Playing in their first true home game since Feb. 11, the Murray State men’s basketball team hosted the Indiana State Sycamores on Tuesday, Feb. 25. This was the last home game of the 2024-25 regular season and Senior Night.
The night began by honoring all of the seniors within the men’s basketball program: student manager Dave Sandstedt, guards AJ Ferguson, JaCobi Wood, Kylen Milton, Terence Harcum and forward Nick Ellington. They were announced to the crowd and took a picture with Head Coach Steve Prohm before the opening tip-off.
Both teams traded baskets in the opening minutes but Indiana State guard Samage Teel’s 3-pointer at the 13:44 mark of the first half gave the Sycamores a six point lead. That was the largest lead either team took in the first half. Murray State went on an 8-2 run over the next 2:55 to tie the game at 18. The rest of the half was back-and-forth between the teams, with Indiana State taking a 40-39 lead into halftime.
Prohm talked about what he said to the team at the halftime break at the postgame press conference.
“Defense, defense, defense,” Prohm said. “Can we please stop (Indiana State from scoring)?”
Indiana State made it hard on the Racers defense, starting the second half on an 11-4 and extending their lead to eight. Murray State went on a 9-0 run of their own which started with a layup in the paint by junior forward Alden Applewhite, a stepback 3-pointer by Harcum and back-to-back buckets by junior forward KyeRon Lindsay which gave the Racers a 58-54 lead with 11:40 to go. The Racers never surrendered the lead after taking it.
Prohm got his wish for better defense from his team, holding Indiana State to just 39% shooting from the field and 25% from the three-point line. Wood hit two 3-pointers in back-to-back possessions to give Murray State the first double-digit lead of the night for either team, and despite a valiant effort by the Sycamores, the Racers held their ground defensively and only let their lead dip below five points for a 17 second stretch in the final 5:18.
Murray State hit nine of their last 10 free throws to finish off the Sycamores 85-75 and win the last home game of the season.
Four of the five Murray State seniors finished in double-digit points. Harcum scored a game and Murray State career-high 25 points, with 12 of those coming from the three-point line. He shot 53% from the field. Wood finished the game with 14 points, all of which came in the second half and eight of those came from the foul line, where he went 8-for-8. Ellington ended with a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double. It was his sixth of his career and third at Murray State.
Murray State also continued their great run of free throw shooting against the Sycamores, going 30-41. This game was the first time since Dec. 31, 2016, where the Racers attempted more than 41 free throws in a game. Murray State went 35-of-43 against Tennessee State from the charity stripe in that game. In the Racers last three games, they are shooting 79-of-98 from the foul line.
Murray State will finish the 24-25 season at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee, when they play the Belmont Bruins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Mar. 2. The Bruins won the first game at the CFSB Center on Jan. 25 by a score of 95-77. This will be the second time in nine days that the Racers have played in Nashville. The Racers played the Northern Iowa Panthers there on Feb. 17 due to power outages across the Murray State Campus.
