Murray St. stays perfect with rally over E. Illinois

Updated Mar. 28, 2021 7:42 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MURRAY, Ky, (AP) — Damonta Witherspoon scored two rushing touchdowns and Preston Rice threw and ran for scores and Murray State overcame a two-touchdown deficit late to beat Eastern Illinois 41-27 on Sunday.

The two were knotted at 10 at halftime when Mark Williams came up with a 38-yard pick-6 against Rice to start the third. Aaron Baum tied a school record with a

On Eastern Illinois' (1-4, 1-4) following drive, Jordan Smith ran 80 yards for a 24-13 lead, and Stone Galloway's 29-yard field goal made it a 14-point game with 9:29 left in the third. Smith finished with 142 rushing on 13 carries.

Murray State proceeded to score back-to-back touchdowns before the quarter ended as Rice found DeQuan Dallas on a 15-yard touchdown pass with 7:40 left in the third before running Rice ran it in from 2-yards out 2-1/2 minutes later to tie it.

Baum followed with field goals of 26 and 37 yards and Witherspoon's 4-yard touchdown run with 3:33 sealed it.

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