Murray State uses late surge to put away 66-53 victory

Feb 4, 2018, 02:16 am

MARTIN, Tenn. -- Ja Morant scored 18 points, Jonathan Stark had 17 and Murray State used a late run to pull away from UT Martin 66-53 on Saturday night.

Morant grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and had five assists while Stark made five 3-pointers in the first half for the Racers (18-5, 10-2), who remained alone in second place behind Belmont (11-1) in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Morant's 3-pointer with nine minutes left gave the Racers the lead for good but it took a 12-0 run over the final 5:22 to put the game away. Terrell Miller Jr. and Shaq Buchanan scored 10 points each.

Matthew Butler scored 19 points and Fatodd Lewis 12 for the Skyhawks (8-17, 3-9).

The Racers had a 20-5 advantage on points scored off turnovers and were 15 of 24 at the line to 6 of 8 for UTM.

The teams combined for 59 3-point attempts, making 16.