Season Ends In Heartbreak For Racers At OVC Tournament

Thursday, March 4

Evansville, Ind.

7 p.m.

Murray State

13-13,10-10OVC

Jacksonville State

18-8,13-6OVC

OT 1

Murray St.

Jacksonville St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Season Ends In Heartbreak For Racers At OVC Tournament

3/4/2021 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Racers lost a quarterfinal game in the OVC Tournament in overtime to Jacksonville State at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The Murray State Racers suffered a heartbreaking end to the 2020-21 season in a 68-65 overtime defeat to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the quarterfinals of the 58th Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Thursday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

The loss for the Racers ends their season at 13-13 and marks only the fifth time in 35 years they have failed to make the semifinals.

Tevin Brown's 24 points led the Racers and KJ Williams added 23 to go with a team-high nine rebounds.

It looked like the Racers could win it in regulation time when Williams scored for a 52-46 lead with 4:27 remaining. The Gamecocks answered with 7-0 run to take a 53-52 lead at 2:29. Justice Hill hit a 3-pointer for another MSU lead with 1:29 left, but JSU's Darian Adams a three and it took a driving shot by Brown with 27 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.

In overtime, Brown hit a 3-pointer with 2:08 left for a 65-63 lead, but it was the final basket the Racers scored. JSU had a 5-0 run to take a 68-65 lead. The Racers had two good looks from the 3-point line to force a second overtime, but the shots by Williams and Hill wouldn't go in. Tevin Brown

In the first half, MSU enjoyed their largest lead of the game at 31-24 on Brown's jumper at 2:21, but had to settle for a 31-29 lead at the halftime intermission. The Racers went ahead by six points with 12:22 left as their biggest lead in the second half. They held the same lead with 4:27 remaining before JSU forced late-game drama.

The game ended with the Racers shooting 41 percent from the field (26-of-64), while JSU was at 39 percent (23-of-59). JSU outscored the Racers 8-to-5 from the 3-point and had a six-point advantage from the free throw line.

Game Notes

The Racers are 72-39 (.648) all-time in the OVC Tournament that is being played for the 58th time and for the fourth-straight year at the Ford Center.

The Racers are now 5-2 in the Ford Center.

The Racers are 3-1 against JSU in the event with semifinal wins in 2006, 2018 and 2019.

Seeing the Racers in the OVC semifinals has been nearly a lock-solid thing. Since seeding began in 1986, the Racers have been in the semifinals in 31 of 36 years. The only years the Racers failed to make the semifinals came in 1987, 2005, 2007, 2016 and now in 2021.

Tonight was the fifth game for Tevin Brown in the OVC Tournament. With a 24-point performance, he is now scoring 13.8 points per game and has hit 11-of-31 from the 3-point line for 35 percent. He has also grabbed 5.1 rebounds per game and dished out 15 assists. This was also the fifth game for KJ Williams in the OVC Tournament. Tonight he scored 23 points and hauled in nine rebounds, to boost his per game averages to 10.8ppg and 5.8. He is 4-of-7 from the 3-point line. Brown tied his OVC Tournament high scoring game, he also scored 24 in 2020 against Austin Peay. Williams' 23 points is his tournament personal best.

The effort of Brown and Williams in this game marked MSU's first with a pair of 20-point scorers since Feb. 27, 2020 against Eastern Kentucky when Brown scored 21 and Williams 20.
With their senior season to come in 2021-22, Tevin Brown and KJ Williams enter their final seasons with the Racers climbing up the all-time scoring list. In 91 career games, Brown has 1,343 points and is No. 22 on the list. Williams has played in 90 games at MSU with 1,054 points and tied with hall of famer Bennie Purcell (1948-52), for No. 40 on the list. Brown and Williams have been named All-OVC in each of the last two seasons.

Brown enters his senior season with 248 made 3-pointers at MSU for No. 3 on the all-time list. No. 2 is hall of famer Frank Allen (1989-93) who made 251 from 1989-93 and tops on the list is another MSU hall of famer, Isaiah Canaan who made 304 threes from 2009-13.

This was the Racers' first overtime game of the 2020-21 season and first since they won at Southeast Missouri State 96-91 on Jan. 18, 2020. MSU's last OT game in the OVC Tournament was on March 1, 2017 when MSU beat Tennessee Tech in double overtime 85-84 behind 41 points from Jonathan Stark.