Brown Scores Career High 20 - Racers Zoom Past SIU - Murray State University Athletics

Wednesday, December 12

Carbondale, Ill.

7 p.m.

Murray State

6-1

Southern Illinois

7-4

Team	1	2	F
Murray State	49	31	80
Southern Illinois	18	34	52

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Brown Scores Career High 20 - Racers Zoom Past SIU

12/12/2018 4:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Murray State Racers turned in a first half gem and rode it to an 80-52 win over the Southern Illinois Salukis at the SIU Arena Wednesday night in Carbondale.

The Racers (6-1) has won back-to-back road games and won for a fourth consecutive time against teams from the Missouri Valley Conference and have won three in a row. They also evened the all-time series with SIU 18-18 and are 10-4 in road games.

Ja Morant scored 23 points to go with 13 assists and Tevin Brown scored a career-high 20 points on 6-of-11 3-point shooting for the Racers. Brion Whitley and KJ Williams each added 10 points for their career highs and Mike Davis grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

The first half for the Racers might go down as the best first half in program history. The Racers hit the Salukis (7-4) with a 15-4 run to build a 19-9 lead at the 10:15 mark. Included in MSU's initial salvo was a pair of Morant 3-pointers. Tevin Brown got hot and hit three-straight 3-pointers and the Racers led 35-14 on a 12-0 run.

When the horn sounded for halftime, the Racers had a 31-point lead over SIU at 49-18. In the first 20 minutes, the Racers were 19-of-33 from the field for 67 percent and 8-of-13 from the 3-point line for 61 percent. Defensively, it is hard to imagine the Racers could defend any better in holding SIU to 19 percent (5-of-26) and 1-of-7 from the 3-point line for 14 percent. The Racers had 12 assists on 19 field goals and had a 22-16 rebounding edge. They forced SIU into four more turnovers than field goals.

The Racers cruised to their largest margin of victory in the history of their 18 wins in the SIU series.

MSU gets back to the friendly confines of the CFSB Center Saturday when they host the Jackson State Tigers on Tevester Anderson night as the university honors the Racers' former head coach.

Game Notes
The Racers have evened the all-time series with the Salukis at 18-18 and have won back-to-back games and 4-of-6 since the series since it was renewed in 2013. MSU is now 10-5 in away games with SIU.

Having already beaten Missouri State (Nov. 24) and now SIU, the Racers take on a third team from the Missouri Valley Conference next week when the Evansville Purple Aces make a visit to the CFSB Center on Tuesday (Dec. 18).

The win tonight gives the Racers four-straight wins over MVC teams in the last two seasons. They defeated SIU and Illinois State a year ago and now have defeated Missouri State and SIU.

One of the focuses of the game was Murray State's ability to defend the 3-point line and SIU's to make them. The Racers were first in NCAA D-I entering the game by holding opponents to just more than 20 percent (20-of-98). SIU was 16^th in the country at 40 percent (77-of-191). The Racers won that battle in going 11-of-26 (.423), while SIU was 3-of-14 (.214).

The 28-point win is the largest margin of victory for the Racers in their 18 wins in the SIU series. The previous high was a 51-27 win by 24 points at home in 1932.

The 18 points allowed in the first half is the lowest amount Murray State has allowed since 16 points to SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 12, 2015.

The Racers are now 5-0 this season against NCAA D-I opponents when they hold them under 70 points.

Shaq Buchanan had three steals tonight and has at least one in all seven games this season. He entered the contest ranked 12^th in NCAA D-I and tops in the Ohio Valley Conference with 2.67 per game.

Tevin Brown's big night means he has hit at least one 3-pointer in the first seven games of his MSU career.

The Racers return home Saturday (Dec. 15) for a 7 p.m. tip against Jackson State and the day will mark a great day for Racer fans to celebrate the career of former head coach Tevester Anderson. He assisted Mark Gottfried from 1995-98 and had a big part in three OVC regular season titles and a pair of NCAA appearances. As head coach from 1998-03, Coach T's Murray State teams won 103 games in five seasons including two OVC titles and two trips to the Big Dance. Anderson ended his career at Jackson State (2003-13) by winning two SWAC titles and taking JSU to one NCAA appearance.

The Racers will be meeting JSU for just the second time in program history. The first meeting was at old Racer Arena in 1972, an 83-76 Murray State win.