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Murray State vs Samford Final Stats

Murray State its 13th OVC Tournament championship with a 74-57 win over Samford today in Nashville, Tenn. With the win, the Racers earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, their 13th appearance in the ‘Big Dance.’

The Racers broke open a tight game with a 16-4 run late in the second half to turn a two-point lead into a 62-48 advantage. Tournament MVP Pearson Griffith and freshman reserve Tyler Holloway scored all 16 points during the spurt.

Samford would not go away, however, trimming the deficit to eight points on two occasions, the second coming on J. Robert Merritt’s 3-pointer with just 1:59 remaining in the game. Murray State connected on 7-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the victory and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

After making 46.2 percent shots in the opening stanza, Samford went cold in the second half, convering just 8-of-34 over the final 20 minutes to finish the game shooting 33.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Racers heated up in the second half, closing out the contest with a 14-of-24 performance from the field to outscore the Bulldogs, 42-24, in the second half and finish the game shooting 53.1 percent.

The first half of play was a back-and-forth affair with neither team gaining much more than a five-point lead. Samford's J. Robert Merritt hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 15-11 Bulldog lead at the 15:19 mark of the half. The Racers then put together a 9-0 run that put them ahead 20-15 with 12:40 left to play before intermission.

At 8:51, Curtis West gave the Bulldogs a 25-22 lead on a three-pointer, but Samford went cold and missed its next 10 shots, not scoring again until a Travis Peterson dunk with 4:09 in the half.

Murray State, meanwhile, was also struggling to score points, and the teams went into the locker room with Samford holding a 33-32 edge.

The Racers opened the second half with a 12-2 run to go up 44-35 with just over 15 minutes to play. Merritt then hit three consecutive treys to bring the Bulldogs back within two at the 11:35 mark. That was as close as the Bulldogs would get, however, as Murray State began closing the door on its 13th OVC championship.

Trey Pearson scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half, going 6-of-7 from the field with three treys. Holloway also had a trio of 3-pointers and followed with 13 points while Pearson Griffith added 11 and Justin Orr scored 10. Shawn Witherspoon just missed out on a double-double, grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds to go with nine points.

Merritt tied an OVC single-game tournament record with eight 3-pointers to and finished with a game-high 26 points. The senior forward's eight treys also pushed his season total to a Conference-record 120, shattering the former mark of 112, held by Tennessee Tech's Josh Heard (1999-00).

Peterson was the only other Bulldog in double-figure scoring with 15 points.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Pearson Griffith, Murray State (MVP)
Courtney Bradley, Jacksonville State
J. Robert Merritt, Samford
Trey Pearson, Murray State
Travis Peterson, Samford
Shawn Witherspoon, Murray State