Murray St. keeps pace, tops Southeast Missouri St., 87-75

Feb 2, 2018, 04:04 am

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Jonathan Stark and Ja Morant combined to score 52 points as Murray State powered past Southeast Missouri State in the second half to post an 87-75 Ohio Valley Conference victory Thursday night.

Murray State stayed one game behind conference-leader Belmont, a 98-63 winner over Eastern Kentucky.

Ledarrius Brewer dunked with 38 seconds left in the first half to send the Redhawks into intermission with a 34-32 advantage and Southeast Missouri State maintained the lead for more than 11 minutes of the second half.

Terrell Miller Jr. drilled a 3-pointer with 8:38 left to give Murray State the lead, 60-58 as part of a 10-0 run that put the Racers up, 65-58 with seven minutes left.

Stark knocked down 5 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc to amass 29 points for Murray State (17-5, 9-2). Morant was 8 of 12 from the floor to finish with 23 points and nine rebounds.

Denzel Mahoney was 11 of 26 from the field and totaled 30 points to lead the Redhawks (10-14, 4-7). Brewer finished with 18 points and seven boards.