Racers control the paint in rout of Martin Methodist

Gage Johnson

Sports Editor

gjohnson17@murraystate.edu

Murray State men’s basketball kicked off the year with a 105-64 victory over Martin Methodist College, in large part because of five players scoring in double figures and dominant play inside.

After trailing the RedHawks 6-3 to start the game, the Racers kicked the intensity up a notch. This led to a 17-0 run filled with a barrage of threes from sophomore guard Tevin Brown, ultimately giving Murray State a 21-6 lead with 14 minutes to play in the first half.

Murray State continued to pour it on offensively. Heading into halftime with a 51-28, it was the trio of sophomore forward KJ Williams, Brown and senior guard Jaiveon Eaves combining for 34 points of Murray State’s 51 points.

Brown finished the night with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three. Eaves followed up his fellow guard with 13 points on 5-for7 shooting with a pair of triples.

Williams finished the night leading all scorers with 20 points on 9-for-17 shooting, falling one rebound shy of a double-double.

Williams was the definition of efficiency last season, converting on nearly 70% of his field goal attempts, but averaged 7.6 ppg. Williams said he plans to change that to help the team this season.

“I’m going to try to help the team scoring wise,” Williams said. “Last year, I was more like a dump down guy. I was scoring, but not as much. So this year, there’s a big emphasis on me to score more.”

While it may not necessarily be the game plan for Williams to take such a high volume of shots, if he’s got that many open looks, Head Coach Matt McMahon wants him to take them.

“If he gets good shots, I want him shooting as many as he can,” McMahon said. “I thought he missed some around the goal that he will normally make. I thought he did a really nice job of doing his work without the basketball to get good position in the post. I want him shooting the ball every time he can in there.”

Murray State continued to fill up the stat sheet offensively, using 28 team assists to outscore the RedHawks 54-36 in the second half. With 56 points in the paint, the Racers closed out the night by claiming a 105-64 victory with a thunderous windmill dunk from freshman forward Demond Robinson moments before the buzzer sounded.

Along with Williams, senior forward Anthony Smith and Robinson helped forge a dynamic presence in the paint. Anthony finished the game with 15 points and nine rebounds in his first game since returning from an ankle injury that had him miss all of 2018-2019.

Robinson exploded late in the second half, scoring 11 straight points for the Racers in his first game with the team. He finished the night with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting and five rebounds.

“Demond’s going to be a really good player,” McMahon said. “I think you saw his ability to finish plays around the basket and to impact shots around the goal with his length. I’m really excited about his long-term future, but also the short-term in his ability to impact our team.”

Redshirt freshman guard DaQuan Smith saw his first action after sitting out the 208-19 season with a leg injury. He got the starting nod at the point guard position and scored six points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.

Both Anthony and DaQuan sat out last season, spending a lot of time together on the sidelines rooting for their guys. For those two it was a day full of excitement to get to hit the hardwood again.

“We were talking earlier today and I was just happy for him, just as much as I was happy for me to get back on the floor,” Smith said. “Just being able to see him back in action right along with myself was a good experience.”

The team was without senior forward Darnell Cowart, who was voted the Preseaon All-OVC First Team. McMahon said he is progressing well in his rehab, but doesn’t have a timetable for his return.

Murray State will begin its regular season when they take on Southern University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the CFSB Center.

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