A Time For Heroes - Racers Advance To OVC Title Game With Win Over JSU

Friday, March 8

Evansville, Ind.

9 p.m.

Murray State

26-4

Jacksonville State

24-9

Jacksonville St.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

A Time For Heroes - Racers Advance To OVC Title Game With Win Over JSU

3/9/2019 2:05:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers won a thrilling Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinal game 76-74 Friday over the
Jacksonville State Gamecocks at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

The win pushed the Racers (26-4) to their 10^th win in a row and into the OVC title game against the Belmont Bruins, Saturday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN2 and Westwood One. Belmont defeated Austin Peay 83-67.

The first in a list of Racer heroes was Shaq Buchanan who hit back-to-back 3-pointers that erased a JSU lead and put MSU in front 70-67 with 3:03 left. Jaiveon Eaves' 3-pointer seemingly was the dagger that put the Racers in front by four points at 2:09, but JSU came back to take the lead. MSU's run was 15-5 after they trailed by six with seven minutes remaining.

The final hero for the Racers was OVC Player of the Year, Ja Morant, who had the ball in his hands and the Racers down by a point with eight seconds on the clock. Morant scored for lead and hit the free throw after he was fouled for a three-point play sending the Racers to the OVC finals 76-74.

When the dust cleared, Morant had 29 points on 9-of-14 from the field with six rebounds and eight assists, while Buchanan added 13 points and Darnell Cowart scored a double-double on 11 points and 12 rebounds.

The first half saw the Racers use a 10-0 run to grab a 38-28 lead at 3:32 on a Buchanan 3-pointer. They pushed to their largest lead on a pair of baskets by KJ Williams to make the score 42-30 at 2:04. The Racers went into the halftime intermission leading 42-33 on 51 percent shooting.

Game Notes
The Racers are in the OVC Tournament championship game as they try to win it in back-to-back seasons after they defeated Belmont in 2018 at the Ford Center. MSU hasn't won it in consecutive years since Coach Gottfried and Tevester Anderson's teams did it in three-straight seasons from 1997-99. Gottfried's MSU teams won it in 1997 and 1998 and Coach T won it in 1999.

MSU is now 70-37 all-time in the OVC Tournament and have won three in a row and five of their last six.

The Racers are 16-11 all-time in the OVC Tournament championship game and meeting Belmont for a second straight year. Saturday's game with Belmont means the last four trips to the finals for the Racers have all been against the Bruins. Belmont scored wins over MSU in 2013 and 2015 with the Racers getting the win in 2018. MSU won the title in 2012 against Tennessee State and in 2010 against Morehead State.

The Racers are seeking their 17^th OVC Tournament title which would lead to their 17^th NCAA Tournament appearance.

Ja Morant is now 30^th place on the MSU scoring list with 1,132 points. Among two-year players, Morant is in fourth place just behind Cameron Payne (2013-15) with 1,279. De'Teri Mayes (1996-98) is second on the list at 1,340 and Jonathan Stark (2016-18) is first at 1,408.

Morant is trying to become the all-time assist leader at MSU in only two seasons. Going into Saturday's game, Morant has 509, as he tries to chase down MSU Hall of Famer Don Mann who had 531 from 1985-89.

With 308 assists this season, Morant long ago surpassed the MSU and OVC records. With two more assists against Belmont, he'll reach the top-10 among all NCAA D-I players since the assist became an official stat in the 1985-86 season.

Morant is now the sixth MSU player to reach 700 points in a single season at MSU. He has 727 points and is just behind third place Jeff Martin (1988-89) at 745, Marcus Brown (1995-96) at 767 and Jeff Martin again (1987-88) as the leader at 806.

Morant played all 40 minutes tonight and now has 11 such games this season. He started the day 69^th in the nation in minutes played. After tonight, his total is up to 1,088.

Morant had a hot start to the game when he scored 14 of the Racers' first 16 points and assisted in on the other basket.