MSU Scores Emphatic Win At Eastern Kentucky - Carter Goes For 23 Points

Saturday, February 6

Richmond, Ky.

3 p.m.

Murray State

9-9 (6-7OVC)

Eastern Kentucky

14-4 (8-3OVC)

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

MSU Scores Emphatic Win At Eastern Kentucky - Carter Goes For 23 Points

2/6/2021 2:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Murray State Racers scored an emphatic 76-64 victory Saturday over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at McBrayer Arena in Richmond, Ky.

The Racers (9-9) improved to 6-7 in the OVC and split the Death Valley trip after losing at Morehead State Thursday night. The game also marked the Racers' final league regular-season game against the Colonels. EKU recently announced their plan to leave the OVC after the 2020-21 season for the Atlantic Sun Conference.

MSU Sophomore Chico Carter, Jr., hit 9-of-14 from the field including 3-of-6 from the 3-point line for a career high 23 points. KJ Williams added 18 points to go with nine rebounds, while Tevin Brown added 13 points and Demond Robinson scored 10.

The Racers closed the first half on an 11-2 run in the final 4:40 punctuated by a pair of Devin Gilmore slam-dunks that produced a 39-30 MSU lead at the halftime intermission. Williams gave the Racers their largest lead of the game by scoring the first basket of the second half to make it 41-30 Racers.

After EKU drew as close as four points with 13:40 remaining, the Racers responded with a 16-3 run capped by Brown's 3-pointer with 7:01 left to put the Racers in front of the Colonels 67-52.

The Racers held a convincing lead in many of the categories on the stat sheet including a 36-32 advantage on the boards. MSU put together one of their best defensive efforts of the season in holding EKU to 26-of-62 from the field for 42 percent and 6-of-24 from the 3-point line for 25 percent. It all added up to throttling an EKU offense that came in scoring 81.4 points per game in 12 OVC games and the Racers held them 17 points below that.

MSU was solid offensively in shooting 53 percent on 28-of-53 and 35 percent from the 3-point line on 7-of-20. MSU also won the game at the free line in hitting 13-of-19 for 68 percent.

Game Notes
The win for the Racers means they have won four of their last six overall as they improve to 3-6 away from home.

MSU has won the last eight in the EKU series since a 2014 loss to EKU in the OVC Tournament. MSU lead the Colonels in the all-tie series 104-61 and are 39-34 in Richmond. MSU's last loss in Richmond (02-07-08) was by a score of 60-47. MSU finishes out their OVC games at McBrayer Arena by winning their final eight games.

Carter's 23 points surpassed his former career high scoring game of 21 points last month against Jacksonville State (01-21-21). Carter now has 315 points at Murray State in 39 career games.

KJ Williams scored 18 points today and now has 925 points in 82 games. Soon, he will join the MSU 1000-Point Club as it's 48^th member.

Racers' head coach Matt McMahon moves into tie with Coach Ron Greene (1978-85) with 119 victories for third place all-time at Murray State among head coach wins. Tops on the list is Carlisle Cutchin (1925-41) who was MSU's first coach who won 256 games in 16 seasons. Second is Coach Cal Luther (1958-74) who won 241 games in 16 seasons. McMahon is in his sixth season with the Racers and Greene arrived at his total in seven seasons.

Fans are reminded that Monday's game at SIUE has been pushed back to Monday, Feb. 15. The Racers are coming home this week to host Southeast Missouri and UT Martin at the CFSB Center. The Thursday and Saturday games are each doubleheader days at The Bank with the women's game tip at 4:30 p.m. and the men's at 7:30 p.m.