Racers Win 18th OVC Tournament Title

Saturday, March 5

Evansville, Ind.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

30-2,18-0OVC

Morehead State

23-11,13-5OVC

Morehead St.

Murray St.

3/5/2022 10:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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MVP Hill & Brown Combine For 44

The 22^nd-ranked Murray State men's basketball team captured its 18^th OVC tournament title with a 71-67 win over Morehead State Saturday at the 2022 OVC Men's Basketball Championship at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

Morehead State's Tray Hollowell hit a turnaround 3-pointer with eight seconds left to pull the Eagles within one, but free throws down the stretch, where the Racers made six in the last 1:13, by Tevin Brown and KJ Williams sealed the win for Murray State. The Racers were hot from downtown in the game making 10 3-pointers, including three each from Brown and Justice Hill.

Brown led Murray State in the game with 23 points, while Hill scored 21 on 8-of-19 shooting. KJ Williams was a basket away from a double-double as he scored eight points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Following the game, Williams, Hill and Brown were named to the OVC All-Tournament team with Hill also being named as the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Hill averaged 15.5 points and 4.0 assists over two tournament games.

The Racers now advance to the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Head coach Matt McMahon and team must now wait until next Sunday, Mar. 13 to learn their first-round opponent and destination during the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Show at 5 p.m. CT on CBS.

Legendary duo, ticket punched. @original_tev10 @MxSniperK_ #RacerTradition 🐎🐎🐎 pic.twitter.com/Skd4mVFYOJ
— Murray State MBB (@RacersHoops) March 7, 2022

MSU is the first team in OVC history to go undefeated in the regular season and postseason tournament. The OVC did have three teams undefeated The first 3 times it happened there was no postseason OVC Tournament. The last 2 times it has happened, the undefeated team lost in the Tournament Title Game. There were three instances (1950, 1966, 1970) when WKU was undefeated in league play, but there was no tournament held.
1949-50 Western Kentucky (8-0 … no postseason OVC tournament)
1965-66 Western Kentucky (14-0 … no postseason OVC tournament)
1969-70 Western Kentucky (14-0 … no tournament held)
2003-04 Austin Peay (16-0 … lost in OVC Tournament Championship Game)
2014-15 Murray State (16-0 … lost OVC Tournament Championship Game)
2021-22 Murray State (18-0 … won in OVC Tournament Championship Game)
The Racers are now 74-39 (.651) all-time in the OVC Tournament.
Dating back to 2017, the Racers are 9-3 in the OVC Tournament.
Tonight marked Murray State's 31^st appearance in the in the OVC championship game. They are now 18-13 (.580).
This game was the 15^th meeting between the Racers and Eagles in the OVC Tournament. The Racers are now 13-2 (.812) and 2-0 in title games. The Racers also beat the Eagles in the 2010 championship game.

Trae Hannibal (@thetraehannibal), DJ Burns (@underratedd__), and Jordan Skipper-Brown (@SkipDaFlipp) help up KJ Williams (@MxSniperK_) and give him the NCAA Tournament Ticket, which he gives away.

To who?

The Murray State faithful that he loves. pic.twitter.com/ZvZg4rRbCT
— Cameron Witte (@CamBehindTheCam) March 6, 2022

Murray State's Justice Hill becomes MSU's 17^th OVC Tournament MVP Award among 14 players and the first since Ja Morant in 2019. Tevin Brown and KJ Williams joined Hill on the team along with Morhead State's Johni Broome and Ta'Lon Cooper.
With his 23 points tonight, Tevin Brown has scored 132 points in seven OVC Tournament games for a scoring average of 18.8 KJ Williams scored eight points tonight and has 102 points in seven games for an average of 14.5
Brown has made a 3-pointer in 28 consecutive games. The last time he failed to make at least one three was against ETSU (Nov. 22).
Brown continues to extend his record for made 3-point baskets in the OVC. After a 3-of-11 today, he has 348.
McMahon's outstanding success for the Racers now has him at 153-66 (.698) in seven seasons and 93-31 (.750) in OVC games. In his last five seasons, McMahon's Racers are an incredible 120-35 (.774).

YOUR 2022 OVC TOURNAMENT MBB CHAMPS! @RacersHoops 🏆🏀🎟🥊#OVCit #OVCTourney pic.twitter.com/5zF4WAmkD2
— OhioValleyConference (@OVCSports) March 6, 2022

Tonight's game was MSU's 47th all-time game as a ranked team. MSU is #22 this week in the Associated Press and USA Today Top-25.
MSU's win streak of 20 in a row is the best in NCAA D-I. MSU's longest program winning streak is also the OVC record of 25-straight by the 2014-15 team.
The Racers have the most wins of any team in the nation with 30 wins.
Coach McMahon has his first 30-win season in his seven seasons at MSU. He's the third MSU coach to win 30 games following Billy Kennedy (31-5 in 2009-10) and Steve Prohm (31-2 in 2011-12).