Racers Win Again on Christmas Day - Edge Loyola in Honolulu

Wednesday, December 25

Honolulu, Hawaii

12:30 p.m.

Murray State

7-6,1-1MVC

Loyola - Chicago

9-4,0-0Atlantic 10

Loyola Chicago

Murray St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Win Again on Christmas Day - Edge Loyola in Honolulu

12/25/2024 4:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Playing on Christmas Day for the first time since 1997, MSU took down Loyola Chicago in their final game in Hawaii

The Murray State Racers scored a 71-68 comeback victory Christmas Day over the Loyola Chicago Ramblers in their final of three games at the 15^th annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.

Coupled with their 1997 Christmas Day win over Arkansas, the Racers are 2-0 in their 100-year history when competing on Christmas Day.

The Racers (7-6) get back to Missouri Valley Conference competition on Jan. 2 when they host Illinois State at the CFSB Center in a 7 p.m. tipoff.

With balanced scoring featuring four Racers in double-figures, Terence Harcum and KyeRon Lindsay led the way for MSU with 16 points each, while AJ Ferguson and JaCobi Wood each added 11 points.

Trailing 36-34 at the halftime intermission, the Racers fell behind by 11 points only 2:30 into the second half, but they found a rally.

Five times, the Racers cut the Ramblers lead to three points, when Harcum made a pair of free throws and Wood put the Racers into the lead with a 3-pointer to make it 62-61 Racers at 4:54. It was Harcum's 3-pointer at 3:30 that put the Racers into the lead for the rest of the game.

Game Notes

The Racers snapped a four-game losing streak with the win.
In the three games of the event (losses to Nebraska & Charlotte and a win over LUC) the Racers shot 40 percent from the field (67-of-167), while the opponent was 51 percent (79-of-153).
In 3-point shooting, the Racers hit 29 percent (20-of-70), while the opponent hit 30 percent (14-of-47).
Kylen Milton led the Racers at Diamond Head with 17.3ppg, with AJ Ferguson scoring 13.3 and Terence Harcum 12.0.
KyeRon Lindsay started the last two games and averaged 8.7ppg for the three games on 10-of-15 shooting and he led the Racers with 5.3 rebounds per game.
In the first half, the Loyola made nine straight field goal attempts and were 12-of-13 at one point.
The Ramblers were hot in hitting 13-of-17 (.765), but so were the Racers in shooting 12-of-21 (.571).
Next week when 2025 arrives, the Racers get back to MVC games with a visit from the Illinois State Redbirds (Jan. 2).
The Racers met Loyola for just the second time and their first since 1964 when they met in Chicago for the Racers' first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
The only other time the Racers have played on Dec. 25 was in 1997 when MSU Hall of Famer, De'Teri Mayes and teammates, put on quite a show at the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico.
Playing for Coach Mark Gottfried, the Racers took down No. 12 Arkansas 94-83.
With Mayes scoring 42 points with 10 rebounds, teammate Chad Townsend was getting 17 points of his own with six rebounds and eight assists.
This trip to Honolulu marked the first for the Racers since playing here in the Rainbow Classic in 1998.

Visit GoRacers.com for information in tickets, or call the CFSB Center ticket hotline at 270-809-3000.

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