Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
After a tough road loss to Missouri State University, the Murray State men’s basketball team grabbed the lead at 1-0 and never lost it on the way to an 85-52 victory over Middle Tennessee State University.
The Racers came out of the gates looking to take command, going on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes of play.
Murray State continued to pour it on offensively throughout the first half, taking a 24-7 lead with 10:18 to play thanks to a three from senior guard Jaiveon Eaves.
The Blue Raiders’ offense had struggled so much by this point that they had seven team fouls to match their seven points. The Racers were able to keep MTSU from hitting their first three until the 4:21 mark in the first half.
Sophomore forward KJ Williams put on a clinic in his first game off the bench. Williams was 4-for-4 from the field and 4-for-5 from the charity stripe for 12 points while grabbing seven rebounds. He finished the night with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Head Coach Matt McMahon said he felt as though Williams had an excellent game in his first one off the bench this season.
“I thought he responded very well,” McMahon said. “He had a good week of practice and had his best practice today at our shootaround and I thought that carried over to the court. He was awesome.”
Eaves poured in 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting while knocking 3-for-4 from three to combine for 25 of Murray State’s 51 points. The senior guard finished the night with 19 points and four assists.
Eaves lost a decent amount of weight during the offseason and his transition from a spot-up shooter to someone who can score for the Racers off the dribble is something sophomore guard Tevin Brown is ecstatic about.
“I love it,” Brown said. “He made a big jump over the summer losing 25 to 30 pounds and getting himself in shape to be able to play as many minutes as he’s been doing. It’s a lot of fun playing next to him.”
The Racers as a team shot 60.7% from the field and 57.1% from beyond the arc, propelling them to a 51-24 lead going into the locker room.
Murray State continued to control the game on both ends of the floor, never losing the lead on its way to an 85-52 win.
Freshman forward Demond Robinson earned the first start of his career, going for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, grabbing two rebounds and sending two shots into the stands with emphatic blocks.
Robinson has made vast strides in his game after missing the majority of the summer due to injury and McMahon said it’s his work ethic that has helped him get to this point.
“He’s gotten a lot better the last three weeks in practice,” McMahon said. “He impacts winning by his defensive presence, he’s a very unselfish offensive player, a great screener, he can finish plays around the goal and at the end of the day he’s my kind of guy. He earned that start and I thought he played very well.”
While their offense was nearly unstoppable, the Racers’ defense also stifled the Blue Raiders’ offense almost entirely.
They were able to hold Middle Tennessee State to 3-for-22 shooting from beyond the arc, with junior guard C.J. Jones and senior guard Antonio Green going for a combined 0-for-13 shooting from three.
Three-point defense has been a huge part of McMahon’s team in past years and though it hasn’t been as solid this year, McMahon said they are working to fix that and he was proud of his team’s defensive effort against the Blue Raiders.
“We haven’t done the job there and that’s been a staple in our program in recent years,” McMahon said. “So I was really concerned coming into tonight, where they have C.J. Jones who is top-20 in the country and three-point shooting and Antonio Green who is No. 2 amongst all college players in active career made threes. So we really challenged our team to get after it defensively and I thought you saw that. I thought our effort was outstanding.”
The win puts the Racers above .500 at 5-4 and they will look to get back-to-back wins since back-to-back wins against Brescia University and Southern Illinois University on Nov. 16 and Nov.19. Murray State will return to action on Monday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. taking on Kennesaw State University at the CFSB Center.
