THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 65, Yale 57
MURRAY STATE 65, YALE 57
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers put a cap on the 2013-14 season with a championship win in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament in a 65-57 win over the Yale Bulldogs at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (23-11) won four games in the CIT to become the sixth champion of the event that began in 2009 and just the second-ever to do it on their home court.
The game started with amazing energy from a revved up crowd at the CFSB and the Racers getting out to a 7-0 lead. Despite the early lead, the Racers were put to a test by a very game Yale (19-14) team. The Bulldogs kept pace with the Racers and ended the half with a 7-3 run to cut the MSU lead to 27-26 at the intermission.
In the second half, the Bulldogs carried over that momentum and led early in the stanza at 28-27. However, the Racers quickly turned the tables with a 10-0 run to lead by 11 at 46-35 with 10 minutes to play. Yale would simply not go away as it answered with its own 10-0 run, cutting the lead to a single point with just over seven minutes left in the contest.
The Racers pushed through and made seven of nine free throws in the final two minutes to hold on for the 8-point win. Playing a key factor in the victory was a record-tying 14 blocks by MSU as Jarvis Williams and Jonathan Fairell each had five for their career-highs.
Cameron Payne led MSU with 24 points, while Jarvis Williams added 16 by going 8-for-8 from the field to go along with five blocks. Fairell added nine rebounds to his five blocks, while Payne pulled down seven boards.
Payne and Williams scored 40 of MSU's 65 points.
Following the game, Payne was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while Williams and Yale's Justin Sears and Javier Duren were named to the All-Tournament team.