LIVE STATS | WATCH ESPN LINK | LIVE AUDIO | Game NotesMURRAY, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky will be looking to end a two-game losing skid when the team faces Murray State in a nationally televised game on Thursday.
The game will air live on ESPNU beginning at 9 p.m. ET. The live radio broadcast is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com.
Murray State is one of the hottest teams in the nation right now. The Racers are 17-4 overall and 7-0 in conference play. MSU's 15-game winning streak is the fourth longest in the country.
The Colonels (11-8, 3-3 OVC) are coming off a two-game conference road trip where they led by as many as eight points at Jacksonville State and by 13 at Tennessee Tech, but lost both.
Eastern held 12 of its first 15 opponents under 70 points. However, the Colonels have allowed 70 or more in three of its last four games and have lost all three of those games.
EKU senior
Corey Walden is the only player in the OVC top-8 in scoring (3rd), field goal percentage (8th), assists (7th) and steals (1st). He needs two steals to pass Bobby Collins (190) and move into second place on the school's all-time steals list. In his last three games, senior
Eric Stutz has averaged 20 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 64 percent from the field.
Offensively, Murray State leads the league in scoring (78.6 ppg), field goal percentage (48.9), three-point field goal percentage (39.9), assists (16.0 apg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.4). Defensively, Murray State is second in field goal percentage defense (40.8).
Cameron Payne, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, leads the OVC in scoring (19.2 ppg) and is second in assists (5.9 apg) and steals (2.0 spg). The 2013-14 OVC Freshman of the Year is shooting 48 percent from the field and 38 percent from long range. Four of the team's five starters average 10 points or more. Jarvis Williams, a 6-foot-8, 215-pound senior forward, contributes 16.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
The last time these two teams played, Eastern Kentucky pulled out an exciting 86-83 win over Murray State in the OVC Tournament semifinals on March 7, 2014 in Nashville.
EKU jumped on top early and led throughout most of the game. 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. Two 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. 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 a 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 Payne's desperation shot at the buzzer.
Walden paced Eastern with 24 points, four assists and a career-best six steals. For MSU, Payne tallied 24 points, but also had seven turnovers.
