Bruins Edge Racers In Final Seconds Of OVC Title Game

Saturday, March 7

Evansville, Ind.

7 p.m.

Murray State

23-9,15-3OVC

Belmont

26-7,15-3OVC

Murray St.

Belmont

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

3/7/2020 10:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Belmont's Tyler Scanlon hit a layup from under basket with three seconds left to lift the Bruins past the Murray State men's basketball team, 76-75, Saturday night in the finals of the 2020 OVC Men's Basketball Championship at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

Saturday marked the fifth time that two teams had met in the OVC title game since the Bruins joined the league for the 2012-13 season with each team winning two of the previous meetings. The game itself lived up the hype with the two league heavyweights trading blows all night long. In total there were eight lead changes and seven ties with neither team leading by more than eight points at any given point.

Murray State led by as many as four with under three minutes to play, only to have Bruins take a one-point lead with 1:26 to go on back-to-back buckets and free throw by Nick Muszynski. With 11 seconds to go, Tevin Brown made two free throws to give his team the lead and a shot at the win. However, the bucket by Scanlon with three seconds to play put Belmont on top, while the Racers' final possession with two seconds left never materialized. The missed shot by KJ Williams at the end was the fifth consecutive missed field goal by the Racers to end the game, while the Bruins made each of their final three attempts.

On the stat sheet, Murray State led in nearly every aspect of the game including a 47.5-percent field goal percentage, a 35.3-percent 3-point percentage and a 83.3-percent performance at the free throw line. The Racers finished the game with more points off turnovers than the Bruins, at 10-6, and more bench points, at 20-1, but the Bruins gained an advantage over the Racers in the paint and on second chance points, at 48-38 and 13-5, respectively.

Tevin Brown led Murray State with 17 points, six assists and four rebounds on the night while also being named to the All-Tournament team. Demond Robinson followed Brown with 14 points and team-highs of six rebounds and six blocks.

With the loss, the Racers end the 2019-20 campaign at 23-9 overall and with a 15-3 mark in league play that earned them a share of the regular-season championship.

Game Notes
Robinson's six blocked shots for his career high at MSU. His game is also a record for MSU in the OVC Tournament. Antoine Teague, who had four blocks in 1993 against Tennessee State was the former record.

Tevin Brown is the 60th Murray State player to be named to the All-OVC Tournament Team. In the win over Austin Peay in the semifinals, Brown scored 24 points (7-16FG, 3-6(3PT), 7-8FT) with three assists and five rebounds. In the title game with the Bruins, he scored 17 points (5-12FG, 2-4(3PT), 5-6FT) with four rebounds and six assists. For the two games in the Ford Center, Brown was 43 percent from the field (12-28), 50 percent from the 3-point line (5-10) and 86 percent from the free throw line (12-14). He totaled nine rebounds, dished out nine assists and had three steals.

2020 OVC All-Tournament Team
Terry Taylor, Austin Peay
Tevin Brown, Murray State
Adam Kunkel, Belmont
Grayson Murphy, Belmont
Nick Muszynski, Belmont (MVP)

In the two games, the Racers hit 46 percent (55-120) from the field, while APSU and Belmont combined for 43 percent (54-125). Neither the Racers, nor the opponent shot well from the 3-point line. MSU hit 39 percent (13-33), while the opponent hit 28 percent (11-39). The Racers had 34 assists verses 20 turnovers.

In the last five trips to the OVC Tournament title game, they've met the Belmont Bruins. The Racers are 2-3 with wins in 2018 and 2019.

Brown finishes an outstanding first two seasons at Murray State, already nearing becoming the 1000-Point Club. In 65 games, Brown has amassed 960 points with a 14.8 average of points per game. His 175 made 3-pointers has him ranked No. 9 on the MSU all-time list as he heads into his junior season of 2020-21. He has the seventh and eighth place single seasons at MSU with 90 made threes as a freshman (2018-19) and 85 this season as a sophomore (2019-20).