Racers Hold Off Redbirds - Brown Joins 1000-Point Club

Saturday, December 5

CFSB Center

5 p.m.

Murray State

2-1,0-0OVC

Illinois State

2-2,0-0MVC

Illinois St.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Hold Off Redbirds - Brown Joins 1000-Point Club

12/5/2020 8:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers pushed their home win streak at the CFSB Center to 23 with a 76-65 victory over the Illinois State Redbirds in Murray, Kentucky.

The Racers (2-1) host the Austin Peay Governors Tuesday in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

MSU junior Tevin Brown became the 47^th Racer to join the MSU 1000-Point Club with a terrific game of 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Brown's junior teammate, KJ Williams, posted his 10^th career double-double with 15 and 11 rebounds. Demond Robinson added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Justice Hill tallied 15 points and six assists.

After falling behind in the first four minutes of the game 10-6, the Racers went on an 18-8 run for a 24-18 lead at the 8:18 mark of the first half. After starting the game 0-of-5 from the 3-point line, Brown hit his first and the Racers hit five more to grab a 44-31 lead at the halftime intermission.

MSU went 1-of-9 from the field to start the second half and the Redbirds were able to cut the lead to 47-40 with 14:22 left. Williams scored twice on backdoor cuts and Justice Hill hit back-to-back threes to push the lead back to 11 at 11:41. ISU made another run at the Racers and trimmed the lead to 67-62 with 4:06 left, but Chico Carter, Jr. sealed the game with a three with one minute left.

The Racers shot 50 percent for the game from the field (29-of-58) bolstered by 40 points in the paint. They limited ISU to 40 percent (25-of-62). After the slow start from the 3-point line, the Racers ended up shooting 43 percent (9-of-21), while ISU was 5-of-23 for 28 percent. The Racers had a 10-rebound edge, with a solid foundation of Williams, Brown and Robinson combining for 28 of their total of 44.

Game Notes
The Racers are now (4-1) against Illinois State and (3-0) at home.

Coach Matt McMahon is (2-1) against the Redbirds.

The Racers extended their home winning streak in the CFSB Center to 23. Coming into the game, MSU had the sixth-longest home streak in NCAA D-I behind only Gonzaga (39), Prairie View (27), Florida State (24), South Dakota State (24) and Liberty (24). The longest home streak in MSU history is 47 set from 1996 to 2000 as it closed out the final 30 games at old Racers Arena and opened the CFSB Center by winning the first 17 games.

Tevin Brown became the 47th player to join the MSU 1000-Point Club when he hit a shot with 10:20 left in the game. Brown did it in his 68^th career game. The fastest to 1000 points was Jonathan Stark (2018) and De/Teri Mayes (1998) who each did it in only 48 games. The first two Racers to start the 1000-Point Club were Garrett Beshear and Bennie Purcell who joined three days a part in February 1952.

Not originally scheduled to play this season, the Racers and Redbirds were able to connect late in the week. During this strange time of playing college basketball, players, coaches and fans must be alert for late adds and subtractions to the schedule.

In his post-game comments, MSU coach Matt McMahon thanked ISU coach Dan Muller for bringing his team to Murray on short notice. The Racers will return the game to Bloomington next season to play the Redbirds in 2021.