Racers Open 99th Season With Seven In Double-Figure Scoring

Monday, November 6

Murray, Ky.

7 p.m.

Murray State

1-0,0-0MVC

Midway

0-1

Midway

Murray St.

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

Racers Open 99th Season With Seven In Double-Figure Scoring

11/6/2023 10:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box SCore (PDF)

The Murray State men’s team opened its 99th season of collegiate basketball and 26th season in the CFSB

The Murray State Racers blitzed the Midway Eagles 91-58 in winning their 99^th season opener to the 2023-24 season at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.

The Racers' three-game home stand to start the season continues Friday with a game against Tennessee Tech and next week against Western Kentucky (Nov. 14).

Nick Ellington had a big debut with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with 12 rebounds, both career highs for the sophomore who transferred to MSU from Eastern Illinois.

Ellington led seven Racers in double-figure scoring including: 12 each from JaCobi Wood, Shawn Walker, Jr. and Quincy Anderson, while Rob Perry hit for 11 points and Brian Moore, Jr., and Justin Morgan each scored 10 points.

At 11:59 of the first half, Ellington grabbed his fifth rebound and scored and Walker went the length of the floor on a fast break to tie the game 17-17. Walker and Wood hit back-to-back threes after the Racers stared the game 0-of-6, part of MSU's 12-2 in which they hit 6-of-7 from the field to build a 29-19 lead with 8:55 before half. The Racers ended the half making 5-of-7 from the 3-point line to get a 54-33 lead at the intermission.

Game Notes

Only eight minutes into the game, Ellington was 4-of-5 from the field for nine points and had already grabbed five rebounds.
By halftime, Ellington scored 17 points (7-of-9 FG) and pulled down seven rebounds in 13 minutes of floor time.
Ellington is the first Racer to get a double-double in his MSU debut since 2020 (11-20-20) when Justice Hill and the Racers took on Greenville in an amazing win of 173-95. Hill played only 18 minutes, but had 10 rebounds and 11 assists and was flirting with a triple double with seven points.
Ellington's debut of 22 points is the best for the Racers since Byron Hawkins scored 28 points against Brescia (11-10-17).
The Racers carded 20 assists on their 33 made field goals for a clip of .606.
The Racers won the rebound battle 47-30 and only gave eight offensive rebounds on Midway's 38 missed shots (.210).
MSU's Friday game against Tennessee Tech is a White Out at the CFSB Center in the 7 p.m. tipoff.
The MSU-Tech series began in 1930 and lasted all through the 74 seasons for the Racers in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The MSU-Tech series is tops among opponents the Racers have played with 183 prior games played with the last in 2022.

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