Big Fourth Quarter Leads Murray State to OVC-Opener Win

msuMURRAY – Murray State scored 28 points in the fourth quarter and outscored Morehead State by 12 points in the final frame on its way to an 83-79 come-from-behind victory Saturday at the CFSB Center in the OVC opener.

Ke’Shunan James had a monster game for the Racers (5-7, 1-0 OVC), scoring a career-high 32 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. James also had a career-best 12 rebounds in the win. MSU had two others with career-highs on the day as well as Kyra Gulledge scored 14 points and had a career-best 13 rebounds. Ajee Smith dished out a career-best 10 assists in the victory.

The Eagles (6-9, 0-1 OVC) controlled much of the game, leading for over 33 minutes of the contest while the Racers led for just 3:04 of game time. The Racers trailed by as many as 11, with 57 seconds left in the third period, trailing 61-50. MSU cut the deficit to 63-55 heading into the fourth.

With 5:48 left to play in the game, MSU was down 70-63, before going on a 10-2 run and took its first lead of the game, 73-72 with 3:29 left to play. During the run, James hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit from seven points to one point.

After both teams traded buckets and free throws, a Jashae Lee layup with 2:01 left gave the Racers the lead 78-76, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way. MSU hit five at the free-throw line the final 1:33 of the game.

The Racers went 8-of-13 from the floor in the final period, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc while Morehead was 6-of-15 from the floor and turned the ball over eight times in the quarter. For the game, the Racers held a 24-9 edge in points off of turnovers.

MSU went 30-for-76 (39.5 percent) from the floor and hit 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) from 3-point land while Morehead State shot 40.6 percent from the field (28-for-69) and was 8-of-16 from beyond the arc. Neither team shot the ball well from the free-throw line as the Racers went just 12-for-21 while Morehead was 15-of-24.

The Eagles came into the game as the leading rebounding team in the league, but held just a 49-48 advantage on the boards in the game while both teams scored 28 points each in the paint. The Morehead bench outscored the Racers’ reserves 28-24.

With the win, MSU moves to 18-20 all-time in OVC openers, including a 12-7 mark at home in such games. The Racers are now 3-5 in conference openers under coach Cross. The Racers return to action next Thursday, Jan. 7 as Tennessee Tech comes to town for a 5 p.m. tip. The game will be a doubleheader along with the men’s team.