The Murray State Racers hit the century mark in taking their fourth-straight home game in a 100-63 victory over the Marist Red Foxes at the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers improved to 7-2 as they welcome in the Auburn Tigers to The Bank Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.
MSU had 11 of their 12 players scratch the scoring column with Terrell Miller, Jr., getting 21 points on a perfect night from the field. Miller was 8-of-8 including 5-of-5 from the 3-point line. Ja Morant had his second-straight double-double with 16 points and 10 assists, while Shaq Buchanan added 14 and Jonathan Stark 12 to go with seven assists.
Trailing 10-9 at the 16:13 mark of the first half, the Racers sped past the Red Foxes and didn’t let up. They hit Marist with a 9-0 run and held the visitors to zero points over a stretch of 3:32. Morant had back-to-back steals which led to layups for Stark to give the Racers a 43-28 lead with 1:50 before half. MSU ended the half on a 22-4 run in the final 7:19 and hit their final five shots to lead 52-32 at the intermission.
MSU started the second half with an 8-0 run and Marist never got any closer than 19 points. The Racers eventually had their biggest lead of the game at 38 points with 43 seconds on the clock.
Game Notes
The Racers are 5-1 at home this season and have won four-straight since dropping the first game in November to Middle Tennessee.
MSU has won five of their last six games.
Coming into the game second in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring (80.4ppg), the Racers scored 100 tonight.
Stark and Morant are one of the top guard combos in the game. Tonight they combined for 28 points and 17 assists.
Buchanan started the game 0-of-4 from the field and then went 6-of-6 the rest of the way.
Miller’s perfect game from the field makes him part of a group of only six MSU players that have gone 8-of-8 or better since 1998. The last to do it was Jarvis Williams against Yale in the CollegeInsider Tournament title game in 2014. Cuthbert Victor and James Singleton had 10-of-10 shooting games in 2001 and 2003.
MSU Player Top Shooting Games Since 1998
02-27-2003 James Singleton Tennessee State 10-10
01-30-2001 Cuthbert Victor Tennessee State 10-10
01-08-2014 Jarvis Williams vs Eastern Kentucky 9-9
11-14-2009 Ivan Aska vs Mo-St. Louis 9-9
12-16-2017 Terrell Miller vs Marist 8-8
04-03-2014 Jarvis Williams vs Yale 8-8
01-09-2006 Darnell Hopkins vs Eastern Illinois 8-8
11-24-2003 Cuthbert Victor vs West Florida 8-8
The chances of seeing two players join the Murray State 1000-Point Club this season are getting better and better.
Jonathan Stark now has 880 and Terrell Miller has 679. Each has played 42 games with the Racers.
MSU won the rebound battle tonight 34-16, which means they’ve done so in all seven of their wins this season.
The Racers win their first game ever with Marist and are now 8-8 all-time against the current lineup of teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Tonight’s 100-point game for Murray State is their second this season after they set the CFSB Center record of 118 against Brescia opening night. It is the sixth 100-point game in the Coach McMahon era. The game marks the Racers’ first game of 100 points against an NCAA D-I team since they beat Austin Peay 102-58 at home on Feb. 11, 2017 near the end of last season.
The Racers’ game with Auburn Tuesday marks the first visit of a team from the Southeastern Conference to Murray since 1993. In that season, Scott Edgar’s Murray State team defeated Ole Miss at Racer Arena 87-68.
Dave Winder – Department of Athletics – Murray State ​State University​
Associate AD – Media Relations
