(January 25, 2004) The Murray State University Racers (15-3, 5-1) dominated an undermanned Tennessee-Martin squad at home 94-70, before traveling to conference foe Tennessee State to steal another victory 84-78.

UTM (7-11, 1-5) came into Murray hobbling from the loss of two starters and looking for head coach Bret Campbell’s first OVC victory of the season. Junior guard Justin Smith, who was averaging 15.7 points per contest for the Skyhawks, went down against Jacksonville State with a tear in his achilles tendon and is out for the season. UTM was also without the services of senior guard Earl Bullock who injured his knee five games into the season after averaging 10.6 points per outing. Bullock, last years OVC Newcomer of the Year, underwent knee surgery and will miss the rest of the season, but will receive a medical redshirt.

The Racers jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead on senior forward Chris Shumate’s layup with 14:37 left in the first half, only to see Martin go on a 10-2 run to close to within two at 12-10 over the next two minutes. Murray then used a 27-8 run over the next 7:28, fueled by 14 points off eight Martin turnovers, to push the Skyhawks’ deficit to 21, before going to the break up 15 at 49-34.

Murray State, which has relied heavily on a full-court, up-tempo defense for much of the season, used more of a pressure half-court defense against the Skyhawks.

“We were able to execute our half-court defense well enough to get the lead early,” said Cronin of the switch in tactics. “When we try to press early it seems like we don’t dig in well enough in the half-court, defensively. We’re going to have to work on becoming a 40-minute, 94 foot team, defensively.

“Sometimes when you are a coach you can’t try to bang a square peg into a round hole. Hence, the lack of the press early in the game, and for most of the game.

“I just wanted to send a message to our guys tonight that we are going to hang our hats on defense and make defense our identity. We’re still an up-tempo team, but its got to be off steals and rebounds and not taking it out under the basket because you’re not going to be very quick if you are taking it out under the basket every time.”

Murray opened up the second-half with a 23-11 run, capped by a monster dunk by senior forward Antione Whelchel, to push the lead to 27, at 72-45, with 11:11 left in the game. Murray’s lead swelled to as much as 32 with 3:36 to go on a layup by freshman forward Shawn Witherspoon and the Racers cruised the rest of the way for the 24 point final margin.

“In nine minutes (of the second half) we had only given up 11 points and that’s what I was looking for coming out of the locker room,” noted Cronin of the second half. “We were able to execute being able to guard their high-low sets - the things they try to do - and we took away some of their strengths.”

The Racers were 36-of-65 from the field against Martin for 55.4%, including 9-of-21 from behind the arc for 42.9%, while the Skyhawks managed 45.2% on 28-of-62 shooting and 5-of-18 from three range for 27.8%. Murray outrebounded Martin 38-31 on the boards and forced the Skyhawks into 16 turnovers for the contest with only 13 assists.

Murray’s offensive output was evenly distributed with nine players registering double-digit minutes and placing six players in double-figure scoring. The Racers were led by junior forward Kelvin Brown’s 16 points in 24 minutes of action. Chris Shumate poured in 15, while Whelchel and Witherspoon added 13 each. Senior guard Rick Jones accounted for 15 points off the bench and senior forward Cuthbert Victor rounded out double-figure scorers, going for a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Murray’s junior guard Adam Chiles contributed 8 points to go with 5 assists and 4 steals for the Racers.

Martin placed two players in double-figure scoring, with junior guard Jeremy Kelly garnering game-high honors by netting 25 points and sophomore Jared Newsome added 22 of his own.

“I was definitely pleased with our progress tonight,” said Cronin. “I told the guys, it’s a three step process with me talking, and obviously coaches talk a lot, them listening, and they listen pretty good, and them believing it and taking it to heart in what we’re trying to do as a team.

“You get to a point in the season, sometimes, when you’re not doing all three things in that process. They’ve got to believe that we’re going to win with defense and that’s why we had so many big wins early.

