The Murray State Racers made an amazing comeback to force overtime against the Morehead State Eagles, but ultimately suffered a 101-100 defeat Wednesday night at Johnson Arena in Morehead, Kentucky.
The Racers (12-13) fell to 6-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference as they played their fourth overtime game this season. The Eagles (12-12) improved to 8-3 in the OVC.
Jonathan Stark scored a career-high 33 points and Terrell Miller, Jr. added 27 to pace the Racers’ attack that had five players in double-figures.
Bryce Jones added 14 points, while MSU got 12 from Damarcus Croaker and 10 from Gee McGhee.
The Racers did pull off another amazing comeback in the final seconds much as they did at Austin Peay (Jan. 21). Murray State trailed by four with 17-seconds left, but got a miller 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Stark (with 3.1 seconds left) to push the game into overtime tied 84-84.
MSU overcame a 6-0 Eagles run to start the extra time to take the lead with 29-seconds to go on a pair of Jones free throws. Morehead’s Miguel Dicent scored with 4.5 left for the final margin. Jones got off a contested shot for the win from 25 feet that didn’t go in.
First Half
MSU trailed by as much as 14 points with 8:28 left.
The Racers shot 40 percent on 10-of-25 from the field, while the Eagles were 51 percent on 17-of-33.
Second Half
The Racers showed a flash of what they can do which was a 7-0 run in only 47-seconds. Croaker scored a pair of fast break baskets around a 3-pointer from McGhee as MSU cut the lead to 50-46 with 15:26 left in the game.
The Racers finally took the lead when McGhee got a steal and Jones scored. MSU got another stop and Stark hit his fifth 3-pointer of the day for a 62-58 lead with 11:44 remaining.
The Racers’ lead vanished with 4:03 left. Treyshaad Williams scored and was fouled. When he missed the free throw, Ronnye Beamon rebounded the ball and scored for a 4-point play for a 77-74 lead.
After Miller’s 3-pointer, Stark hit two free throws to tie it at 84-84. Morehead missed a long runner from deep and the game headed to OT.
Overtime
Morehead State’s 6-0 at the start of overtime put the Racers in a 90-84 hole with 3:36 left.
Croaker made a steal and slam to cut it to a 99-98 eagles lead with 58-seconds remaining.
After the Eagles missed, Jones gathered a rebound of a MSU miss and was fouled with 29-secconds left. He made both free throws for MSU’s first lead in overtime 100-99.
Dicent won the game for Morehead with a drive down the right side of the lane.
Game Notes
This was the 158th meeting between the Racers and Eagles as two of the founding members of the OVC (1948) clashed again. Murray State had won three-straight at Morehead State since their last loss in 2010.
It was the Racers’ first 100-point game against an NCAA D-I team since 2014 when they lost at SEMO in double overtime 118-115.
Junior guard Jonathan Stark started the night as one of only three players in NCAA D-I that was averaging at least 20 points per game and 5.5 assists. Stark had a career-high 33 points tonight and seven assists.
Stark is the Racers’ point leader this season. After his 33 points tonight, he has 536 for the season. Stark began the night ranked 14th in the nation in total points. He’s the 38th Racer to score more than 530 points in a single season.
Senior Bryce Jones reached the 700-point mark for his career at Murray State. Jones scored 14 points tonight. Jones is now 17th on the MSU all-time scoring list for two-year players with 710 points. He’ll soon pass 16th place Zedric Macklin (1984-85) with 715.
After scoring only two points in the first half. Miller scored 25 in the second half and overtime.
Dave Winder
Murray State Athletics – Assistant AD – Media Relations
