Racer rally falls short at Belmont, 70-60
MBB: Murray State will be the #7 seed at Arch Madness this week in St. Louis
Murray State fell to Belmont, 70-60, Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale for both. Here’s what you need to know:
With the loss, the Racers fall to 15-16 overall and 9-11 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Nick Ellington scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half to lead the Racers.
JaCobi Wood was the only other Racer in double-figures with 12 points.
Belmont was led in scoring by Carter Whitt (18 points), Tyler Lundblade (18 points) and Jonathan Pierre (17 points).
After trailing by 19 at the half, Murray State got to within three points on two separate occasions, but were unable to get closer.
Murray State will be the #7 seed in Arch Madness and will face #10 seed Evansville on Thursday night at 6:00pm in St. Louis.
First half hole too deep to dig out of for the Racers
With Terence Harcum and Nick Ellington battling foul trouble and Belmont winning the physicality battle in the first 20 minutes, Murray State went to the locker room trailing 41-22.
Trailing 52-36 with 14:00 remaining, the Racers finally found their footing. Murray State ripped off a 15-2 run to climb back to within three. After Belmont pushed the lead back out to seven points, the Racers made one last surge to close to within 59-56 with 5:45 remaining. The Bruins would close the game out by holding the Racers to just four points the rest of the game as Murray State was never able to get over the hump.
“I think that's just been the tale of the tape, just the inconsistency,” Murray State Head Coach Steve Prohm said. “We want to hit singles and play with great effort and execute and take good shots and really, really compete. (Our) A-team is pretty good, but in this league, if you want to play your B-team and C-team and D-team, you'll be down by 20. We got embarrassed and we got exposed. It's probably the most mad I've been at halftime in a long time that I can really, really vividly remember. To their credit, they answered the bell. We got it to four. We had some opportunities. We gave up a million points at the rim and missed some good looks from three. Defensively in the second half, (we gave up) 29 points, but too many turnovers in the first half. The pace of the game was way too fast for us. We were playing at their pace, and we just can't do that. We got exposed. You’re either going to get run out of here, or you’re going to make it a really, really good game. It got to where it was really a (one) possession game. I just told the guys in the locker room again, ‘The next time it's over, right? So you just don't have time to not play your A-game and not play with elite effort.’”
Ellington excels in second half
In the first half, Nick Ellington was largely ineffective, as he battled through foul trouble. Along with his two fouls, the senior forward had two points on 1-of-2 shooting, two rebounds, one block and two turnovers.
Whatever message Steve Prohm used during the halftime break got through to Ellington.
In 17 minutes in the second half, Ellington had 17 points, including making 9-of-11 free throws. He is now shooting 55-for-75 (73.3%) from the line in the last 16 games.
Racers get a third chance to crack the Aces
While Murray State didn’t get the momentum-building win they hoped for Sunday before they head to St. Louis, there was at least enough fight and resilience in the second half to have something to build off of heading to Arch Madness. The Racers will get a rubber match with Evansville after beating the Aces in Murray back in December, then losing at the Ford Center in late January. All the work the team has put in since June has now built to this week in St. Louis, and Prohm believes his guys will be ready to face the challenge.
“I like our chances up there,” Prohm said. “(Just about everybody) in our bracket we've beaten. Bradley, we had a shot to beat them in regulation at their place, so you feel good about everything. You’ve got to go up there and play a complete game, one at a time. I think playing this way in the second half, I think it's a punch in the face to say, ‘Alright, if you're not like this, you're not very good. If you are like this…’ We’ve just got to finish plays. The game just got to (Belmont’s) pace so fast, then everything was coming in transition and waves — and they can score. We got the game slowed down (in the second half). Man, we just competed. Terence diving on the floor — the whole thing was just different. That's how we have to be this week if we're going to advance.”
Meet the Racers in St. Louis on Thursday
Murray State will play Evansville on Thursday at 6:00pm at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. The winner of that game will face #2 seed Bradley at 6:00pm on Friday in the quarterfinals.