Racers Cage TSU Tigers - Hit Century Mark - Murray State University Athletics

Saturday, January 26

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

100

Tennessee State

Tennessee St.

Murray St.

100

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Cage TSU Tigers - Hit Century Mark

1/26/2019 11:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers got back on to their winning ways Saturday in a 100-62 victory over the Tennessee State Tigers at the CFBS Center in Murray, Kentucky.

The Racers (16-3) moved to 7-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and effectively scored a bounce-back win after Thursday's loss to Belmont. In front of a crowd of 7,059, the Racers kept their share of first place in the league.

Leading wire-to-wire, the Racers saw Ja Morant lead the way with 24 points, nine assists and game-high four steals. Shaq Buchanan and Darnell Cowart each added 18 points with Cowart just one rebound from a double-double as was Morant. Jaiveon Eaves scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Taking the lead for good on the first basket of the game, a 3-pointer from Buchanan, the Racers quickly built a 17-7 lead at the 11:46 mark on a Cowart layup. MSU led by as many as 40 points with three seconds in the half and had a 38-point advantage at the half 60-22. When the half ended, the Racers held a 20-0 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Racers had a big night on offense with 53 percent shooting from the field on 32-of-60, while they held TSU to 38 percent on 21-of-55.

MSU had their season low in turnovers with seven, while forcing the Tigers into 17.

Game Notes
The Racers enjoyed two great crowds this week in which a total of 16,028 fans went through the turnstiles at the CFSB Center. After Thursday's record crowd of 8,969, another 7,059 watched tonight.

The Racers hit the century mark for the third time this season and the first against an NCAA D-I team. MSU had previously scored 106 against Spalding (Nov. 16) and 110 Bethel (Dec. 29). It's the first 100-point game against a D-I team since Marist (100-63) on 12-16-17 and first against an OVC team since Austin Peay (102-58) on 2-11-17. It's the 10th 100-point game in the four seasons of the Coach McMahon era.

The Racers are 16-0 when leading at halftime.

The Racers have won 9-of-10 games this season when scoring 80 or more points. MSU's only loss was at Auburn (Dec. 22) when they lost 93-88.

The Racers are now 54-17 all-time against TSU and 30-6 at home.

Ja Morant is steaming toward 1,000 career points. His 24 points tonight puts him at 862 and closer to becoming a member of the MSU 1000-Point Club.

Morant is also up to 200 season assists and is only 12 from the MSU single-season record by Chad Townsend from the 1996-97 season. Morant has played in 51 games at MSU and has 401 career assists. The all-time mark of 531 was set by Don Mann from 1985-89.

Next week finds the Racers heading out for road games at Jacksonville State (Jan. 31) and Tennessee Tech (Feb. 2) before returning to The Bank to host Eastern Illinois (Feb. 7) and SIUE (Feb. 9).

The Racers kept a share of first place in the OVC with tonight's win over TSU. Jacksonville State moved to 7-1 with a 77-71 win at Morehead State. Austin Peay fell out of first place after they suffered a 96-92 home loss to Belmont. The Bruins and the Govs remain one game back at 6-2. Eastern Illinois lost at Southeast Missouri 64-59 and is 5-3.