Jakob Milani
Sports Editor
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The top two teams in the OVC went head-to-head on Saturday, Jan. 29, when the Murray State basketball team took on the Morehead State Eagles in the CFSB Center.
The game was a slugfest with the two titans going back-and-forth throughout the game. In the end, it was the Racers who came out on top, defeating the Eagles 77-66.
Junior guard Tevin Brown said this game was the Racers’ most challenging game so far.
“It was physical from the time the ball got tipped up to the last buzzer,” Brown said. “We knew coming in that they were gonna play hard. We watched film on them. We’re both physical teams, but in the end, we executed our plays down the stretch.”
The Racers were the first to strike with a couple of baskets from sophomore guard Justice Hill. The Eagles took the lead away just a few minutes later with a three-pointer from junior guard Skyelar Potter and a layup from freshman forward Johni Broom. Following those baskets, the Eagles were up 7-6.
A three-pointer from Brown put the Racers back up by two, but sophomore guard Ta’lon Cooper tied the game at nine. After a free throw from Williams, graduate guard Tray Hollowell made a three to put the Eagles up 12-10 with 11:53 to play in the first half.
A three-pointer from Cooper put the Eagles at 15, but layups from Brown and Hill put the Racers up by one point. Then, with three layups from Broome and a three-pointer from Hollowell, the Eagles went up by six points, taking a 24-18 lead.
As the clock went under five minutes for the first half, Brown nailed back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at 24. The Racers closed out the first half with layups from Hill and sophomore guard Trae Hannibal, as well as a three-pointer from Williams.
Those last three-pointers from Brown were enough for him to break the OVC record for three-pointers made.
Brown said he was glad the chase for the record was finally done.
“It feels good but I’m not going to lie, it feels good to have all of that over with,” Brown said. “I can just focus on basketball and us winning games now… It was a lot of attention and I’m not someone who likes all of that attention. We can just get back to Racer basketball.”
As the teams went back to the locker rooms for halftime, Murray State was up 33-28 over Morehead State.
Brown led the Racers at halftime with 11 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and 3-6 shooting from three-point range. Hill followed with 10 points and three assists. Williams had six points and four rebounds at halftime.
Broome was on top for the Eagles with eight points and four rebounds, shooting 4-9 from the field. Potter had seven points and three rebounds, while Hollowell had six points on 2-2 shooting from three-point range.
The Eagles quickly took their lead back with a layup from Potter and a three-pointer from Hollowell. A layup from Williams and a putback dunk from Hill gave the Racers their lead back and put them up 37-35.
The CFSB Center erupted when Williams made a dunk for the Racers, but Potter went down and answered with a three-pointer to give the Eagles the lead.
As the quarter continued on, neither team was willing to give the lead away. That was until Williams scored eight straight points to put the Racers up 56-48 with 5:46 left in the game.
The Eagles managed to hang on and not let the Racers get too far ahead. Three-pointers from Cooper and junior guard Jake Wolfe kept the Eagles spirits alive, but the Racers held on to the lead through the final buzzer.
Hill managed to get a steal late in the half which he passed up to Brown who lobbed it up for an alley-oop slam from Hannibal. That proved to be the exclamation point for the Racers as they defeated the Eagles by a score of 77-66.
Williams finished with 21 points to lead the Racers to victory. He also grabbed nine rebounds and shot 8-13 from the field. Hill followed with 19 points and five assists. Brown finished with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Hannibal finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.
Potter and Broome led the Eagles with 16 points and 14 points, respectively. Broome also grabbed 11 rebounds in the game. Cooper finished with 13 points and Hollowell finished with 11 points and three three-pointers
Head Coach Matt McMahon said the game was one of the most fun games to watch and be a part of this season.
“It was a heck of a college basketball game,” McMahon said. “I think that every player on that court played their guts out and competed at a high level. I’m really appreciative of the fans. It was the best environment we’ve had in awhile. It was awesome and a lot of fun to be a part of it.”
The Racers move to 20-2 on the season, one of just two teams in the country with 20 wins. Murray State will travel to Austin Peay to take on the Governors on Thursday, Feb. 3. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
