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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball team pulled out an exciting 86-83 win over Murray State in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament semifinals Friday night.

The Colonels (23-9) will face OVC regular season champion Belmont in the championship game Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Just like Thursday night's quarterfinal affair, EKU jumped on top early and led throughout most of the game. Murray State's (18-11) last lead came following a Jeffery Moss three-pointer to make the score, 13-12.

From there, senior Tarius Johnson netted back-to-back lay-ups to give Eastern the lead for good. The Colonels hit their first 13 two-point attempts on the way to shooting 65.5 percent (19-of-29) from the floor in the first half.

A beautifully executed pick-and-roll which resulted in a lay-up from junior Eric Stutz pushed the Colonel advantage to 11 points, 44-33, late in the first half. Two Corey Walden free throws right before intermission gave EKU a 46-37 cushion at the break.

The Colonels twice extended the lead to 12 points in the second stanza, but the Racers slowly clawed their way back thanks in large part to EKU foul trouble. Eastern Kentucky was whistled for its 10th foul with 9:23 left and from that point, Murray State got to the free throw line 16 times down the stretch.

Five straight MSU points cut the deficit to four points, 72-68, with 6:22 on the clock. The Racers inched to within three points twice before T.J. Sapp netted a tying three-pointer with 1:33 remaining (79-79).

Walden immediately answered with an old-fashioned three-point play on a driving lay-up to keep the Colonels in front, 82-79. On Murray's next possession, Walden came up with a steal off a missed shot and drove the length of the court to extend the lead back to five points, 84-79.

The Racers then made a couple of buckets in the final minute to get back within two points with 20 seconds left, 85-83. Following a Glenn Cosey free throw, Murray State had one final chance to send the game into overtime. The Racers missed a pair of three-point attempts on their final possession, including Cameron Payne's desperation shot at the buzzer.

This was Eastern Kentucky's first win over Murray State in the OVC tournament since 1987. The Colonels had lost their last six games to the Racers in the tourney.

EKU shot 59.3 percent from the floor, marking the fifth time in the last six games the Colonels had shot 50 percent. Walden paced Eastern with 24 points, four assists and a career-best six steals. Four other EKU players reached double figures led by Cosey with 17 points.

For Murray State, Payne tallied 24 points, but also had seven turnovers. Jarvis Williams chipped in with 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

TICKETS: Colonel fans looking to travel to Nashville on Saturday can purchase tickets in the lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel in Nashville from 2 to 5 p.m. CT. Tickets cost $30.

NOTES
Glenn Cosey (105) broke the school's single season record of 104 three-pointers. The record was held by Jeff McGill (1987-88) and Adam Leonard (2006-07).

This was the second straight year Eastern Kentucky and Murray State have played each other in the OVC Tournament semifinals. The Racers won last year, 81-73.

Eastern Kentucky is making its 12th straight OVC Tournament appearance. Only EKU and Murray State have appeared in each of the last 12 conference tournaments.

The Colonels are now 37-33 all-time in the OVC Tournament. Eastern Kentucky has the third-most tournament game victories.

EKU's 23 wins are the second-most in program history.

EKU is 13-1 this season when scoring 80-plus. The Colonels are 49-7 under Jeff Neubauer when scoring 80 or more.

Eastern Kentucky entered the game first in the OVC in scoring defense (70.2 ppg). Murray State entered the game fourth in scoring defense (72.5 ppg).

EKU entered the game second in the nation in turnover margin (+6.5) and finished with five fewer turnovers than Murray State on Friday.

Murray State entered the game first in the OVC in three-point shooting defense (32.9 percent). The Colonels lead the conference with 9.2 three-pointers per game. EKU made six and shot 30 percent from behind the arc.

Murray State entered the game with the lowest free throw shooting percentage in the OVC (65.1 percent), but shot 82.4 percent from the charity stripe on Friday.

Eastern Kentucky entered the game fifth in the nation in steals (271) and eighth with an average of 8.7 per game. The Colonels finished with 12 steals against Murray State.

Eastern is now 6-4 all-time as the No. 3 seed in the OVC Tournament. The Colonels are now 6-19 against higher seeded teams since seeding began in 1975.

The Colonels are now 6-7 in OVC Tournament games under head coach Jeff Neubauer.

EKU is now 4-9 in games played at Municipal Auditorium.