The Murray State Racers clinched their first win of the season when they posted a 90-53 victory in their home opener against the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders on Saturday night.
The win was a much-needed step in the right direction for the home team after losing its season opener earlier in the week at Saint Louis, 91-68. With many new faces on the team, Murray State fans were not only able to cheer on their team, but also saw early success from newcomers.
Freshmen Justin Morgan and Sam Murray II earned their first running back points Saturday night, seven for Morgan and six for Murray. Two consecutive early 3-pointers by Morgan fueled the scoring momentum for the home team and the rest of the team took advantage of it to secure the victory.
“It’s been a great transition from high school to college,” Morgan said. “Getting live shots tonight felt good and it got on my nerves.”
One of the few familiar faces on the Racers roster and team captain, DJ Burns scored his career-high at Murray State on Saturday night. He led the team to a double-double with 20 points and nine rebounds. Burns says getting the win at home and seeing the younger guys get early success was a great thing to see.
“They’re great players, there’s no hidden talent, these guys can and will play rim,” Burns said of the freshmen.
Joining Burns and the young guys, Rob Perry chipped in 18 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night from center, Jacobi Wood chipped in 13 and Quincy Anderson added 10 points to put four Racers in double-digit scoring.
Murray State held the 46-27 lead going into halftime largely thanks to selfless ball movement to find the open man and the best scoring opportunity. As a team, the Racers had 20 assists to the Blue Raiders’ 11.
“That’s where we want to get to and that’s how we want to play,” Murray State head coach Steve Prohm said. “I give these guys a little bit of freedom, I want them to get down on the floor, but I thought that was our biggest contribution that I could tell seeing that we made a conscious effort to share the ball and move the ball around.”
The Racers led from start to finish, trailing slightly after Lindsey Wilson’s Rodney Lewis scored the first points of the night. Murray State dominated on quick break points with 23 on the night, controlled the paint with 48 points, while shooting 57.6% from the field, 60% from behind the arc and 61.9% from the charity sideline. .
Murray State will spend the week competing in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. They will start against Texas A&M on Thursday, November 17 at 3 pm EST.
Source: news.google.com