The Murray State Racers kept their winning ways and winning streak going Thursday with an 82-72 victory over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers, who haven’t dropped a game since Thanksgiving weekend, pushed their winning streak to 18 and improved to 20-4 overall and 10-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SEMO fell to 10-13 and 4-6.
Steve Prohm joined the first coach in school history, Carlisle Cutchin, with four straight 20-win seasons. Additionally, Prohm is the only coach in school history to begin his era with four straight.
The Racers did it with a tremendous burst after leading at halftime 36-31.
Leading 50-43 with 14:59 remaining, the Racers put together a 20-5 run over the next nine minutes to lead by 22 points 70-48. Leading by the same margin on a Justin Seymour 3-pointer with 4:55 left, the Racers had to hold off a SEMO rally that cut the lead to six with 1:02 left.
Jarvis Williams led the Racers with his ninth double-double this season and his 23rd at MSU with 23 points and 11 rebounds. T.J. Sapp added 19 points, while Cameron Payne added 16 points and a game-high six assists. Jeffery Moss rounded out four Racers in double-figure scoring with 10 points.
The Racers won the battle of the boards 37-27 making it eight-straight games winning the rebound stat.
For the game, MSU shot 52 percent on 29-of-56 shots from the field, while SEMO was 24-of-55 for 44 percent.
The Racers hit the road Saturday for the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn., where they’ll face the Austin Peay Governors at 7 p.m.
Game Notes
The Racers moved their winning streak to 18 tonight and are starting to have the school and OVC record in sight perhaps. MSU’s 23-0 start to the 2011-12 season is the gold standard at MSU and in the OVC.
Stephen F. Austin of the Southland Conference has won 17 in a row and doesn’t have a mid-week game this week. The Lumberjacks will go for their 18th straight win Saturday when they host Houston Baptist. Kentucky continues to have the top winning streak in the nation at 22-0 and the last undefeated team in the nation. The Wildcats go for 23 in a row Saturday at Florida.
Now that Cameron Payne has become the 41st member of the MSU 1000-Point Club, we’re keeping an eye on Jarvis Williams and Jeffery Moss. Williams, a senior, still has a chance to do it after his 23 points tonight. Jarvis has 891 and junior Jeffery Moss has 845 after scoring 10 tonight. Payne was honored before the game and given a trophy ball commemorating his achievement.
The Racers continue to perform on the glass. Tonight they beat the Redhawks 37-27 in the rebound stat and have won this part of the game eight straight times.
The Racers have won 11 straight at the CFSB Center in dropping the season opener (Nov. 14) to Houston. MSU is 207-34 (.859) in 17 seasons in the arena and 51-7 in the Prohm era.
Prohm is on the doorstep of 100 career wins and is now 95-27 (.778) in four seasons with the Racers. Already the fastest Racer coach to reach 25, 50 and 75 wins, he will also be the fastest to reach 100.
MSU’s magic mark in the Prohm era is 80 points. MSU got to 82 points tonight and is 13-0 this season when scoring 80+ and 40-3 under Coach Prohm.
The Racers now lead the all-time series with SEMO 53-19 and are 26-9 at home.
MSU travels to Cape Girardeau, Mo., for the second meeting with SEMO on Valentines’ Day.
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