Nashville, TN (Sports Network) - The Ohio Valley Conference's West and East
Division Champions will square off with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the
line on Saturday as Murray State defends its tournament title against the
Belmont Bruins.
Belmont defeated every conference rival it faced but one during its first tour
of the OVC. Unfortunately for Rick Byrd's squad, that one team is the one it
will battle for the conference tourney trophy on Saturday. Murray State jumped
out to a big lead before hanging on for a 79-74 decision over the Bruins on
Feb. 7. The win improved the Racers to 5-1 all-time against Belmont.
Steve Prohm had a dream season a year ago in his first experience as a head
coach, as his Racers managed to stay undefeated longer than any other team in
the nation before going on the win the OVC Tournament. Murray State did enough
to win the West Division title in 2012-13, but it was nowhere near as smooth
of a ride. The Racers were upset by Tennessee-Martin and SE Missouri State in
their final two regular season games but took care of business in the
semifinal round on Friday as they downed Eastern Kentucky, 81-73.
As per usual, Isaiah Canaan led the way for Murray State on Friday with 29
points and six assists. His effort pushed his career total past the seldom
visited 2,000-point mark. Canaan, who was named OVC Co-Player of the Year
earlier this week, is the nation's sixth-leading scorer at 21.6 ppg. Stacy
Wilson chipped in 17 points while Brandon Garrett tallied 11 points and six
boards. Ed Daniel, who joined Canaan on the OVC First Team, scored nine points
and grabbed six boards after playing just 14 minutes because of foul trouble.
MSU played exceptionally well on the offensive end, hitting on 58 percent of
their field goal tries and finishing with 20 assists to eight turnovers.
Belmont won its final four regular season games before avenging a Feb. 14 loss
to Tennessee State in the semifinals with an 82-73 victory over the Tigers.
The Bruins trailed, 21-12, about 10 minutes after tip-off before they stormed
back to take a 32-29 halftime lead. The win improved Belmont to 17-2 in
conference tournament games since 2006. It dominated the Atlantic Sun before
entering the OVC prior to this season.
The other half of the OVC's co-MVP award will be looking to duplicate his
performance from Friday as well. Ian Clark went 6-of-10 from 3-point range as
he poured in 26 points versus TSU to lead the way, while Kerron Johnson made a
huge impact of his own with 23 points and seven assists. J.J. Mann added 13
points and four steals for the Bruins, while Blake Jenkins tallied 10 points
and seven rebounds. Clark nets 18.4 ppg with exceptional accuracy from both
the field (.545) and beyond the arc (.469) and Johnson is a regular
contributor of 13.8 ppg. Their leadership helped Belmont pace the OVC in both
scoring offense and scoring defense, outscoring the opposition by an average
of 13.5 ppg.
The Sports Network