Racer men continue to soar

    The men’s basketball team continued their winning streak Thursday with a 76-54 win against Tennessee State.
    The Racers let TSU know who they were dealing with early in the game with a 7-0 lead just over two minutes into the half.             From there the Racers maintained control, keeping the Tigers scoreless for the first three minutes of the half. The Tigers did not threaten the Racers lead until only 11 minutes remained in the half.
    The Tigers pulled to within four points of Murray State, but could not tie the Racers, and remained at arms length until Murray State pushed their lead to an 11 point advantage. The Racers headed for the locker room with a substantial lead and a pack of Tigers not too far behind.
    Murray State started the second half the same way the first ended, by continuing to lead the Tigers. The Racers expanded their 11-point lead to 18 before the first five minutes of the half had passed.
    The Racers continued to build their lead for the remainder of the game, leading by as much as 23 with just over three minutes left in the half.
    “We come out every second half like it’s 0-0,” junior guard B.J. Jenkins said. “We didn’t feel like we played that well in the first half anyway. So we needed to come out in the first four minutes and try to go extra hard. We haven’t been doing that lately, so I think we need to  get back to that.”
    The Racers ended the game leading by 22, giving them their twelfth OVC win of the season, going undefeated in the league.
    “Like we said, everything’s a challenge,” sophomore forward Ivan Aska said. “Anybody can win any day. When you start thinking that teams aren’t challenges, that’s when you get upset.”
    Jenkins led Murray State in points, amassing 17 total for the game with senior forward Danero Thomas falling behind him with 12 and freshman guard Isaiah Canaan coming in with 11.
    In rebounds Aska led the Racers with seven while Thomas and junior forward Jeffery McClain were close behind with six each.
    Junior guard Isacc Miles brought five total assists to the game. Teammate Thomas added four and both Jenkins and sophomore guard Donte Poole tallied two.
    “We created some turnovers that didn’t convert,” Head Coach Billy Kennedy said. “I thought we went too fast at times. That’s something were going to have to clean up. But I thought for the most part we had a solid effort in a tough situation against Tennessee State who played all zone because they had to. I have to give them credit, they competed.”
    Contact Ledbetter at kyra.ledbetter@murraystate.edu.