RACERS TOO REVVED FOR INDIANS; MURRAY STATE PULLS INTO FIRST WITH 77-60 VICTORY

The Showdown at the Show Me Center turned out to be more like a private party for Murray State's Racers and a few hundred of their fans.

In front of the largest crowd to ever watch a basketball game at the Show Me Center -- and a national television audience on ESPN2 -- the Racers took control from start to finish Saturday afternoon and rolled to a 77-60 victory.

The 7,241 fans, most of them red-clad Southeast supporters, were forced to sit in stunned silence for much of the second half as Murray State turned an expected cliffhanger into a total blowout.

Murray State, which has either won or shared 11 of the past 12 OVC titles, took over first place in the league. The Racers, avenging last month's 84-78 loss to Southeast in Murray, improved to 18-7 overall and 11-3 in OVC play.

Southeast, losing at home for the first time all season, fell to 18-6 overall and 11-4 in the league. The Indians, who trail the Racers by one-half game, have three OVC contests remaining. Murray State has four league games left.

"First of all, I really want to give Murray State credit," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "They came in here really determined. I think they played extremely well, I mean extremely well.

"We had a great effort. I can't fault the effort. But it seemed like Murray State played flawless."

Said Murray State coach Tevester Anderson, "I thought we beat a very fine team, a very well-coached team. I thought we played really hard from the beginning. I knew we would have to do that to get the victory."

The Racers set the tone for the triumph in the early going as they clamped down on the Indians defensively. Murray State, barely allowing Southeast to get into its offense, limited the Indians to just five points in nearly nine minutes at the outset as the Racers opened up a 17-5 lead.

"That's the best defensive game Murray State has played against us," Garner said. "But it wasn't just their defense. I thought everything they did out there was very good."

Anderson said the Racers, who allow 75 points per game to rank seventh in the 10-team OVC in scoring defense, came out determined to show that they can play a little defense.

"We read where we were ranked seventh or eighth defensively, and that's an insult to us," said Anderson. "We challenged them to show the world that we're not the worst defensive team (in the OVC).

"SEMO is supposed to have the best defense (in the OVC). Statistically they do. I thought we played good defense ourselves. I thought we really took them out of their game in the first five minutes."

Said Murray State forward Isaac Spencer, who scored 22 points, "I think our defense was probably the best we've played all year."

Aubrey Reese, the Racers' brilliant guard, led all scorers with 24 points and he also pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds despite being one of the smallest players on the floor.

Asked whether the Racers were intent on making a statement after having Southeast end their 47-game home winning streak earlier in the season, Reese said, "You can call it a statement. But we just knew we wanted to win the game. We just knew it was a big game and we prepared well."

Ray Cunningham added 13 points for the Racers, 11 coming in the second half. Mike Turner scored nine points, all in the first half.

Roderick Johnson paced the Indians with 17 points. Michael Stokes had 14, Emmanuel McCuthison got 13 off the bench and Mike Branson added 12.

"I thought we came out uptight, but you have to give them credit. They came out fighting and playing hard," said Branson.

Murray State scored the game's first four points, then used a 7-0 run to go up 11-2. The Racers built their lead to 17-5 before Southeast was finally able to get untracked offensively.

The Indians trailed 27-14, but a 9-2 run pulled them to within 29-23.

Murray State surged back ahead 35-24, but six straight Southeast points sliced the Racers' lead to 35-30. Cunningham's follow shot that was ruled to have come just before the buzzer made it 37-30 at halftime.

Branson's 3-pointer early in the second half pulled to the Indians to within 41-38 and brought deafening noise from the crowd.

But Cunningham answered with a 3-pointer that made it 44-38. And, after Southeast had closed to within 44-40, Cunningham scored on a conventional three-point play that boosted the Racers into a 47-40 lead.

"Any time we made a comeback, they hit some really big shots," Garner said.

Southeast pulled to within 47-42, but the Racers then reeled off 11 straight points -- highlighted by a Cunningham dunk -- to open up a 58-42 bulge that the Indians could not recover from.

The Indians never got closer than 11 points again and the Racers led by as many as 19 points in the late going.

Southeast shot just 33 percent from the field, including 27 percent in the second half. The Indians made only 22 percent of their 3-point attempts.

On the other hand, Murray State hit 10 of 18 second-half shots for 56 percent as they finished at 46 percent for the game.

"They just shot the ball better than us," said Johnson.

Said Garner, "We didn't shoot well. Some of it was us and some of it was Murray State."

Asked if he was surprised by the Racers' margin of victory, Reese said, "A little bit. I thought it would be closer. It seemed like we did the things we needed to do."

The teams could very well meet again in the OVC Tournament they played last season in the tourney finals, with Murray State winning at the buzzer and Spencer said he expects it.

"I know we'll see them somewhere down the line," he said. "They're the best team in the conference, other than us."