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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Murray State jumped out to a 13-3 lead early on Monday afternoon as the Racers pulled away from Eastern Illinois, 72-46, in a game rescheduled from a COVID postponement earlier this month.
 
MSU improved to 15-2 overall, 5-0 in the OVC.  EIU fell to 2-14 overall, 0-3 in the OVC.
 
The Panthers were once again hit by some missing pieces of the offense as head coach Marty Simmons rolled out his 11th different starting line-up in the game, the second highest total in the NCAA this season.
 
One of the missing pieces was post player Sammy Friday IV and Murray State took advantage of its size difference in the post as KJ Williams scored eight early points.   The Racer center finished with 16 points and nine rebounds.
 
Murray State extended its lead to as high as 19 points in the first half as Trae Hannibal hit a jumper in the lane with 2:22 left to put the Racers up 33-14. 
 
EIU closed the half on a 10-0 run to trail 33-24 at the half.  Rodolfo Bolis had all five of his steals in the first half as EIU finished with double figure steals for the second straight game.  A Bolis steal on the final play of the half resulted in a Kejuan Clements lay-up to cut the Racer lead to single digits.
 
Bolis was tied for the EIU lead with nine points joining CJ Lane with nine points. 
 
In the second half EIU was limited to just 28 percent shooting from the floor as the Racers quickly pushed the lead back to double figures. 
 
Tevin Brown scored 19 points to lead Murray State knocking down five three points to move into second place all-time in the OVC for career 3-pointers made. 
 
Murray State finished the game shooting 51 percent from the floor and held a 42-26 advantage on the glass.