Men's Hoops Goes Toe-to-Toe with Murray but Eagles Can't Secure the Win

BOX SCORE

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State Men's Basketball led the 23rd-ranked Murray State Racers for nearly 30 minutes Saturday afternoon, but a late 13-1 run by the visitors pushed the momentum to the Racers as the Eagles eventually fell 57-53 at Johnson Arena.

The setback halted the program's 20-game home winning streak, which had stood since December of 2020. The Eagles slipped to 19-8 overall and 11-3 in the conference. Murray State remained unfazed in league games at 14-0 and moved to 24-2 overall.

The Eagles pushed their advantage to 49-40 with 5:17 left in the contest after a pair of Ta'Lon Cooper free throws. But, the home only managed to drain one more field goal as Murray made it way back into the game. KJ Williams wraparound layup set the Racers' cushion at 53-50 with 1:01 remaining. However, 30 seconds later Eagle Tray Hollowell swished a game-tying three-pointer. Hollowell has nailed at one three-ball in all games this year and 33 straight in college now.

A running lay-in by Tevin Brown with just more than 12 ticks left sent Murray back ahead 55-53. Cooper had a shot at a game-tying floater with five ticks left but came up short, and Williams secured his 12th rebound and hit a pair of free tosses to ice the game.

Morehead State built as much as an eight-point first-half lead as well before holding a 32-28 halftime advantage.

Second-year center Johni Broome was held scoreless in the first half but erupted for his league-leading (and second-ranked nationally) double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Broome also swatted away four shots to become the first OVC player to record 100+ blocks (he has 101 now) in a season since Austin Peay's Chris Horton in 2012-13. Only three other players in OVC history (TTU's Lorenzo Coleman did it twice) have blocked 100+ in a single season.

Junior Jake Wolfe sank the Eagles' first two of seven total three-pointers right off the opening tip and finished with 12 points. No other Eagle made into double figures in scoring, but Cooper did dish out six assists to give him an OVC best 168 now this year.

Williams finished with his own double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

For the second straight Morehead State held an opponent averaging more than 80 points to well below its clip. The Eagles also forced Murray into just 35 percent shooting while hitting 42 percent themselves.

The Eagles hit the road for a game at UT Martin Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET.