Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
Murray State fell in its chance at revenge against Belmont, losing 72-71 in heartbreaking fashion in its second matchup with the Bruins this season.
The Racers got off to a solid start, taking a 7-4 lead with 15:37 left in the first half on 3-6 shooting while holding Belmont scoreless for two and a half minutes.
After trading buckets back and forth, Murray State went on a quick 7-0 run powered by sophomores Demond Robinson and Chico Carter Jr.
The Bruins responded with a 7-0 run of their own, however, as the Racers turned the ball over four times and Belmont capitalized on each miscue.
Junior forward Caleb Hollander followed up a Murray State timeout with a three to make it a 10-0 run for the Bruins, but junior forward KJ Williams quickly responded with a three of his own to knot things up at 25 with just under five minutes to play in the half.
But once again, Williams took over the game in the first half and was a man on a mission for the Racers. He was everywhere on the floor grabbing rebounds, tipping passes, blocking shots and making plenty of shots himself.
A tip-in off a missed floater from Carter Jr. at the buzzer gave Williams a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while sending Murray State into the locker room holding a 37-32 lead.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair with both teams playing some of its best basketball so far this season.
Murray State built on its lead early on coming out of the locker room, going on a 7-0 run while holding Belmont scoreless for nearly three minutes. The Bruins quickly responded with a bucket, but the Racers had built their lead to 44-37 with 15:57 left to play.
The two continued to trade blows with run after run, with the Racers out in front until a late scoring drought allowed the Bruins to claw their way back in front by lighting it up from beyond the arc.
After the Bruins knotted things up at 71 with 42 seconds to play, the Racers came down with a chance to score, but junior guard Tevin Brown was met by a double team and a turnover quickly led to a dramatic finish.
Belmont raced to the other end on a fastbreak looking to take a lead and the Bruins got their chance with a very questionable and late foul after a blown layup by sophomore guard Ben Sheppard.
Head Coach Matt McMahon was visibly upset with the call on the sideline, but said he won’t speculate due to the angle he saw the call from.
“I mean obviously I’m a long way away from the call,” McMahon said. “So if he got hit and that’s what the ref saw, I guess that’s what’s called. It’s tough when the call is late like that. But again, I’m a long way away so I don’t know if there was contact or not.”
Sheppard made one of two at the charity stripe, leaving Murray State down 72-71with 11 seconds left and a chance to win the game and hand Belmont its first OVC loss.
But once the ball was inbounded, the Racers seemed a tad lost and wasted about four seconds before initiating any offense.
Sophomore guard Justice Hill received a ball screen from Williams, drove and kicked to Brown and after driving into the lane he was met by junior forward Nick Muszynski who got his fifth block of the night.
Brown said the look wasn’t the one Murray State wanted, as they had an offense drawn up against a different defensive set than the one Belmont threw at them.
“Well we had to have a man set there late where we would’ve liked to have gotten KJ a post-up in the lane down one there,” McMahon said. “When they stayed with zone we ran our spread ball screen against the zone to try and get an overload… I thought Justice did a nice job coming off the ball screen and drawing help and kicking to Tevin, but I’ll have to see the film if that should’ve been a shot or if it was the right play to make the drive.”
The buzzer sounded moments after the block, leaving Murray State crushed after being handed a heartbreaking 72-71 loss.
Williams, who finished with 18 points on 6-15 shooting and 16 rebounds, said it was tough losing like that knowing that they played some of their best basketball this season.
“Just knowing that we went out and played our best on the offensive and defensive end,” Williams said. “We took them out of most of their shots and we tried to run in transition and get ourselves open shots. It just felt weird that we played our hardest and didn’t come out successful.”
The loss puts Murray State at 7-8 overall and 4-6 in OVC play. Now the Racers have only a few days to prepare for a three-game week, with the first game coming against SEMO on Monday, Feb. 1, at 6 p.m.
“The big key for us now is I know I’ve talked about staying committed to getting better as a team and we’ve done that, but now we have a quick turnaround,” McMahon said. “It’s not a normal Saturday night where we have until Thursday to get ready. We’re playing against a much-improved SEMO team in 44 hours. So the mental part will be important for us.”
