Racers maintain league lead with 88-66 win over Golden Eagles
Despite big games from Kevin Murphy and Elijah Muhammad, Tennessee Tech couldn’t keep pace with league-leading Murray State Saturday night and the host Racers rolled to a 88-66 Ohio Valley Conference victory.
Golden Eagles head home for the next four
contests
MURRAY, Ky. – Despite 22 points from Kevin Murphy and 20 by
Elijah Muhammad, Tennessee Tech couldn’t keep pace with
league-leading Murray State Saturday night and the host Racers
rolled to a 88-66 Ohio Valley Conference victory in the Regional
Special Events Center.
An early 12-1 run by the Racers pushed the home team to a
double-digit lead and Murray State never allowed Tech to get closer
than 10.
Murray State (16-3 overall/8-0 OVC) got its usual balanced effort
on offense with five players netting double figures. Ivan Aska had
16 points and nine rebounds and Donte Poole added 13 points, all in
the second half. Isacc Miles and Tony Easley finished with 12 each
and Isaiah Cannon added 10.
Murphy had a solid game, shooting 9-for-11 from the field including
all three of his 3-point tries, to finish with a game-high 22
points. Muhammad scored a career-high with 20, shooting 6-for-9
from the floor including a 3-pointer and 7-for-8 at the free throw
line.
The Golden Eagles (8-10 overall/2-5 OVC) led in the early minutes
of the contest, but a dunk by Isacc Miles put the Racers on top
11-10 with 13:34 to play in the first half and they never trailed
after that. When the 12-1 run was finished, Murray State was ahead
19-10 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Up by nine, 34-25, the Racers put together another brief run by
outscoring Tech 7-0 and the lead grew to 41-25. At halftime, MSU
was on top by 17 points.
The Golden Eagles pulled to within 10 points early in the second
half, 50-40, when Muhammad hit a layup with 17:30 to play. Down 13,
the Golden Eagles saw MSU outscore Tech 9-1 over the next two
minutes as the lead climbed to 21 points.
Tech made one final charge to pull with 13 points, 77-64, in the
final four minutes but the Racers notched the next eight points to
ice the win.
The Golden Eagles will look forward to returning to their home
floor for the next four games. The homestand begins Thursday night
with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Austin Peay.
Tickets are on sale at the Athletic Ticket Office in Eblen Center
or by calling (931) 372-3940.
