Tennessee St. hands No. 9 Murray St. first loss
MURRAY, Ky. – Robert Covington had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Tennessee State to a 72-68 victory over No. 9 Murray State on Thursday night, handing the Racers their first loss of the season.
Isaiah Canaan had 31 points and six rebounds for Murray State (23-1, 11-1 Ohio Valley Conference), which was the last unbeaten team in Division I.
Steve Prohm took the responsibility for his first loss as a head coach upon himself.
“I’ve got to do a better job in some areas to make sure we’re doing a better job executing at times,” Prohm said. “But, I’m proud. I’m extremely proud of our guys. We had an amazing run, 23 wins in a row. I’m sure we set a lot of records along the way, but now we’ve got to be totally locked in on winning a conference championship.”
Murray State had won the last eight meetings against Tennessee State (16-10, 9-4) dating to 2008-09.
Covington hit a three-pointer with 4 minutes left that gave Tennessee State a 65-62 lead.
The Tigers led 69-68 when a turnover gave Murray State the ball with 11.2 seconds to play. Tennessee State stole the inbounds pass. Covington was fouled with 9.7 seconds left but he missed both free throws.
Canaan turned the ball over and committed a foul with 3.5 seconds to play. Kenny Moore made two free throws to make it a three-point lead.
Murray State again turned the ball over on a long inbounds pass and Jordan Cyphers made one of two free throws to seal the upset.
No. 20 Mississippi St. 70, Mississippi 60: At Starkville, Miss., Arnett Moultrie scored 18 points and Dee Bost dished a career-high 13 assists for Mississippi State.
Moultrie was 9 of 14 from the field. Bost had eight assists in the first half as the Bulldogs (19-5, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) built a 40-27 lead.
STATE ROUNDUP
Eastern Illinois 74, Tennessee Tech 57: At Cookeville, Tenn., James Hollowell scored 17 points in only his second start of the season and Eastern Illinois took control early in a win over Tennessee Tech, snapping an eight-game losing streak.
The Panthers (10-14, 3-9 Ohio Valley Conference) scored the last six points of the first half – with four by Hollowell – to lead 28-20 at the break, then opened the second half with an 8-0 burst.
Southern Utah 60, Western Illinois 44: At Cedar City, Utah, Jackson Stevenett had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead Southern Utah to a victory against Western Illinois.
Ceola Clark had 15 points, Obi Emegano 14 and Tommy Tyler 10 for the Leathernecks (13-10, 7-7 Summit League), who were outrebounded 33-23.
North Dakota 75, Chicago St. 69: At Chicago, Troy Huff scored 25 points and North Dakota won on the road for the first time all season, beating Chicago State.
Lee Fisher scored 18 points to lead the Cougars (2-21, 1-5 Great West).
Ardarius Simmons had 14 points and Matt Samuels contributed 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds for the Cougars.
