11 Game Win Streak Ends With Loss At Belmont

Thursday, February 6

Nashville, Tenn.

6:30 p.m.

Murray State

17-6,10-1OVC

Belmont

17-7,8-3OVC

Murray St.

Belmont

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/6/2020 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

The Murray State Racers started slow and never fully recovered in a 71-64 loss Thursday to the Belmont Bruins at the Curb Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Racers (17-6) lost for the first time this season in the Ohio Valley Conference, but still have a share of the lead after Austin Peay lost 70-68 at Tennessee State. The Racers and APSU remain in a two-way tie for OVC first place at 10-1. Murray State plays Saturday at Tennessee State at the Gentry Center in Nashville at 7:30 p.m. APSU comes to Belmont Saturday. Eastern Kentucky won 91-84 at Eastern Illinois and improved to 9-2 as the third place team in the conference.

At 10:18 in the first half, the Racers found themselves trailing 18-5. MSU responded with a 19-3 run. Among the big hoops in this Racer run were 3-pointers from Tevin Brown and Jaiveon Eaves and a three-point play from Devin Gilmore to make it a 24-21 Belmont lead at 4:07. Eaves hit another 3-pointer in the final minute of the half to keep the Racers in touch with the Bruins 32-26 at the intermission.

The Racers took their first lead of the game with 12:15 left on a 3-pointer from DaQuan Smith at 46-45, but only 10 seconds later, Belmont retook the lead for good on a three from Tyler Scanlon. At 8:46 left, the lead for Belmont was back to nine at 55-46. Back-to-back threes from KJ Williams got the Racers to within three points of Belmont, but they never got closer in the remaining 7:16.

Five Racers hit for double-figure scoring with Gilmore leading the way with 13 points in a season-high 25:16 on the court. Eaves and DaQuan Smith each scored 12 points and Williams added 11, while Brown was held to 10 points.

The Racers suffered 22 turnovers in the game and finished with a shooting night of 39 percent (24-of-61), while the Bruins hit for 45 percent (29-of-64). Belmont was 0-of-14 from the 3-point line in the first half and finish 4-of-25 for 16 percent, while the Racers hit 8-of-22 for 36 percent.

Game Notes
With the loss, the Racers saw some impressive winning streaks end. MSU had not lost a game since Dec. 21 in overtime at Evansville and had won 11 in a row since. MSU's last loss before tonight in OVC regular season games was in January of 2019, also to Belmont. The loss tonight ended MSU's run of 19-straight OVC regular season wins as they were trying to make a run at the program record of 22 from the Racer teams from 1997-99. The OVC record remains at 25 by Western Kentucky from 1965-67. And in all OVC games (regular season and tournament) the Racers had won 21 in a row.

With the 11-game win streak, the Racers have had a winning streak of 10 or more in three-straight seasons. It's only the second time this has happened in MSU history. The other occurrence was in the 1930's.

The Racers are now 9-9 all-time in the series with Belmont and are 1-4 at the Curb Center.

Tevin Brown started the night with 794 points and has topped the 800 mark in only his 56^th career game at Murray State.

The Racers will stay in Nashville Friday for a workout and then play at the Gentry Center Saturday against the Tennessee State Tigers. The doubleheader begins with the women's teams playing at 5:30 p.m. with the men's tip time at 7:30 p.m. The Racers defeated the Tigers 76-64 at home (Jan. 25).

OVC Standings
Murray State 10-1
Austin Peay 10-1
Eastern Kentucky 9-2
Belmont 8-3
Tennessee State 7-4
Morehead State 6-5
Eastern Illinois 4-7
Jacksonville State 4-7
UT Martin 3-8
SIUE 2-9
Tennessee Tech 2-9
Southeast Missouri 1-10