead to 33-26 at the intermission.

With 10:46 left in the game, the Racers cut the Bruin lead to 51-47 on pair of free throws from Cowart. However, Belmont hit the Racers with a 14-5 run to push their lead to 65-52 with 6:54 left. The Racers could only get as close as seven points the rest of the way.

The Racers are back at home Saturday for a doubleheader day at the CFSB Center when the Tennessee State Tigers come to town. The women's contest starts the day at 5 p.m. with the men's game to follow. The day will also be one that brings the spotlight to the tremendous academic achievements of Racer student-athletes from the past year. Hundreds of the MSU student-athletes will be honored at halftime of the men's game.

Game Notes
The announced crowd of 8,969 bested the former top crowd in the 21 seasons of the CFSB Center. The former mark came on Feb. 18, 2012 when a crowd of 8,825 watched the Racers defeat Saint Mary's in a BracketBuster game. Six of MSU's best crowds at The Bank occurred in the amazing 2011-12 season when the Racers went 31-2 and were the final undefeated team in the nation at 23-0.

CFSB Center Top-10 Best Crowds
Date      Total   Opponent           W/L    Score
01-24-19 8,969   Belmont            Lost   66-79
02-18-12 8,825   Saint Mary's (CA) Won    63-51
01-14-12 8,691   Tenn. Tech        Won    82-74
01-28-12 8,673   Eastern Illinois Won    73-58
02-09-12 8,668   Tennessee State   Lost   68-72
02-11-99 8,602   SE Missouri       Won    62-52
02-11-12 8,587   Austin Peay       Won    82-63
02-02-12 8,369   SEMO               Won    81-73
01-23-99 8,352   Austin Peay       Won    89-58
11-11-98 7,633   Southern Illinois Won    65-62

The Racers' 18-game home winning streak was also halted in this game. It started on Dec. 28, 2017 in a win over Eastern Illinois and finishes as MSU's eighth-best home streak in program history. The 47 in a row that MSU won from Jan. 6, 1996 against Belmont to when it ended on Jan. 15, 2000 against SEMO is still the Murray State standard.

In between a loss at Belmont in January 2017 and tonight's loss, the Racers won 17-straight OVC games.