Post by 01- PirateDave on Mar 7, 2015 10:22:19 GMT -6
Survive & Advance; Racers edge by Morehead, will face Belmont in championship
HE HIT IT!
KYSER LOUGH / For the Ledger
Racer PG Cam Payne hit the go-ahead three with less than a minute to go Friday night.
Posted: Saturday, March 7, 2015 1:51 aBy RYAN RICHARDSON • Nurray Ledger & Times Sports Writer
For the final 5 minutes, it was Cameron Payne’s game.
After Friday’s game, Payne could still hardly believe he led the No. 1 Racers to an 80-77 win over No. 5 Morehead State in the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
The win secured the Racers a spot in tonight’s championship game against the No. 3 Belmont Bruins, but Payne was still trying to figure out how they beat the Eagles.
“I’m too happy,” Payne said. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m still in shock that we pulled this game out.”
Payne biggest shot came with his team down 2 points and less than a minute to play.
He rolled right off a screen at the top of the key, then buried a deep 3-pointer to put his team up by 1.
“I had already hit one,” Payne said. “I just got that little window, so I took the shot and God put it in.”
T.J. Sapp later hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to play, so the Eagles needed a 3-pointer for a chance to tie.
Thee first attempt was long, but the rebound bounced off of Sapp and went out of bounds, giving Morehead State another chance with 7 ticks left.
Eagles’ head coach Sean Woods said they designed a play to get the shot they needed, but the Racers were prepared.
“We were trying to get the fade, and (Murray State) played it,” Woods said. “It’s easy to defend when you know they need a 3 with less than 10 seconds to play. We were trying to get some type of misdirection.”
The 3-pointer bounced high off the rim, and Murray State’s Jeffery Moss tipped the rebound away as time expired, sealing the narrow win for the Racers.
It wasn’t an easy victory, though, as Murray State had to fight back from a deep hole.
After jumping out to a 43-32 halftime lead, the Racers went cold from the field, allowing the Eagles to use a 35-14 run to take a 10-point lead with only 7:47 to play.
Murray State head coach Steve Prohm said his team wouldn’t have won the same game four months ago.
“I’m really proud of the resolve,” Prohm said. “We wouldn’t have won this game in November. I think we got our poise back a little bit (in the second half). We got some good looks, and we’ve got good players that made big plays.”
While Payne captained the comeback, he wasn’t the only guy the Racers relied on.
When the Eagles got a dunk to give them an 11-point lead with only 6:31 to play, Jarvis Williams had an answer.
Payne drove up the court and found Williams wide open in the paint. William flew through for the monster jam.
Williams said even when the Racers were in a down by double-digits, he didn’t worry.
“I’m out there still smiling,” he said. “We’ve been in those situations plenty of times. We expected to be in that situation – where we were down and had to fight back.”
Thirty seconds after the stuff from Williams, Sapp weaved through three Eagle defenders before passing up to Moss, who sailed through the lane for the one-handed slam.
Still, it was a pair of triples and an impossible jumper in the lane from Payne that helped give the Racers a chance.
Woods said with Payne at the helm, Murray State deserved to win.
“As a coach and a former basketball player, you appreciate good basketball players, and he’s a great basketball player,” Woods said. “Not a good basketball player – he’s a great basketball player. Murray State has the best player in the league, so they deserve to win. It took miraculous shots – not just open shots – to bring them back. So I tip my hat off to Payne.”
Following the win, Payne said he’d been waiting a year for this moment. After being upset in last year’s semifinal, he was ready to get revenge.
“We’ve been waiting a year to get this opportunity back,” he said. “We seized the opportunity. Now we’re moving forward. I’m definitely shocked. There’s not other way I can put it. I’m just so happy we got the win.”
Payne finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.
Williams pitched in 23 points and 10 rebounds for the 25th double-double of his career.
Sapp (17), Moss (10) and Jonathan Fairell rounded out the scoring for Murray State. Fairell also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
With the win, the Racers advance to tonight’s championship game at 6 p.m. against Belmont.
Murray State is now 24-14 in semifinal games, while they’ve posted a 15-10 record in the championship games.
It will be the fourth time in six years that the Racers will play in the championship game. After winning the first two of those four appearances, they lost the third time to Belmont.
Tonight’s contest will be a rematch from two seasons ago, when the Bruins beat Murray State 70-68 in overtime.
It will be the Bruins’ third appearance in a row in the championship game. After beating the Racers in 2013, Belmont was upset by Eastern Kentucky in the title game a year ago.
In the quarterfinal round of this year’s tournament, the Bruins cruised to a 97-64 win over No. 6 Eastern Illinois. Then, Belmont used a late comeback to knock off No. 2 Eastern Kentucky in a 53-52 win.
