Murray State – OVC Double Champions

(St. Louis, MO) – Murray State pulled off the rare feat of winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title AND the postseason tournament title and they are heading to the NCAA Tournament. The Racers knocked off their nemesis, the Belmont Bruins 68-51.

Player of the Year and Tournament MVP Jonathan Stark led the way with 24 points, but it was the stingy Racer defense that made the difference. MSU held the OVC’s best shooting team to 19 points and a 28 percent shooting performance in the pivotal second half.

The Racers trailed 32-27 at the half and clamped down on the Belmont offense and completely shut down their outside shooting success. The Bruins made one of eleven shots from long distance, while the Racers converted seven of their 16 long range shots.

Head coach Matt McMahon said his team has had a high level of commitment from the very beginning of the season.

“They’ve been awesome every single day, all year long,” said McMahon. “They really sold out for the team, committed to each other and played for each other all year, and stepped up with a big time effort tonight. Defense was terrific. It was the best job we did all season long from a communication standpoint.”

What did it look like from the stands? One of our ticket winners provided this tweet.

 

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Murray Fans love their team! #GoRacers @RacersHoops #OVCChamps @FatherHarry1 pic.twitter.com/K6i3gTtZCM

— Nate Smith (@The_Nate) March 4, 2018

 

Joining Stark on the all-tournament team were Racers Terrell Miller and Ja Morant, along with Bruins Austin Luke, and Amanze Egekeze. Stark is the 15th Racer to be named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

Now the Racers wait for their March Madness assignment. Most of the year the bracketologists have predicted the OVC champion would have an opening round assignment in Nashville. One can only hope that is true!

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