Racers Win At TSU - Take Solo 1st Place In OVC - Murray State University Athletics

Saturday, February 8

Nashville, Tenn.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

18-6, 11-1OVC

Tennessee State

15-10, 7-5OVC

Murray State

Tennessee State

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Win At TSU - Take Solo 1st Place In OVC

2/8/2020 10:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers took over sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference Saturday night with a 73-65 victory over the Tennessee State Tigers at the Gentry Center in Nashville.

The win improved the Racers to 11-1 in OVC play, a game in front of Austin Peay (10-2), who lost Saturday at Belmont. The Racers (18-6) travel to Clarksville, Tenn., Thursday for the first of two games this OVC season with the Governors in an 8 p.m. tip on ESPNU.

Tevin Brown led the Racers in scoring for the 16^th time this season with 28 points, while KJ Williams scored 13 with eight rebounds. Devin Gilmore had eight rebounds and four points.

Trailing early 11-3, the Racers took the lead for good on a pair of free throws from Jaiveon Eaves to make it 22-20 with 6:21 before half. MSU led 33-29 at the break on the strength of limiting the Tigers to 3-of-12 from the 3-point line.

The Racers started the second half by scoring on their first possession on an Eaves 3-pointer and a 36-29 lead. MSU had to juggle Robinson and Williams as each picked up their third personal foul with 17:39 left in the game. With
15:08 left, MSU went in front 44-34 on a jumper by Brown, which made it an 11-5 run to start the second half. TSU cut the lead to 59-58 with 2:48 remaining, but Brown's 3-pointer at 2:23 put MSU in front by four. With 2:07 remaining, Williams stepped in front of a TSU pass and the Racers took possession on a turnover. He had a rebound slam at 1:40 for a 64-58 MSU lead and when TSU missed again, Williams grabbed the rebound with 1:22 left. The three hustle plays marked a very busy 45 seconds for the sophomore. Brown and Williams combined to hit 5-of-6 from the free throw line to seal the win.

The Racers corrected on part of their game that went wrong Thursday in their only OVC loss at Belmont. In that game, MSU gave the ball up 22 times on turnovers, but tonight against TSU, the Racers cut that to a more manageable 16 and they forced the Tigers into 17 turnovers, which produced 17 points for the Racers.

Game Notes
The Racers now hold a 47-13 advantage in OVC games and are 24-8 all-time in the Gentry Center. MSU has won the last five games in the series since a loss at TSU in 2016.

Coach Matt McMahon is now 105-67 in his fifth season at Murray State and is 61-18 in OVC games. He is 5-1 against TSU.

Brown went 3-of-7 from the 3-point line tonight. 73-162 .451. Brown started the week 12^th in NCAA D-I in 3-point percentage and 17^th in both 3-pointers made per game and total made 3-point field goals. With 73 threes this season, Brown is tied for 17^th all-time at Murray State with Chris Shumate from the 2003-04 season. Brown's freshman season (208-19) is seventh all-time at MSU when he made 90. In MSU career made 3-pointers, Brown now has 163 and is in 12^th place, seven behind Shumate (1999-04) at 170. Ninth place is shared by Paul King (1987-91) and Marcus Brown (1992-96) as each made 173. Isaiah Canaan (2009-13) is the all-time leader at Murray State with 304.

Week seven of the nine-week OVC race is this week when the Racers play at Austin Peay Thursday (on ESPNU) and home to Morehead State on Saturday. OVC season is now down to six games as the Racers try to win the regular season championship for a third-straight season. The Racers' remaining schedule looks like this: At Austin Peay (Feb. 13), home vs Morehead State (Feb. 15), at Eastern Illinois (Feb. 20), at SIUE (Feb. 22), home vs Eastern Kentucky (Feb. 27) and home vs Austin Peay (Feb. 29).

The Murray State vs Austin Peay games Thursday marks another points night for the First Financial Bank Battle of the Border. The Battle of the Border is an annual rivalry series between these two longtime OVC rivals. Points are awarded for each head to head regular season match up. If no head-to-head contest occurs, points will be awarded on how they finish at the OVC Championship. The 67 points of the annual competition represent the 67 miles separating the two institutions. The Racers currently lead 15-3 in the race for the bragging rights in the 2019-20 school year.