In the only meeting this season, the Racers beat Belmont 92-77 on Jan. 15 in Murray, Kentucky.
HE HIT IT!
KYSER LOUGH / For the Ledger
Racer PG Cam Payne hit the go-ahead three with less than a minute to go Friday night.Posted: Saturday, March 7, 2015 1:51 aBy RYAN RICHARDSON • Nurray Ledger & Times Sports Writer
For the final 5 minutes, it was Cameron Payne’s game.
After Friday’s game, Payne could still hardly believe he led the No. 1 Racers to an 80-77 win over No. 5 Morehead State in the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
The win secured the Racers a spot in tonight’s championship game against the No. 3 Belmont Bruins, but Payne was still trying to figure out how they beat the Eagles.
“I’m too happy,” Payne said. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m still in shock that we pulled this game out.”
Payne biggest shot came with his team down 2 points and less than a minute to play.
He rolled right off a screen at the top of the key, then buried a deep 3-pointer to put his team up by 1.
“I had already hit one,” Payne said. “I just got that little window, so I took the shot and God put it in.”
T.J. Sapp later hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to play, so the Eagles needed a 3-pointer for a chance to tie.
Thee first attempt was long, but the rebound bounced off of Sapp and went out of bounds, giving Morehead State another chance with 7 ticks left.
Eagles’ head coach Sean Woods said they designed a play to get the shot they needed, but the Racers were prepared.
“We were trying to get the fade, and (Murray State) played it,” Woods said. “It’s easy to defend when you know they need a 3 with less than 10 seconds to play. We were trying to get some type of misdirection.”
The 3-pointer bounced high off the rim, and Murray State’s Jeffery Moss tipped the rebound away as time expired, sealing the narrow win for the Racers.
It wasn’t an easy victory, though, as Murray State had to fight back from a deep hole.
After jumping out to a 43-32 halftime lead, the Racers went cold from the field, allowing the Eagles to use a 35-14 run to take a 10-point lead with only 7:47 to play.
Murray State head coach Steve Prohm said his team wouldn’t have won the same game four months ago.
“I’m really proud of the resolve,” Prohm said. “We wouldn’t have won this game in November. I think we got our poise back a little bit (in the second half). We got some good looks, and we’ve got good players that made big plays.”
While Payne captained the comeback, he wasn’t the only guy the Racers relied on.
When the Eagles got a dunk to give them an 11-point lead with only 6:31 to play, Jarvis Williams had an answer.
Payne drove up the court and found Williams wide open in the paint. William flew through for the monster jam.
Williams said even when the Racers were in a down by double-digits, he didn’t worry.
“I’m out there still smiling,” he said. “We’ve been in those situations plenty of times. We expected to be in that situation – where we were down and had to fight back.”
Thirty seconds after the stuff from Williams, Sapp weaved through three Eagle defenders before passing up to Moss, who sailed through the lane for the one-handed slam.
Still, it was a pair of triples and an impossible jumper in the lane from Payne that helped give the Racers a chance.
Woods said with Payne at the helm, Murray State deserved to win.
“As a coach and a former basketball player, you appreciate good basketball players, and he’s a great basketball player,” Woods said. “Not a good basketball player – he’s a great basketball player. Murray State has the best player in the league, so they deserve to win. It took miraculous shots – not just open shots – to bring them back. So I tip my hat off to Payne.”
Following the win, Payne said he’d been waiting a year for this moment. After being upset in last year’s semifinal, he was ready to get revenge.
“We’ve been waiting a year to get this opportunity back,” he said. “We seized the opportunity. Now we’re moving forward. I’m definitely shocked. There’s not other way I can put it. I’m just so happy we got the win.”
Payne finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks.
Williams pitched in 23 points and 10 rebounds for the 25th double-double of his career.
Sapp (17), Moss (10) and Jonathan Fairell rounded out the scoring for Murray State. Fairell also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.
With the win, the Racers advance to tonight’s championship game at 6 p.m. against Belmont.
Murray State is now 24-14 in semifinal games, while they’ve posted a 15-10 record in the championship games.
It will be the fourth time in six years that the Racers will play in the championship game. After winning the first two of those four appearances, they lost the third time to Belmont.
Tonight’s contest will be a rematch from two seasons ago, when the Bruins beat Murray State 70-68 in overtime.
It will be the Bruins’ third appearance in a row in the championship game. After beating the Racers in 2013, Belmont was upset by Eastern Kentucky in the title game a year ago.
In the quarterfinal round of this year’s tournament, the Bruins cruised to a 97-64 win over No. 6 Eastern Illinois. Then, Belmont used a late comeback to knock off No. 2 Eastern Kentucky in a 53-52 win.
In the only meeting this season, the Racers beat Belmont 92-77 on Jan. 15 in Murray, Kentucky.
good luck to all!