National Basketball Association
Murray St. 54, Tennessee St. 52
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 3, 2012
Where: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Officials:
#75 Scott Johnson, # Bret Smith, # Jeff Smith
Attendance:
6454
By SportsDirect Inc.
Murray State 54, Tennessee State 52: Jewuan Long hit a driving layup with 4.4 seconds remaining and No. 9 Murray State rallied from a pair of seven-point second-half deficits to capture its 15th Ohio Valley Conference championship and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
The Racers (30-1) won their seventh straight game since suffering their only loss of the season on Feb. 9 to Tennessee State (20-12). Robert Covington's long 3-pointer was way off the mark at the buzzer as Murray State celebrated another late-game rally.
After leading 29-27 at halftime, Tennessee State used an 11-2 run early in the second half to take a 38-31 lead, before Covington, the Tigers’ standout forward, picked up his fourth foul with 14:47 remaining. Murray State took advantage of his absence by outscoring the Tigers 12-2 and taking a 43-40 lead by the time Covington returned with 8:18 left.
Tennessee State led 52-48 with 3:49 left after a dunk by M.J. Rhett, but the Tigers would not score the rest of the game.
Long's game-winning basket came after Tennessee State turned the ball over with 30 seconds remaining.
Isaiah Canaan and Donte Poole led the Racers with 14 points apiece. Covington led the Tigers with 14, while Kellen Thornton came off the bench to score 11 and grab eight rebounds.
Murray State last won the OVC title in 2010; Tennessee State has not tasted the title since 1994.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Murray State is now 15-9 in OVC championship games. … MSU, which made 22 3-pointers in two regular season games against Tennessee State, made just 4 of 18 Saturday. … MSU scored a season-low 54 points in the win; 62 was its previous low back in November in a win over UAB.
Top Game Performances
| Tennessee St. |
|
Murray St. |
|
Robert Covington 14 |
Scoring |
Isaiah Canaan 14 |
|
Patrick Miller 7 |
Assists |
Isaiah Canaan 3 |
|
Patrick Miller 8 |
Rebounds |
Ivan Aska 5 |
|
Kenny Moore 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Donte Poole 6 |
|
Patrick Miller 2 |
Steals |
Donte Poole 3 |
|
Robert Covington 3 |
Blocks |
Jewuan Long 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Tennessee St.
|
52 |
46.8 |
3-11 |
5-10 |
14 |
32 |
4 |
5 |
16 |
| Murray St.
|
54 |
37.5 |
4-18 |
14-16 |
9 |
20 |
4 |
8 |
10 |
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