‘Boy, he was special.’ Carter’s career game leads Murray State to upset at EKU.
In a battle of intrastate hoops rivals, the underdog prevailed on Saturday.
Behind a career game from sophomore guard Chico Carter, the Murray State men’s basketball team easily defeated Eastern Kentucky 76-64 in McBrayer Arena in Richmond to even its overall record.
Carter paced a Racers offense that remained red-hot all afternoon. He scored a career-high 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting, knocking down three of six three-point shots. The Columbia, S.C., native added two assists and three rebounds.
Carter hit six of eight shots, including three of four from long range, and scored 15 points in the first half as Murray built a nine-point lead at the break.
“I thought he played with a lot of confidence,” EKU Coach A.W. Hamilton said of Carter’s big showing. “Some shots started falling for him early. He had a lot of energy, a lot of pop to him today … Boy, he was special in that first half.”
Hamilton cited Murray’s defensive intensity and ability to break the press as keys to the upset.
“You’ve got to give Murray a lot of credit. They came in here, they did a really good job,” Hamilton said. “They were very physical with us. They really sat down and guarded us and made it really tough for us to get into a rhythm offensively and we couldn’t really get much out of our press.
“We ended up turning them over 14 times but a lot of those were charges. We didn’t get live-ball turnovers and easy baskets that we’ve been getting.”
Murray State (9-9 overall, 6-7 Ohio Valley Conference) shot 53 percent as a team. Tevin Brown pitched in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and added five assists. KJ Williams had 18 points and nine boards. The Racers had 18 assists on 28 made baskets and held the Colonels to 6-for-24 from three-point range.
The Racers have shown steady improvement for much of the last month following an early-season four-game losing streak. They’ve won five of their last seven and last Saturday nearly upset first-place Belmont, which remains undefeated in league play and is 20-1 overall after a 32-point win over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday.
The Racers spoiled another sensational performance by EKU’s Wendell Green. The freshman point guard did his best to will the Colonels back from a deficit that ballooned to 16 points in the second half. Green’s late heroics were instrumental in a pair of overtime victories during a nine-game win streak, and he scored a career-high 30 points in the Colonels’ home loss to Austin Peay on Thursday.
On Saturday against the Racers, Green led the Colonels with 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting and added eight assists and four rebounds.
“Wendell is going to be special. He’s doing this as a freshman,” Hamilton said. “I can’t imagine a better freshman point guard in the country than him … I’ve been doing this for a really long time, you don’t get many Wendell Greens.”
It’s now gut-check time for Eastern Kentucky (14-4, 8-3 OVC). After suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the Colonels play their next seven games on the road. Beginning with Monday’s trip to SIU Edwardsville, EKU’s next four games will occur within an eight-day span.
“I have no doubt that we’re going to bounce back,” said EKU junior forward Tre King, who had 17 points and three blocks against the Racers. “Coach has always told us since day one that adversity was coming and that nothing’s going to break us.”
King on national watch list
EKU’s Tre King is one of 40 players who was recently named to the Lou Henson Award midseason watch list. The Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award is given annually to the top mid-major player in Division I. The winner will be announced in April.
King, a Lexington native who played in high school at Lexington Christian Academy before transferring to Hargrave Military Academy, entered Saturday as the second-leading scorer in the OVC at 16.4 points per game. He was tied for third in the league in rebounding (7.7) and fifth in overall shooting percentage (50.6).
Next games
Eastern Kentucky at SIU Edwardsville: 3 p.m. Monday (WCYO-FM 100.7)
Southeast Missouri at Murray State: 8:30 p.m. Thursday
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 7:30 PM.
