Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
The stage is now set. For the third straight year, Murray State men’s basketball will take on Belmont in the OVC Championship after defeating Austin Peay in the OVC Semifinal 73-61.
The Racers got off to a slow start going 2-for-12 from the field, which enabled Austin Peay to take an early 13-5 lead with a 7-0 run.
Back-to-back corner threes from redshirt freshman guard DaQuan Smith kickstarted a 12-0 run that put Murray State out in front 17-13 with 10:47 left to play in the first half.
Smith entered the game only making one of his last 13 threes, and sophomore guard Tevin Brown said that despite his recent struggles there was no doubt that he couldn’t make those shots.
“We have a lot of trust in him,” Brown said. “He’s our starting point guard. He wouldn’t be on the court if he couldn’t play basketball. So we just put trust in every one of our players and he happened to deliver tonight.”
The Governors had knotted things up at 21 with a jumper from freshman guard Jordyn Adams, but Murray State took off on an 11-0 run to take a 32-21 lead late in the first half.
After Austin Peay senior guard Evan Hinson drilled a three with two seconds left in the first half, Murray State headed to the locker room holding a 36-29 lead.
The Governors jumped out to a 37-36 lead with threes from Adams and junior guard Terry Taylor, but once Murray State regained the lead at 45-44 they never looked back.
Brown got fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws and then followed that up with a layup in the next possession to take a 50-46 lead.
Brown continued his proficient offensive efforts throughout the second half, finishing with 15 points in the half and 24 points for the game on 7-for-16 shooting, while shooting 50% from three and going 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.
The Racers built off of Brown’s offensive prowess and received key contributions from a number of players, as Austin Peay never got closer than within more than six, with Murray State ultimately coming away with a 73-61 win.
While Brown’s offense was a huge part of the Racers’ success, Head Coach Matt McMahon praised his defense against Adams in the postgame press conference.
“I think his defense on him was terrific,” McMahon said. “Tevin has always been a top and elite perimeter defender for us and I thought he was up to the challenge again tonight.”
Adams had finished with over 20 points in the previous two matchups with the Racers, but finished the game with 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting in the OVC Semifinal.
McMahon said while you can’t stop Adams and Taylor, they tried to make them take a high volume of shots to lower their efficiency, and Brown did just that in his assignment against Adams.
Austin Peay Head Coach Matt Figger said that Adams had injured his back at Murray State on Saturday, Feb. 29, and that soreness most likely played a factor in his struggles as well.
While Taylor finished the game with 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead all scorers, it took Taylor 25 shots to do so.
Taylor had struggled in the previous matchup with Murray State, scoring in single digits for the only time all season and came into this game looking to put his team in a good position to win.
“I’ve been here before more than anybody, and I felt like I didn’t give my team everything I had six days ago when we played them,” Taylor said. “So my mindset was to come out and be aggressive and just try to give my team everything I could.”
Another crucial part of the Racers win was their bench play. Murray State’s bench outscored Austin Peay’s bench 30-11 and Figger said that it was a deciding factor in the game.
“What affected us was that Murray’s bench won the game for them,” Figger said. “Obviously Tevin Brown played a heck of a game, but the game was won from Murray’s bench and we got very little contribution from our bench.”
Figger said that Williams is practically a starter with the amount of minutes he plays, but felt that he along with freshman guard Chico Carter Jr. and junior forward Devin Gilmore were crucial parts of the Racers’ winning formula.
Williams finished with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Carter Jr. 10 points and six assists and Gilmore finished with five points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Gilmore left his mark on this game with his defense and rebounding and McMahon said that the junior forward just did what he’s always done all season—step up when it mattered most.
“He was huge,” McMahon said. “He came off the bench and brought great energy, chased rebounds, finished plays around the goal and made some big plays in some key moments. He’s come up big for us in multiple games this year and I thought tonight was no different.”
Murray State was also able to score 15 points off of turnovers while holding Austin Peay to just nine points off of turnovers.
All in all, McMahon says that what has made this team so successful is the comradery amongst the players and coaches.
“I’ve said it all year long, the strength of our team is our team,” McMahon said. “Since the first week of December we’ve had a really tight knit close group. They play for each other, play extremely hard [and] that’s why we’ve gotten better as the season has gone on and have an opportunity to play for the championship tomorrow.”
Murray State now has a quick turnaround, looking to claim its third straight OVC Championship against Belmont at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, at the Ford Center.
“We’ll be ready,” McMahon said. “It’s a great opportunity. I know they have a very good team. They’ve won 11 or 12 in a row now [and] are playing good basketball. We’ll get back tonight and get prepared and ready to go, but we’re thankful for the opportunity to be playing for the Championship tomorrow night.”
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