Racers Overwhelm SEMO With Points In The Paint

Saturday, January 4

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

9-5,2-0OVC

Southeast Missouri

4-11,0-2OVC

Southeast Mo. St.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

1/4/2020 2:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers completed the opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference play 2-0 after an 81-59 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks Saturday night at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.

The Racers (9-5, 2-0 OVC) won for the 14 consecutive time at home in The Bank and pushed their overall OVC winning streak to 11. MSU's run dates back to their last conference loss, a year ago this month to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. MSU takes to the road next week for games at JSU and Tennessee Tech (Jan. 9 & 11). SEMO dropped to 4-11

and 0-2 in the OVC.

When the Redhawks decided to take away the Racers' excellent 3-point shooting (MSU hit 10 threes Thursday in a win over UT Martin) the Racers sent the ball into the paint where KJ Williams, Anthony Smith, Devin Gilmore and Demond Robinson combined to hit 23-of-28 from the field for 52 points. Williams led the way with 18 points, while Smith added 16 and Gilmore 14 (on 7-of-7 from the field). Tevin Brown scored 13 points.

After trailing early 18-12 at the 11:43 mark, the Racers hit SEMO with a 9-2 run and took the lead for good at 8:43 on a basket by Williams. From there, MSU outscored SEMO 21-13 to get a 42-33 lead at halftime. MSU pushed their lead to 18 only five minutes into the second half and cruised from there.

Next week, the Racers hit the road for the first time in OVC play, with games at Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech (Jan. 9 & 11). MSU's game at JSU Thursday will air on ESPNU with an 8 p.m. tip time.

Game Notes

The Racers have won the last five with the Redhawks and the last three at home. MSU has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. MSU leads the all-time series with SEMO 60-21 and are 29-10 at home.
MSU is 268-45 (.856) in 22 seasons in the CFSB Center, including a mark of 156-28 (.847) in OVC games.
MSU has won 14 in a row on their home court. The next time they get a chance to extend, it will be against the team that won the last time they visited Murray. On Jan. 24, 2019, the Belmont Bruins beat the Racers at the CFSB Center 79-66. The Racers' next home game is against Belmont (Jan. 23). The game will have a 6 p.m. start on ESPN2.
MSU's OVC regular season winning streak is now 11. Their last loss was in January 2019 at Jacksonville State.
After defeating UT Martin and SEMO in the first week of OVC play this week, the Racers return to UTM and SEMO quickly. After the trip next week to Alabama and Tennessee, the Racers visit UTM (Jan. 16) and SEMO (Jan 18).
Devin Gilmore was 7-of-7 from the field tonight. He was also 7-of-7 against Spalding (11-16-18). Here are the most recent best shooting games for MSU players of six or more made field goals.

Recent MSU Perfect Shooting Games
9-9 Jarvis Williams at EKU, 1-8-14
9-9 Ivan Aska vs UMSL, 11-14-09
8-8 Jeffery McClain vs EIU, 1-11-10
7-7 KJ Williams vs Morehead State, 01-03-19
7-7 Devin Gilmore vs Spalding, 11-16-18
7-7 Jarvis Williams at Belmont 2-6-14
7-7 Kevin Thomas vs UT Martin, 1-5-09
6-6 Brandon Garrett vs Old Dominion, 11-24-12

In his fifth season at MSU, Coach Matt McMahon is nearing 100 wins. After tonight's win, he is 96-47 (.671), 52-18 (.742) in OVC games and 7-2 against the Redhawks.
The Racers have scored 80-plus points in three-straight games for the first time this season.
MSU is 8-1 this season when having the lead at halftime. The only loss was at Tennessee (Nov. 12).
The Racers big men outscored SEMO 54-28 in points in the paint.
MSU is starting to assert themselves in 3-point defense. Tonight they held the Redhawks to only four.