Brown, Williams rally No. 23 Murray St past Morehead St

MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — Tevin Brown made a go-ahead layup with 16 seconds remaining and KJ Williams added two free throws 12 seconds later as No. 23 Murray State rallied past Morehead State 57-53 Saturday for its 14th consecutive victory.

The Racers (24-2, 14-0 Ohio Valley Conference) trailed 50-42 with 4:24 left before clawing back to lead 53-50 with 1:01 left as Williams made baskets less than a minute apart. Tray Hollowell's 3-pointer with 36 seconds left tied the game before Brown drove inside for the go-ahead basket and Williams rebounded Ta'Lon Cooper's missed layup with four seconds remaining.

Williams was fouled and knocked down both free throws before making a steal to seal the tense road victory, Murray State's second in three days. He made 8 of 14 shots to finish with 21 points with 12 rebounds.

Johni Broome had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Morehead State (19-8, 11-3) which had its 20-game home winning streak stopped.

Murray State won despite shooting 36% and just 3 of 19 from behind the arc. But the Racers were 2 of 5 after halftime, and those made the difference as they won the final regular-season meeting with Morehead as OVC members. Murray is leaving for the Missouri Valley Conference after this season.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Murray State figures to gain some spots by staying hot and adding a gut check win.

BIG PICTURE

Murray State: The Racers trailed early because of mistakes and an overreliance of 3-pointers. They stuck with the plan and whittled down the lead for perhaps their biggest win in a string of triumphs.

Morehead State: The Eagles started 7 of 8 from the field and seemed to make baskets they needed to keep Murray at bay. They suddenly went cold, missing four of their final shots in the last 4 1/2 minutes as their home streak ended.

UP NEXT

Murray State returns home against Austin Peay on Thursday night.

Morehead State visits UT Martin on Wednesday night.

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