Controversial Shot Snatches Away An MSU Victory

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The Murray State Racers suffered a heartbreaking 65-64 loss to the Samford Bulldogs when Travis Peterson was awarded a very controversial three-point basket when the clock didn’t start with four-tenths of a second remaining in the game.

The final play was set up by a bizarre set of circumstances.

MSU’s Kevin Thomas hit a pair of free throws with 2:08 left for a 62-58 Racer lead.

With the shot clock running down with 36 seconds left, Trey Montgomery of Samford hit a three point basket from the corner and was fouled by Danero Thomas. Montgomery made the free throw and the game was tied at 62-62.

With 2.7 left, Bruce Carter made a dash for the basket and was fouled. He hit both free throws for a 64-62 MSU lead. Racer head coach Billy Kennedy called timeout to set up the Racers defense. Samford’s pass to mid-court was intercepted by Carter who apparently started to celebrate early and tossed the ball to one of the officials. The official ruled time didn’t run out and four-tenths of a second was placed on the clock giving Samford another chance. Samford’s Josh Bedwell threw a pass (from just past mid-court) to Travis Peterson who hit a three from the right wing for an apparent win, however there was one sticking point...the clock never started.

The officials had a long huddle while both teams and coaches waited at the benches.

Lead official Jeb Hartness turned to the scoring table and whistled the shot good and Samford was the winner 65-64.


The Racers battled the entire game and had a chance to win in their first trip to Samford’s new Hanna Center.

The Racers fell behind 10-2 to start the contest but rallied to make it a 10-8 game when Tony Easley made a tip in basket with 12:38 left in the half.

With 9:48 left, the Racers found themselves in serious foul trouble. Bruce Carter, Georges Fotso, Danero Thomas, and Tony Easley all had two personal fouls each.

MSU fell behind by five but roared back to tie the game 15-15 on a Ray George three with 8:20 left.

Samford put together a 13-2 run, mostly from the free throw line to take a 28-17 lead at the 3:58 mark.

Kevin Thomas hit a basket with 1.5 left and Samford had the half time lead 38-27.

The Racers fell behind in the second half by 13, then made a run at the Bulldogs.

Tyler Holloway, with only two free throws in the first half, made his first field goal which was followed by a three-point play by Danero Thomas. Bruce Carter made another three-point play and the Racers had cut the Samford lead to 42-37 with 16:23 left.

Samford pushed the lead back to nine before Holloway hit a three pointer and then a shot in the lane with 12:46 left to cut the lead to 46-44.

At the 11:08 mark the lead was down to one when Bruce Carter hit a three.

Again, the Racers cut the Samford lead to one on a basket by Jewuan Long with 8:25 left.

At the 6:55 mark, Ray George hit a jumper to give MSU its first lead at 52-51.

MSU has played its final game before the Christmas break. The Racers return to action Dec. 29-30 at the Dr. Pepper Classic hosted by UT-Chattanooga. The Racers take on the host team on the 29th at 7 p.m. cst. Belmont and Wright State play in the first game

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Bruce Carter has got to win the idiot of the week award, but to me .4 is not much time left to do anything. I do not know what the right call would be for this. Who runs the clock? Is it an offical like a ref, or does someone from the "home team" run the clock?
 
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