Racers punch ticket to NCAA tourney

Story by Blake Sandlin, Assistant Sports Editor

After a six year hiatus from the NCAA tournament, Racer basketball is dancing once again.

Murray State claimed its 16th OVC championship in program history by defeating Belmont 68-51 Saturday night in the OVC tournament finale in Evansville, Indiana.

The matchup between the two OVC superpowers lived up to all the hype, plus some. The Racers opened the game with a vengeance, turning the Bruins over and jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the first seven minutes of action.

However, Belmont didn’t falter. They held Murray State to a lowly 2-for-15 from thee, helping the Bruins battle back to erase the deficit when senior guard Austin Luke nailed a three-pointer with 1:22 remaining. The Bruins closed the half on a 17-2 run to enter halftime with a three-point lead and all the momentum.

Trailing 32-29, the Racers didn’t bow out. Murray State did what they’ve done all year: persevere. For the first eight minutes of the second half, the game went back and forth. But with 12:49, the Racers went on an inspired 34-11 run. With each bucket, the raucous crowd of Racer faithful fed into their team, encouraging them to pull off the improbable.

The Racers held the Bruins, who average 11.5 threes per game, to just six three-pointers on 6-for-28 three-point shooting. They also limited Belmont to just 10 points in 14 minutes and 44 seconds of play, and to the surprise of many, sealed a decisive victory to keep their season alive and earn their first NCAA tournament bid since 2012.

Murray State Head Coach Matt McMahon said his team’s selflessness and resilience throughout the year culminated in the emphatic 17-point win.

“I’m just really proud of our guys,” McMahon said. They’ve been awesome every single day all year long. They really sold out to the team and committed to each other. They played for each other all year and stepped up with a big time effort tonight. Defense was terrific. The best job we did all year long from a communication standpoint.”

McMahon has coached on OVC championship teams before as an assistant, but winning one at the helm of the program was truly special.

“I knew when I was blessed to get this opportunity to come back to Murray State as the head coach, that it was going to be a challenge to get the thing rebuilt to where we needed to be,” McMahon said. “The struggles of last season to comeback, and its these guys who deserve the credit. Won 10 more games and lost twelve less so far, one of ten teams in America to win double digit road games. We’ve got the longest winning streak in the country right now. And it’s because of these players. They bought into each other, they bought into the team, and I’m just so proud of them and what they’ve been able to accomplish.”

McMahon drew praise from legendary Belmont Head Coach Rick Byrd, who commended his coaching in the championship game.

“Congratulations big time to Murray State,” Byrd said. “It’s hard to win both the regular season and the tournament championship, and they were the best team in this conference this year. I’m happy for Matt; he has done a really good job with this team. They’ve got a lot of good players that do a lot of good things, and if they didn’t out-play us, he certainly out-coached us tonight.”

Four Racers finished with double-figure scoring. Senior guard Jonathan Stark led his team with 24 points, while freshman guard Ja Morant followed with 15 points. Senior forward Terrell Miller and junior guard Shaq Buchanan netted 11 points apiece. Miller’s 11 points brought him that much closer to eclipsing the 1,000-point mark in his two-year Murray State career. He now needs 15 points to reach the 1,000-point club.

The senior forward will be advancing to his first NCAA tournament in his collegiate career, and while he said he’s elated to get the opportunity, he isn’t satisfied with just making it to the big dance.

“It means a lot,” Miller said. “This is our main goal, to reach the tournament. I don’t feel like we’re done yet. We’re not going there to just lay down against anybody. We’re going there to compete and to try and win another game. We’re not just going just to be there. We’re going to go in there to win and compete at the highest level.”

The Racers are the first team in the country to reserve their spot in the NCAA’s marquee event. Not only are the Racers dancing this March, but they also will enter the tournament with the longest active winning streak with 13-straight wins. Michigan State previously held the longest with 12, but a loss Saturday afternoon made the Racers the frontrunners.

In total, 4,280 packed the Ford Center, and the sea of gold provided by Murray State’s dedicated fan-base helped keep the Racers motivated.

“This is what a first class conference tournament looks like,” McMahon said. “The arena, facilities, locker rooms, video boards, stat boards and the overall experience for the student-athletes and the fans. Our fan-base really bought into it. Obviously they suport Murray State basketball through and through for hundreds of years now. They showed up in large numbers and I thought our guys fed off the energy and the enthusiasm in the arena. It was electric in there, and that’s what a conference tournament should be. I can’t thank our fanbase enough, because they showed up in big numbers and brought the juice and I thought our guys fed off of that.”

Murray State will return home with an impressive 26-5 record, and will await its name to be called on Selection Sunday on March 11. ESPN’s most recent bracketology has the Racers as a No. 13 seed, playing against No. 4 Arizona in San Diego, California.