The Murray State Racers dropped a 68-55 defeat Wednesday night to the Belmont Bruins at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Racers (4-4) fell to 1-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play as they come home to host the Morehead State Eagles in a Saturday game at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky. Tip time is set for 4 p.m. with the Racers trying to extend a 25-game win streak on their home court.
Brion Whitley led the Racers with 15 points, while KJ Williams added 11 points to the MSU attack. Whitley hit three of the Racers’ five threes in the game. Tevin Brown led MSU with seven rebounds and five assists, but was limited to six points.
The Racers’ first win away from home in the 2020-21 season looked like it could happen after MSU rallied late in the first half and briefly took the lead, but trailed by a point at 25-24 at the intermission. A pair of 3-pointers by Whitley and the Racers were in the game having hit 11-of-24 from the field.
The Bruins outscored the Racers 14-9 to start the second half and the Racers kept it close when Demond Robinson scored with 16:25 remaining to make it 35-34 Bruins. Belmont went on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 44-34 at the 13:38 mark. MSU made another run on back to back baskets from Williams to cut the lead to seven with 8:06 remaining, but never got any closer.
The Racers shot 43 percent for the game on 21-of-29, while Belmont hit 45 percent on 27-of-60. The Racers were 5-of-18 from the 3-point line for 28 percent and Belmont shot 25 percent on 5-of-20. The Racers lost the rebound battle 32-27 and they had 15 turnovers, while the Bruins had nine.
Game Notes
The Racers have started the season with a bumpy ride away from home. After losses at Middle Tennessee (Dec. 2) 78-61 and Southern Illinois (Dec. 11) 70-66, the Racers have dropped their first two OVC road games at Austin Peay (Dec. 21) 74-70 and now Belmont. MSU’s next chance for victory on the road is next week when they make the Prairie State trip for games at Eastern Illinois (Jan. 7) and SIUE (Jan. 9).
MSU’s Tevin Brown was 0-of-3 from 3-point range tonight and his streak of consecutive games with at least one came to an end at 13 dating back to last season.
When the Racers host Morehead State Saturday, they will carry a 25-game home win streak into the 4 p.m. tip at the CFSB Center. The Racers have also defeated the Eagles in 13-straight meetings at The Bank since Morehead’s last win in Murray in 2003.
The Racers have a long way to go to catch the longest streak of 47, a thing of legend at Murray State. The most famous win streak of the CFSB Center came when the building was opened and it started in the final season of old Racer Arena. Now 20 years after it ended, MSU’s school-record was an amazing time for the program. The streak spanned the closing of Racer Arena (30 wins) and the opening of the CFSB Center (17 wins). This run began (Nov. 23, 1996) with an 84-45 win over Belmont and it ended with an 84-78 loss to Southeast Missouri (Jan. 15, 2000). 1,149 days passed from the time the streak started to the day it ended, or three years, one month and 24 days. MSU’s streak was the longest in the nation when it ended. Coach Mark Gottfried was the coach of the Racers when the streak started in Racer Arena and Coach Tevester Anderson was the coach for the games in the CFSB Center.