Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
After blowing a 27-point lead and falling to EIU, Murray State men’s basketball nearly succumbed to another comeback effort from SIUE if it wasn’t for some late-game heroics from sophomore guard Tevin Brown that led to a 59-58 Racers win.
The two went back-and-forth to kick off the game until Murray State began to open things up after taking a 10-9 lead.
The Racers used 43.3% shooting from the field and 6-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc to outscore the Cougars 26-10 over the final 16 minutes of the first half, taking a 36-19 lead into the locker room.
Murray State’s first-half success from deep was in large part because of senior guard Jaiveon Eaves, who went 5-for-5 from downtown and finished with 17 points in the half. Eaves finished the night with 21 points.
In the second half, SIUE slowly worked its way back into a tightly fought contest. The Cougars used a 10-0 run to make it a 39-37 Murray State lead with 11:45 left to play.
After the Racers bounced back to take a 45-39 lead, SIUE went on an 8-0 run to claim its first lead of the game at 47-45.
The two fought tooth and nail throughout the final five minutes, with the Cougars looking like they would come away with the win.
After a layup from junior forward Devin Gilmore cut SIUE’s lead to 57-56, junior guard Zeke Moore went to the free throw and hit one of two, giving Murray State a chance trailing 58-56 with 27 seconds left to play.
Brown had struggled for the Racers all night, unable to connect from three going 0-for-6 while shooting 2-for-8 from the field and 5-for-10 from the charity stripe. However, when his number was called and Murray State needed one shot, he made it.
Using Eaves as decoy of a back screen that had him heading to the corner, freshman guard Chico Carter Jr. penetrated the defense, found Brown open on the opposite wing and sank the shot to take a 59-58 lead with seven seconds left to play.
“He’s the ultimate winner,” McMahon said. “There’s no one else in America I’d rather have taking that shot than Tevin Brown. [It] felt good from the second it left his hands that he would knock it down.”
The Racers followed the clutch three from Brown with a crucial block of sophomore guard Cam Williams’ shot at the rim by freshman forward Demond Robinson with two seconds left, ultimately giving Murray State the 59-58 victory.
While Brown hit the game-winning shot, he said the win didn’t come from a one-man show in the final 40 seconds.
“We just had to stay composed and we knew that if we did what we had to do at the end of the game that we would win,” Brown said. “We had some players make some big plays. Devin two possessions in a row [had] two layups [and] Demond’s block on the defensive end helps us a lot.”
Second-half shooting woes for Murray State were a key factor in the Cougars’ comeback. The Racers shot 33.3% from the field and 1-for-9 from three, while SIUE turned things around offensively and finished the second-half shooting 52.2% overall.
“You just have to finish plays around the goal, you gotta make free throws, you gotta execute a little bit better [and] you have to allow your defense to turn into offense,” McMahon said. “[It’s a] long list of things. We gotta be able to score the ball, that’s the bottom line. We got a lot of getting better to do this week.”
Points were hard to come by as Eaves (21 pts) and Brown (10 pts) were the only Murray State players to finish in double figures and SIUE’s senior guard Tyrese Williford (14 pts) and Moore (10 pts) were the only Cougars to finish in double figures.
Turnovers were also an issue once again for the Racers, as 14 turnovers led to 17 points for SIUE.
With two consecutive games in which double digit leads were blown and the recurring turnover issue striking again, McMahon said that he’s still confident in his guys and that they just have to find a way to reach their full potential.
“We’re not the Lakers,” McMahon said. “We’ve got some deficiencies just like every team in America, but we’ve got some things that are really in our favor. We’ve got high character players, we’ve got guys who work extremely hard, [and] we’ve got guys who love to play defense. So it’s up to us to find ways to maximize our strengths as coaches and hopefully minimize our weaknesses.”
The win moves Murray State to 20-8 overall and creates a three-way tie for first in the OVC as Belmont, Austin Peay and Murray State all have a 13-3 record in conference play.
The Racers will return home for their final two regular season games with the first coming against EKU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the CFSB Center.
“We got two really good basketball teams coming to Murray, but our focus needs to be just getting better Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and find a way to beat Eastern Kentucky,” McMahon said. “We’re going to work hard this week [and] I hope we’ll have [a] great atmosphere at the CFSB Center like we have for the last month and a half [and] I hope we’ll be ready to go to take advantage of the opportunity on Thursday.”