Murray St. Racers vs SE Missouri St. Redhawks Box Score on Feb 26, 2022

Justice Hill hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 39 seconds left as No. 19 Murray State rallied for a 70-68 victory over host Southeast Missouri State on Saturday in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Racers (28-2, 18-0 Ohio Valley Conference) became the sixth team in the 74-year history of the OVC to go unbeaten in conference play. In its final regular season in the league before heading to the Missouri Valley Conference, Murray State erased a 12-point deficit in the final 6:38 by ending the game on a 13-4 run and holding the Redhawks to one basket in the final 3:32.

Southeast Missouri State (13-17, 8-9) led 62-50 after a jumper by DQ Nicholas and was up 64-57 with 3:32 remaining after Phillip Russell hit a layup. But the Racers scored the next eight points and took a 65-64 lead on Hill's layup with 2:33 remaining. A free throw by Nygal Russell of the Redhawks with 1:59 left tied the game at 65-65.

Hill grabbed the defensive rebound of a missed 3-pointer by Eric Reed with 69 seconds left, then knocked down an uncontested 3-pointer to put the Racers ahead to stay. Hill and Trae Hannibal each made one of two free throws to put Murray State up 70-65 with 14 seconds left, but Reed's 3-pointer made it a two-point game with seven seconds left.

Hill missed a free throw with five seconds left, giving the RedHawks a chance to tie or win, but Chris Harris missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

K.J. Williams led all scorers with 23 points, and Hannibal added 20 for Murray State, which shot 43.3 percent from the field. Tevin Brown contributed 15 points and Hill finished with 11 as the Racers beat the Redhawks for the 10th straight time.

Manny Patterson paced Southeast Missouri with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Phillip Russell finished with 10 points. Reed, the conference's fifth-leading scorer, was held to nine as the Redhawks shot 50 percent from the field (26-for-52), but hurt themselves by committing 17 turnovers.

Patterson scored nine points in a 18-2 run as Southeast Missouri opened a 30-19 lead on a layup by Sam Thompson with 5:33 remaining in the first half. Murray State got within 37-32 at halftime, but the Redhawks came out strong after intermission, and Reed's first basket gave them a 50-40 lead with 13:04 left.

--Field Level Media