Second Half Rally Falls Short For Racers At JSU

Thursday, February 25

Jacksonville, Ala.

7:30 p.m.

Murray State

13-11,10-9OVC

Jacksonville State

16-8,12-6OVC

Murray St.

Jacksonville St.

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

2/25/2021 9:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score 2021 OVC Tournament Bracket Box Score (PDF)

The Murray State Racers suffered an 87-74 defeat Thursday to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Jacksonville, Alabama.

The Racers (13-11) play their final regular season game Saturday in an 8 p.m. tip at Tennessee Tech. The Racers are 10-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Tevin Brown led the way for the Racers with 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the 3-point line. Dionte Bostick scored his MSU career-high with 15 points and Chico Carter, Jr. added 12 points.

Trailing by 13 points at halftime, the Racers made quite a run to get back into the game when Dionte Bostick scored on a pair of drives and the Racers hit their first 3-point tries to start the half on shots by KJ Williams, Brown and Carter to make it 55-51 JSU with 13:36 left. The Gamecocks hit the Racers with a 19-4 blitz over the next 3:55 to get a 76-57 lead with 10:05 left. JSU hit seven of their first nine 3-point attempts in the second half. MSU closed to as close as nine points, but never mounted another rally.

In the first half, the game was tied early 7-7. The Racers' final lead of the first half came with 14:38 left 11-10. The Racers found themselves down at halftime 43-30.

The great shooting by both teams in the second half is the performance that is rarely seen. With five minutes left in the game, the two had combined for 15 3-point baskets. For the game, the Racers shot 40 percent from the field on 24-of-60 and JSU hit 56 percent on 32-of-57.

By Saturday night, the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will be seeded and scheduled for next week (March 3-6) at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The regular season final is Saturday for the Racers at TTU in the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn., and it comes with some drama in where the Racers will be seeded. Belmont, Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville have clinched the 1-4 seeds. The No. 5 and No. 6 seed will be decided on the outcomes of Saturday's games for the Racers at Tech and Austin Peay at Jacksonville State. The Racers and Govs are each 10-9 and if they end up being tied, the Racers will win the tiebreaker because of their better win percentage against No. 3 seed EKU. If the Racers are the No. 5 seed, they will face JSU again in the first round. If they are the No. 6 seed, they will play EKU in the first round.

The Racers are 24-5 all-time against JSU and are 10-4 at Mathews Coliseum.