Racers Fall In Classic Tussle With Evansville In OT

Saturday, December 21

Evansville, Ind.

6 p.m.

Murray State

6-5,0-0OVC

Evansville

9-4,0-0MVC

OT 1

Murray St.

Evansville

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

12/21/2019 11:50:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers and Evansville Purple Aces met for the 39^th time Saturday, a game that eventually went to overtime. Evansville became the winner 78-76 in front of a crowd of 7,316 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

The Racers (6-5) scatter to their hometowns for the next several days to be with their families for Christmas, before returning to the court (Dec. 28) at home against Cumberland (TN).

Tevin Brown scored 26 second half points to help his team erase a 14-point deficit and tie his career-high with 31 points. Brown ended the day hitting 8-of-21 from the field including 4-of-9 from the 3-point line and 11-of-15 from the free throw line. DaQuan Smith and KJ Williams each added 10 points to the MSU attack. Anthony Smith led MSU on the boards with 10 rebounds.

Trailing by as many as 17 points in the late first half, the Racers climbed back into the contest with a 13-2 run that saw them tie the game 56-56 on a steal and finish by Williams with 7:45 left. At the 3:38 mark, Noah Kamba scored in the lane to tie it again 62-62. MSU took the lead for the first time in the second half on a pair of free throws from DaQuan Smith. It was 64-62 Racers with 3:16 left.

With 14.2 seconds remaining, UE's DeAndre Williams hit a 3-pointer to put the Aces ahead 69-66. Brown hit a 3-point basket straightaway deep beyond the top of the key to force the game into overtime.

In the extra frame, UE hit a pair of free throws with 31 ticks left and the Racers saw Brown's late 3-point try for the win fall off the rim for a 78-76 loss.

The Racers dominated the rebound stat 46-28 and limited the Aces to only four offensive rebounds. However, MSU gave the ball up 20 times on turnovers, to which, UE turned into 30 points.

Game Notes
The game was the first overtime contest for MSU-UE since they did so in Murray in 2015. UE was winner 85-81. It had been 78 games since MSU's last OT game. On March 1, 2017, the Racers beat Tennessee Tech in double overtime in Nashville at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Overtime hasn't been kind to the Racers, they're now 1-6 since 2016.

Tevin Brown tied his career-high with 31 points, the same as his game at UT Martin last January.

Limiting second chance points has been a strength of the Racers this season. After holding the Aces to seven points tonight, they've now limited their last seven opponents to less than 10 points.

The Racers are 0-3 on the road this season after also dropping games at Tennessee (Nov. 12) and Missouri State (Dec. 3). Overall, the Racers have lost four in a row against non-conference opponents away from home. In addition to the UT and MOSU games, the Racers had also lost at Auburn last December after their last win at Southern Illinois (12-20-18) 80-52.

This was the 39^th all-time game against Evansville. The Racers lead the all-time series 26-13.

The Racers played four games this season against Missouri Valley Conference teams and went 1-3. The Racers defeated Southern Illinois, but dropped games to Missouri State, Drake and UE. The Racers had won six in a row coming into the season against MVC opponents.

Tevin Brown's 31-point performance was just off the Ford Center scoring record for opponents of 34 points. Justin James of Wyoming did it on 11-28-18 and SIU's Armon Fletcher scored 34 points on 2-27-19.