Story by Gage Johnson
Senior Writer
Coming off of a late victory against Jacksonville State that put them in eighth place in the OVC, the Racers went toe-to-toe with the conference’s leader: Tennessee Tech.
Murray State took the Golden Eagles down to the wire, but a 45-point surge from their bench had Tennessee Tech walking away with a 74-65 win.
The Racers came out and grabbed the lead right away in the first quarter with six-straight points from junior forward Evelyn Adebayo. Thanks to its defense, forcing 5-for-16 in the opening quarter for the Golden Eagles, Murray State headed into the second quarter holding a 16-12 lead.
The roles reversed for both teams as Tennessee Tech went on to outscore the Racers in the second quarter. However, a 15-12 outcome still left the Golden Eagles trailing Murray State 28-27 going into the locker room.
The back-and-forth affair continued for both teams as a highly offensive third quarter had things knotted up going into the fourth quarter.
With 1:58 left to play at the Hooper Eblen Center, a jumper from freshman guard Macey Turley had the Racers trailing 63-61. However, Tennessee Tech took off from there on.
A 7-0 run over the next minute from the Golden Eagles had them in charge 70-61 with a minute to play. The Racers continued to fight, but couldn’t pull within more than six, ultimately losing 74-65.
A critical key to Tennessee Tech’s success was its bench play. The Golden Eagles second unit poured in 45 points, with 17 coming from sophomore guard Kesha Brady and 15 coming from sophomore forward Mackenzie Coleman.
Murray State found a successful trio of scorers in Adebayo (25 points, 10 rebounds), sophomore guard Janika Griffith-Wallace (14 points, six assists), and Turley (12 points). However, a lack of depth showed, as no bench player besides freshman guard Alexis Burpo played more than 10 minutes off the bench. The Racers also turned the ball over 19 times, turning into 14 points off of turnovers for Tennessee Tech.
Now sitting at 7-14 overall with a 3-7 record in OVC play, Murray State will return home looking to fight for a spot in the OVC tournament against EIU and SIUE. The Racers will tip-off at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, against EIU at the CFSB Center.
