Racers Go Cold In Loss To Eastern Illinois - Williams Joins 1000-Point Club

Thursday, February 18

Murray, Ky.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

12-10,9-8OVC

Eastern Illinois

8-16,5-12OVC

Eastern Ill.

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Go Cold In Loss To Eastern Illinois - Williams Joins 1000-Point Club

2/18/2021 3:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score EIU Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

KJ Williams reached 1,000 career points, but the Racers couldn’t find the shooting touch against the Panthers

The Murray State Racers suffered a poor night on the offensive end and ended up with a 68-59 defeat Thursday against the Eastern Illinois Panthers at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.

The Racers (12-10) fell to 9-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference and saw their four-game winning streak end. The final regular season home game for the Racers is Saturday when the SIUE Cougars visit The Bank at 7:30 p.m.

Chico Carter, Jr., had a game-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and KJ Williams reached the career 1,000 points mark with 15 points and eight rebounds. Tevin Brown added 11 points to the Racer attack.

Murray State had their last lead of the game at 5-4 with 16:35 left. At the 7:08 mark, the Racers fell behind 26-16 and trailed 31-29 when Williams hit a 3-pointer at the first half buzzer. The Racers' 6-0 run to end the half was perhaps the spark they needed in the second half. However, nine turnovers in the second twenty minutes and the inability to get defensive stops were two reasons why MSU fell behind 53-43 with 10:17 left and were never able to mount a rally as they trailed by as many as 12 points.

The Racers entered the game having one of their top efficient offensive seasons in school history ranking sixth in NCAA D-I and they were 12th in the country in assists per game. When the dust settled, MSU had shot just 41 percent on 25-of-61 from the field, and slumped to 19 percent from the 3-

point line on 4-of-21. EIU also beat the Racers on the boards 34-26 and sent them to their third game this season of scoring in the 50's.

Game Notes
KJ Williams became the 48th player to join the MSU 1000-Point Club with 3:20 left in the game when he made a layup. He joins teammate Tevin Brown who joined the club in December. Williams reached 1,000 in his 86th game as a Racer. The recognition of being fastest to 1,000 in Murray State history belongs to four players. The first was Claude Virden in 1969 and was followed by Mike Coleman in 1974. Virden and Coleman stayed as the only two to do it in 48 games until De'Teri Mayes in 1998. Jonathan Stark was the most recent in 2018. With 48 members in the club, there is also a club of those who came up short. These players are among the best to put on the Racer uniform including Dick Cunningham (1965-68), Ed Daniel (2009-13) and Tony Easley (2005-10).

Saturday's game with SIUE marks the final game of the 2020-21 season in the 23rd season of basketball at the CFSB Center. Over the years, as they did at old Racer Arena, the Racers have enjoyed a home court edge that sees them win about 85 percent of their games year in and year out. After tonight's loss to EIU, the Racers are still 286-49 (.853) in all games and 167-32 (.839) in OVC games.

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