The Murray State Racers used a 20-5 run in the final 6:09 to score a road-opening win Saturday in an 80-61 victory over the Wright State Raiders at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The win moves the Racers to 2-1 while the Raiders fell to 0-3. Murray State returns to action to host Southern Illinois at the CFSB Center on Nov. 25.
Leading 60-56 with 6:09 remaining, the Racers finished the game in a big way. They came up with several defensive stops and Jonathan Stark, Terrell Miller and Jalen Dupree did the rest. The Racer trio scored 18 of the points in the run and the emphatic finish was provided by Ja Morant who made a steal and dunk in the last seconds.
36196The Racers never trailed after the 5:18 mark of the first half when they were down 25-23. Shaq Buchanan and Byron Hawkins made threes to help the Racers finish the half with an 11-4 run for a 36-29 lead at the intermission.
Miller has a pair of double-doubles in the first three games after a 21-point/10 rebound performance, while Jonathan Stark posted 16 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. Getting his first start at MSU, Buchanan scored 13 points with three steals and Dupree scored eight of his 12 points in the second half.
The Racers held the Raiders to 39 percent from the field (21-of-54) and 25 percent (4-of-16) from the 3-point line, while hitting 53 percent (32-of-60) and 50 percent from 3-point range (12-of-24). The Racers won the rebound battle 35-29.
Game Notes
Miller and Stark combining for big numbers is nothing new for the senior duo. They entered this season as the second leading returning scoring combo in NCAA D-I as they averaged 37.9 together in 2016-17. Tonight they combined to hit 14-of-23 from the field and 9-of-15 from the 3-point line for 37 points.
36197Ja Morant nearly had a double-double with seven points and eight rebounds. Early foul trouble limited the freshman to only 20 minutes on the floor.
The win for the Racers against WSU was their first in the series that was first played in 1990.
(Courtesy MSU Athletics)