Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Morgan State
Racers Set Record Winning Streak In 75-66 Win Over Morgan State
2/20/2010 8:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Murray State Racers set the school record winning streak when they defeated the Morgan State Bears on BracketBusters Saturday by a 75-66 score at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers' 17 consecutive victories top the previous mark of 16 that was set twice by MSU teams in the 1930's under their first head coach Carlisle Cutchin.
Murray State moved to 26-3 overall, three wins shy of tying the program mark of 29 single-season wins set by the 1997-98 squad.
The Racers trailed by three at the half, but got the lead for good when Ivan Aska scored a three-point play less than two minutes into the second half. It was the Racers' first lead since the 6:11 mark of the first half at 37-34.
Danero Thomas drained a three-pointer moments later and MSU had its largest lead of the day at 42-34 with 16:55 remaining when Tony Easley finished a fast break.
The Bears came back to tie it 48-48 with 10:56 left, before MSU went ahead by seven on an Aska basket in the paint with 7:24 left.
The Racers put the win away when Isaiah Canaan scored on two fast breaks for a 71-59 lead and Thomas hit another three to put MSU ahead by 15 with 1:52 left.
Aska led the Racers with 17, while Canaan tossed in 14 and B.J. Jenkins scored 13. Tony Easley had 10 to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
MSU has broken a record that stood since the founding of the program and many great teams in Racer past have accomplished great things, but this team now has the record.
"It's special," MSU head coach Billy Kennedy said. "I didn't make a big deal of it before the game, but I did after."
The Racers also saw their senior trio of Tony Easley, Georges Fotso and Danero Thomas play their final regular season home game.
"It has been four years and we realized these last few days that this is our final chance," Fotso said.
The three seniors were part of Kennedy's first class in 2006.
"I am very proud of them and they're a big reason why we're having a season like this," Kennedy said. "They were kids when they arrived and have grown into men. The number one thing with them is character. They're the strength of our team."
GAME NOTES
The Racers have two regular season games remaining before they go into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed. MSU plays on the road next week at Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky with a chance to become only the fourth team in league history to complete the season undefeated. Both of the games on Thursday and Saturday will air on the Racer Television Network.
The first half was a see-saw affair that featured four ties and 10 lead changes.
The Racers pushed their home winning streak to 18 and are 55-9 against non-OVC teams. MSU's overall record is now 145-25 (.868) in 12 seasons in the building. MSU is 14-0 this season and can finish with a perfect home season if they can win their OVC Tournament quarterfinal game against a yet to be determined opponent Mar. 2.
MSU is now 4-2 in the BracketBusters and 2-2 at home.
The game was aired by ESPNU in front of more than 5,000 fans at the RSEC.
