Strong Second Half Helps Racers Down EKU

Thursday, February 27

CFSB Center

7 p.m.

Murray State

21-8,14-3OVC

Eastern Kentucky

14-16,11-6OVC

Eastern Ky.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/27/2020 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers scored a 74-62 victory over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels Thursday and kept alive their goal of winning a third-straight Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship as they stretched their home court win streak to 20 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Racers (21-8) improved to 14-3 in the OVC and remained in a three-way share of first place with the Belmont Bruins and Austin Peay Governors. APSU comes to the CFSB Center Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip.

KJ Williams and Tevin Brown each had a double-double for the Racers. Brown scored all 21 of his points in the second half to go with 10 rebounds, while Williams had 20 points and 14 rebounds. Jaiveon Eaves added 14 points.

With the game tied 29-29 at the halftime intermission, the Racers fell behind when EKU started the second half with an 8-2 run. MSU took the lead for good with 10:09 left when Brown made a shot and was fouled. Even though he missed the free throw, the Racers had a 50-48 lead and never gave it up. With 5:34 left, Chico Carter, Jr., hit a 3-pointer for a 60-54 lead. With 2:36 remaining, Williams scored for a nine-point lead for the Racers.

MSU had no offensive rebounds in the first half, but came back to 12 in the second half and won the rebound stat 47-39. After going 3-of-10 from the free throw line in the first half, the Racers hit 19-of-22 in the second half and ended the game hitting 69 percent on 22-of-32.

Game Notes
Today was the Racers' 165^th meeting with Eastern Kentucky as two of the founding members of the OVC in 1948 met for the only time this regular season.

The Racers lead the all-time series with EKU 103-61 and are 57-21 at home. MSU has won the last seven games with EKU since a loss in the OVC Tournament in 2015.

Coach Matt McMahon is 6-0 against EKU. He is 108-50 overall in five seasons with the Racers and 64-21 in OVC games. McMahon's teams have a 63-11 at the CFSB Center.

MSU pushed it's home win streak to 20 tonight. It's the sixth longest home streak in the program's 95 seasons.
MSU Longest Home Court Win Streaks
*47, 1996-2000, Coach Gottfried/Anderson
32. 1935-39, Coach Carlisle Cutchin
27, 1968-70, Coach Cal Luther
25, 2009-11, Coach Billy Kennedy
23, 1930-35, Coach Carlisle Cutchin
20, 2019-Present Coach Matt McMahon
* Last 30 games at Racer Arena and the first 17 games at CFSB Center.

KJ Williams (20p/14r) and Tevin Brown (21p/10r) mark just the fourth instance since 2015 of the Racers producing two players with a double-double. The last time it happened was Ja Morant (23p/12a) & Darnell Cowart (12p/12r) at home against Southeast Missouri (Feb. 23, 2019).

Williams has his eighth career game of 10+ rebounds and his seventh career double-double. Brown gets his second career double-double tonight.

Brown scored all of his 21 points in the second half. He has 12 games of 20+ points this season. His career total is now 904 in 62 career games.

The Racers are 14-2 this season when holding opponents under 70 points.

MSU had no offensive rebounds in the first half, but came back to 12 in the second half. MSU's season-high was 19 at Evansville (Dec. 21, 2019).

There will be lots of scoreboard watching Saturday when the Racers host Austin Peay and Belmont travels across Nashville to play at Tennessee State. Check @OVCSports on Twitter for updates on seeding for next week's OVC Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE OVC TOURNAMENT
With the OVC Basketball Tournament coming next week in Evansville, the staff at the Ford Center want to remind fans of the list of prohibited items and Clear Bag Policy.