OVC Basketball: Murray State uses big second half spurt to race past Belmont in conference tournament championship game

The Murray State Racers will once again represent the Ohio Valley Conference in the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Murray State Racers became the first team to secure a bid into the 2018 NCAA Tournament as they captured the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title with a 69-51 victory over the second-seeded Belmont Bruins.  With the win, the Racers earned its 16th OVC crown though their first since 2012.

Murray State (26-5) got off to a fast start, scoring 14 of the game’s first 16 points. OVC Player of the Year Johnathan Stark’s layup gave the Racers a 20-12 advantage with 8:21 to go in the opening stanza. But the Bruins (24-9) outscored the Racers 20-9 the rest of half to take a three-point lead at the break.

Trailing 39-34 almost five minutes into the second half, Murray St. went on a 25-9 run to take control of the game. Shaq Buchanan knocked down a three-pointer with to make the score 62-49 with 3:45 left. The Racers made seven triples in the second half to give them nine for the game.

Stark, who was named tournament MVP, finished with 24 points on 10 of 21 shooting. He set a program season record with 109 triples despite making just 2 of 10 from beyond the arc on Saturday.

The Racers also got 15 points from freshman Ja Morant and 11 points apiece from both Buchanan and Terrell Miller. Morant also contributed five rebounds and five assists while Miller added eight caroms.

Kevin McClain led the Bruins with 17 points and Dylan Windler chipped in with 10 points along with six boards.

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Belmont’s Austin Luke and Amanze Egekeze joined Stark, Morant as well as Miller on the OVC tournament all-tournament team. Now, the Racers will wait and see who they’ll play in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. But this team can now rest easy during Championship Week.