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NASHVILLE - Eastern Illinois held Murray State to its lowest shooting percentage of the season but the Racers were able to take advantage of 24 offensive rebounds as the Racers held off the Panthers, 55-51, in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

"The story of the game tonight was offensive rebounds," said EIU head coach Mike Miller following the loss. "Teams find ways to win and advance in the post season and we could not keep Murray State off the glass allowing too many second chance looks."

MSU improved to 29-4 overall and will play the winner of the Tennessee Tech/Morehead State game for the OVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. EIU finishes at 19-12.

EIU limited MSU to 25 percent shooting in the first half as the Racers were able to build a 23-22 halftime lead. EIU built an early 10-6 lead behind the strong play of James Hollowell who finished with eight points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

MSU was able to get back in the game on several second chance opportunities as big man Tony Easley had seven offensive boards to go with a game-high 14 points. MSU built their first half lead to six points on a three point play by Easley at 4:29. Jeremy Granger would sink a pair of free throws with four seconds left to set the halftime score.

The two teams battled to trade the lead several times in the second half as the game had 13 ties, the last coming at 43-43 with 7:12 left on a pair of EIU free throws by Shaun Pratl. B.J. Jenkins would break the tie with a 3-pointer and Easley pushed the margin to five points on a pair of free throws as MSU was able to keep EIU down two scores for the better part of the last five minutes.

In the final minute EIU cut the margin to three as Tyler Laser drove to the basket for a lay-up with 54 seconds. Hollowell picked up a steal on the next Racer possession and EIU had a chance to tie the game. Laser drove into the lane with 23 seconds left and Easley was able to block Laser's shot and then block a put-back attempt by Ousmane Cisse with ten seconds left to seal the MSU win.

"I was trying to reach the basket and draw some contact on that final play," said Laser. "I had been able to get into the lane on the earlier possession and I thought I could either get another lay-up to extend game or maybe get to the line."

Murray State did a good job of shutting down Laser as he finished with eight points. EIU was 0-for-2 from 3-point range marking the first time since the 2008 season that Panthers have finished a game without a 3-pointer.

Cisse a four year starter for the Panthers and part of the program's rebuilding finished with a team-high nine points in his final contest. By playing the game Cisse tied Henry Domercant for first on the career games played list. Pratl also added nine for the Panthers.

Jenkins and Isacc Miles both added nine for the Racers. Murray State shot 32.2 percent for the game.