“If we are going to make a run in our conference and get some big wins, we are going to have to be able to guard some people. You can’t hang your hat on offense and try to go out and outscore people.”

At Tennessee State (4-13, 3-3), Murray ran in to a team hungry for a victory after blowing a game, two nights previous, to a struggling Martin squad. The Tigers boast one of the conference’s premiere players in freshman guard Bruce Price. Price came to TSU as a highly-touted recruit who dropped off some bigger name programs’ radar with academic eligibility issues, before becoming eligible late.

Murray jumped out to an early 16-6 lead on the hometown Tigers on a Kelvin Brown jumper at the 16:06 mark and led by ten at the 13:22 mark, 21-11. The Tigers came right back, led by four TSU treys, and tied the game at 25 on a long-range bomb by sophomore guard Adrian Pritchett with 9:53 remaining in the half. The teams traded buckets over the remainder of the first frame and a tip-in by senior Garrett Richardson put the Tigers up 36-34 at the break.

“They were extremely active in their zone and played it extremely well and played hard,” said Cronin of the first half of action. “You get tired and start standing around with their zone and we got stagnant.“

The second half saw the Tigers open up with an 8-0 spurt on two more threes and a two-point jump shot by junior Roshaun Bowens, to extend the TSU lead to ten at 44-34 in just 1:15. After a Cronin timeout, the Racers went on a 9-0 run of their own to cut the lead to one at 44-43 at the 16:26 mark. The next twelve minutes of action saw the lead see-saw back and forth with neither team holding more than a six point lead. With TSU holding a slim two point lead with 4:41 to go, the Racers clamped down on defense and Racer Chris Shumate drove in the dagger with four threes, the last coming with :29 left for the final six point margin.

The Racers were paced in scoring on the night by Chris Shumate who went for 23 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-9 from three-point range. Kelvin Brown added 22 points for Murray and Cuthbert Victor went for yet another double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Adam Chiles put up 7 points and dished out 6 assists, while Antione Whelchel scored 9 points to go with 8 assists.

TSU was led by Garrett Richardson’s 21 points and Bruce Price’s 20, after the Racers held price scoreless in the first half on 0-for-5 shooting. Roshaun Bowens added 11 and Adrian Pritchett tossed in ten to round out the Tigers double-digit leaders.

“He’s got tremendous talent,” commented Cronin about Price. “Our defense did a good job early, on a very heady player. He takes charges and is just an extremely talented player of that size.

“You aren’t going to shut down a player like that for the entire game, but it took him 16 shots to get his 20 points, plus we didn’t respect him as much in the second half.

“Adam and Antione did an extremely good job of being patient and making the extra pass and finding the wide open man.”

Murray was 29-of-54 from the field on the night for 53.7%, including 9-of-22 from long range for 40.9%. TSU shot 50.0% from the field, going 31-of-62, with 12-of-29 three-pointers for 41.8%. The Racers edged out the Tigers on the glass, pulling down 36 rebounds to TSU’s 27, and held a slight assist advantage, 23-21.

“For a team (TSU) to shoot 50% from the field and 41% from three with 21 assists and only 12 turnovers and for us to get out of here with a win is tremendous. I told the guys we have to keep playing hard and not get conceited and think that records matter.

“All you have to do is watch college basketball on T.V. Records don’t matter.

“Tennessee State doesn’t care about our record. Its Saturday night, conference play and a good crowd and they are hitting some tough shots and that pumps up your confidence and you play better defense.

“I’m definitely happy to escape with a win. I’d like to go run on the bus right now.”

The Racers take a break from conference action to travel to a dangerous Texas A&M-Corpus Christie team in a home-and-home series needed to fill two empty slots in Murray‘s schedule.

“It’s the reality of us getting extra games in,” Cronin said of the non-conference matchup. “I told the guys that this is a dangerous game for us. We probably have the best record of any team that has went down there and played at their place.”