Gage Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
After a challenging road loss at the hands of Middle Tennessee State University, Murray State men’s basketball put on a clinic offensively and defeated Illinois State University in its return to the CFSB Center.
Murray State came away with a 76-65 win in the quickly scheduled game against the Redbirds, moving the Racers to 2-1 going into their OVC season opener.
The Racers offense couldn’t find the bottom of the net against the Blue Raiders in the second half, but they flipped the switch and turned things around against the Redbirds.
Each team traded blows early on in the first half, with Murray State looking to create some distance with less than nine minutes to play.
Going six of their last seven shot attempts, the Racers had extended their lead to 24-18, with juniors KJ Williams and Tevin Brown combining for 17 of the 24.
Murray State built on its lead by stringing together a couple of runs built on solid shooting inside and out.
Going into the locker room, the Racers had assisted on 12 of their 17 field goals to shoot a 53% clip from the field, while holding Illinois State to 38% from the field and 33% shooting from beyond the arc.
Despite the 13-point deficit entering the second half, the Redbirds weren’t going down without a fight.
They chipped away at the Racers’ lead by disrupting them offensively and forcing turnovers time and time again.
Those turnovers slowly began to turn into points at the other end—especially from their bench with junior forward Dusan Mahorcic pouring on 15 points and nine rebounds on the night—making it a 47-42 game with a 9-0 run with 14 minutes to play.
Murray State didn’t bow out, fighting back and strengthening its lead thanks to back-to-back clutch threes from sophomore guard Justice Hill, taking a double-digit lead once again at 53-42.
Hill finished with 14 points on 4-9 shooting, with 4-7 coming from deep, to go along with six assists. Head Coach Matt McMahon said it was Hill’s defense that allowed him to succeed offensively.
“I thought his overall game was outstanding tonight,” McMahon said. “But we need him to take advantage of that quickness at the defensive end of the floor and I thought he did so. And I want him taking those open threes. He’s a really good shooter.”
The Racers continued to build on their lead, matching their biggest lead of the night at 63-47 with a historic bucket from Brown. His layup made the junior guard the 47th member of the 1,000 point club at Murray State.
And while McMahon was thrilled for Brown to reach the milestone, he took more appreciation in that he made an impact in every aspect of the game with a near triple-double of 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
“He was awesome in all facets of the game and that’s what we need him to do for us to max out as a team this year…” McMahon said. “Most importantly I thought he set the tone at the defensive end of the floor… And the last thing you can’t leave out that doesn’t show up anywhere in this box score, but he’s such a great screener and he got us some easy layups tonight with his unselfishness and intelligence at the offensive end of the floor.”
Williams was a recipient of some of those great screens, continually getting great positions at the rim for easy buckets and finishing the night with his 10th career double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
McMahon said their ball movement as well as execution of plays on the offensive end is what made it so easy for the Racers to play inside and out at times.
“It was the screening and then the passing,” McMahon said. “We actually had some good opportunities on Wednesday and our passing was just horrific. I thought we did a better job delivering the ball to guys when they were open and we didn’t dribble the air out of the ball today. We found out on Wednesday that there’s plenty of air in the ball and that we need to move the ball.”
However, despite Murray State being up 16 and seemingly coasting to the finish line, Illinois State had a little more fight left in them.
Creating chaos on the offensive end, the Redbirds forced the Racers into six turnovers over a five-minute span and cut their lead to 67-62 with 4:06 left to play.
But with every response, Murray State had an answer despite 11 second-half turnovers. After a 30-second timeout, KJ Williams got the ball in the paint and flushed it home once again and the rest was history.
The 76-65 win marks the Racers’ second victory at home before they will start the OVC portion of their schedule in the upcoming week.
Coming off a tough loss to Middle Tennessee State, Brown said this win has the Racers in high spirits and ready to get to work for their matchup with Austin Peay.
“It definitely builds a lot of confidence for us,” Brown said. “Coming off a bad loss and coming home and defending our streak and playing the way that the Racers should be playing at all times, it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next game.”
McMahon said the team will need to cut down on some of the unforced mental mistakes, but was glad to see them coming out ready to compete which will allow them to grow and be more prepared for the matchup with the Governors.
Murray State will take on Austin Peay at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the CFSB Center, looking to win its 24th straight game at home.