What was supposed to be a Murray State men’s basketball game at the CFSB Center on Sunday afternoon turned into a Monday night game at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
With Murray State University still struggling with the power outage affecting parts of campus, including the CFSB Center, the men’s basketball game against the Northern Iowa Panthers was moved to Belmont University. The game was treated as a Racer home game with Murray State Athletics producing the whole game.
The Racers started the game well, jumping out to a 10-4 lead at the under-16 media timeout of the first half thanks to 3-pointers from senior guards Kylen Milton and AJ Ferguson. Good starts to games are something that has plagued the Racers so jumping out to an early lead at the first media stoppage was a good sign.
UNI came out of the timeout motivated, going on a 10-0 run, forcing Murray State head coach Steve Prohm to call a timeout after only 2:12 of game time. Both teams traded baskets, and subsequently the lead, before UNI’s Trey Campbell hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers the lead. UNI took a 37-34 lead into halftime, with the first half being a showcase of good Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) basketball that only the 472 people in attendance were able to witness.
Both teams continued to trade the lead to start the second half, with junior forward KyeRon Lindsay hitting a layup to tie the game at 41 at the 16:23 mark of the second half. The Panthers went on another run led by Campbell, who hit a 3-pointer, got a steal and then assisted an and-1 layup to forward Will Hornseth. Horseth missed the free throw but UNI forward Ben Schweiger grabbed the offensive rebound and turned a three-point play into a four-point play. A technical foul was assessed to coach Prohm which gave UNI two more free throws and gave the Panthers a nine-point lead that Murray State couldn’t overcome.
Murray State lost to UNI 74-67 and dropped below .500 at 13-14 overall and are now in a five-way tie for sixth place in the MVC standings with Illinois State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois and Evansville. All five teams have a 7-9 conference record.
The Racers were led by three scorers with 15 or more points. Senior guard Terence Harcum finished with 19 on 6-for-13 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 from the three-point line, senior forward Nick Ellington scored 18 points in 29 minutes of action and senior guard JaCobi Wood had 15 points and five rebounds in his old stomping grounds at Belmont.
The Racers’ home game against Southern Illinois (SIU) on Wednesday, Feb. 19, has been moved to the Banterra Center in Carbondale, Illinois, due to the power outages on the Murray State campus and will be treated as a Murray State home game. All tickets already purchased for the game in Murray will be honored at SIU. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. but The Murray State News will provide updates if anything about this changes.
