Murray State Basketball: Saint Peter’s ends Racers March Madness dream

Fouls and foul shooting spell defeat for Murray State Basketball as they fall to Saint Peter’s.

Murray State Basketball’s dream of its first-ever Sweet Sixteen came to an end Saturday. KC Ndefo scored 17 points, grabbed ten rebounds, and blocked six shots and Saint Peter’s prevailed 70-60. The Peacocks’ swarming defense turned the game into a ‘backyard scrap’ and limited Murray into a 35% shooting night from inside the arc.

In a game that featured more fouls (46) than field goals (40) Murray State struggled to find an offensive rhythm. The Ohio Valley Conference champions (31-3) scored just 27 first-half points and trailed by five.

While playing the game without starting guard Carter Collins, the Racers had four players with first-half foul trouble. Every frontcourt player had at least two fouls and two of them had three. As the fouls mounted on both teams, Murray couldn’t capitalize at the line where they made just 64% of their freebies.

Saint Peter’s guard Doug Edert scored 13 points, with ten of them during the game’s pivotal final six minutes when the Racers were making their move. Murray State simply didn’t have an answer for Ndefo in the game, which proved to be their downfall.

Justice Hill led all scorers with 19 points and made five of nine shots from deep. Tevin Brown played all 40 minutes and scored 14 points. K.J. Williams added 12 points and Trae Hannibal contributed ten and eight rebounds.

Through his disappointment, coach Matt McMahon talked about his admiration for his players.

"“I’m proud of our players for their effort,” said McMahon. “I’m just disappointed. I wish I could have gotten us into some better positions to execute better both ends of the floor. Really proud of these three guys here to my right (Williams, Brown and Hill), but obviously heartbroken, because they’ve invested a lot. They invested a lot in our team and our program to make it such a historic season.”"

The loss thrusts Murray into an offseason where they wait to see if seniors Brown and Williams choose to return for another (covid eligibility) season and one where McMahon is rumored to be a top contender for virtually every head coaching vacancy.