Murray State Stays on Top

(St. Louis, MO) – Murray State has had a an up and down season and aren’t playing anywhere near as well as they expected, nor are they playing remotely close to the way they did in Steve Prohm’s final season as the head coach. Oh yeah, they’re in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference’s West Division.

After Saturday’s win, the Racers are tied with UT-Martin at 9-5 in the West. The division title brings with it a double bye Music City Madness, the OVC Conference tournament. To say that the Racers expect to be in the top spot, is an understatement. They have finished first or second in every OVC season since 2003.

They’ve changed coaches, from Mick Cronin to Billy Kennedy, to Steve Prohm and now to Matt McMahon. The league has moved to divisional races and added teams, and still the Racers finish first or second. Granted, this season isn’t over and at 15-12 and 9-5 in the OVC, this isn’t a banner year at Murray State. However, their fate is in their own hands.

With two games left, they are tied with Martin and if they win out, they win the division. It’s as simple as that. They have a tough road game at Eastern Illinois (12-16, 8-7) and then finish at home, next Saturday against the Skyhawks. The Racers and their first year coach can continue the winning tradition. Two more wins equals a double bye and even a split wins means they can’t finish lower than second in the West.

OVC watchers are surprised by the relatively understated season by Damarcus Croaker. The Texas transfer was expected to jump right into Cameron Payne’s leading man and leading scorer’s status and he hasn’t been that type of player. He’s averaging over nine points and four rebounds. He’s had a fine season, but since many thought he would a ‘player of the year’ type player, the numbers seem like a disappointment.

A rare home loss to Austin Peay and close losses to Tennessee Tech, Belmont, Tennessee State and UT-Martin also sting right now. Those five OVC losses have come by a total of 23 points. Add in two overtime losses in the non-conference schedule and you can see that the Racers aren’t that far away from being a very good team.

The Racers are a balanced team, with three players (Wayne Langston, Jeffery Moss and Bryce Jones) averaging between 12 and 14 points. With the second best defensive team in ‘The O’ they have a chance to do some special things, but McMahon’s team is fourth worst in scoring. Balance can be a great thing, but sometimes Murray misses that ‘go to’ player that can take over a game.

Saturday’s win was their third straight and they’ve won four of their last five games. Perhaps the Racers are coming together at the right time. Croaker’s 14 points Saturday represented his first double digit game in the last four and his twelve rebounds lifted him to his first double-double as a Racer. Jeffrey Moss has taken off!

Moss scored 22 points against Austin Peay and now has scored 20 or more points in five of his last six games after accomplishing that task once in the first 21 contests. The 6’4 senior has scored over 1,300 points in a Racer uniform and seems intent on going out in style.

Murray State fans expect first place finishes and the Racers look like they are poised to give their fans what they expect.

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