Murray State Takes the Lead

(St. Louis, MO) – Murray State has taken the lead and there is a three way tie for fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Murray State (23-5, 15-2) won its tenth straight game (76-66 at Eastern Illinois) and Belmont (22-8, 14-3) dropped its third consecutive decision to Jacksonville State (78-67). Murray and Belmont receive a two-game bye in the OVC Tournament and MSU clinches first place if they win Saturday at Austin Peay.

Third and fourth place receive byes into the second round and Austin Peay (17-12, 12-5) is assured of third place after their 86-82 win at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

But what about fourth place?

Tennesee Tech’s head-to-head victory over Tennessee State (69-64) catapulted the Golden Eagles into a tie with the Tigers and with Jacksonville State. All three stand at 10-7.

TTU plays their second straight game against one of their closest competitors as they host JSU. Tennessee State travels to Belmont.

Seventh and eighth place are up for grabs too. Current seventh place team Eastern Illinois (10-18, 6-11) clinches that spot if they defend their home floor against SIUE (9-19, 5-12). Eastern Kentucky’s (11-19, 5-12) home win over Southeast Missouri moved the Colonels into a tie with SIUE for eighth, so anything can happen in the bottom half of the standings. EKU finishes the regular season at Morehead State (7-21, 3-14) who knocked UT Martin out of the playoff race with a convincing win over the Skyhawks.

Outstanding Performances.

Southeast Missouri’s Denzel Mahoney and SIUE’s Jalen Henry led all OVC Thursday scorers with 26 points. For Henry, he eclipsed the 1,000 point mark (1,025) in the Cougars’ loss. EKU’s Nick Mayo scored 25 and grabbed nine rebounds. The 6’9 junior is averaging 23.3 points-per-game over the Colonels’ last eight games.

Belmont’s Austin Luke recorded another double-double with 15 points and ten assists and Luke’s heir apparent as the best OVC point guard, Murray State’s Ja Morant scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds and distributed nine assists.

Do Good

Don’t Forget – You Can Win Free Tickets to the OVC Tournament by tweeting this story and adding the hashtag #OVCEvansville. A random drawing takes place Friday afternoon for ALL SESSION PASSES  to the OVC Tournament in Evansville.