Men's Basketball Extends MVC Lead With Big Win Over Murray State

Belmont Vision Multimedia. (Zach Watkins)

Belmont men’s basketball turned a conference showdown into a statement win, rolling past Murray State 103-86 Saturday at the Curb Event Center.

Belmont’s lead grew in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with the win, raising the Bruins to 10-2 and dropping the Racers to 8-4 while maintaining their second-place standing in the conference.

The Bruins eclipsed the 100-point mark for the first time in nearly four years, dating back to Feb. 6, 2022, when Ben Sheppard scored 41 points in a 100-92 overtime win over Tennessee Tech.

“We had a lot of good production, I mean gosh, if we finished the game, it could have been a really impressive number,” said Coach Casey Alexander. “The numbers are great, the assists to turnovers are phenomenal, just got to share the ball and yeah, they did a great job.”

Murray State led 4-2 in the opening minute, but Belmont responded with a scoring spree, rattling off 22 points over the next seven minutes before the Racers scored again.

Despite the 22-6 cushion Belmont created, the Bruins let up defensively, allowing the Racers to close the gap while still trailing 54-40 at the half.

Graduate guard Tyler Lundblade led the charge getting to 13 points in the first half.

“We made it a lot easier on ourselves by everybody moving and not just chasing the ball every time,” Lundblade said.

Lundblade finished with 27 points, his first 20-point performance since Belmont faced Bradley on Jan. 1.

“I think the difference was I actually got fouls called tonight, I shot nine free throws. I feel like it should be nine free throws every game,” Lundblade said.

In the second half, it was the Bruins game to win. They created a 34-point lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the game.

With 2:30 remaining, junior guard Isaiah West found sophomore forward Drew Scharnowski in the paint to push the Bruins past the 100-point mark.

Scharnowski stepped off the court being only one assist away from a triple-double recording 19 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists.

“I've not really been known for my assist game…it's something I really worked on in the end of the year,” Scharnowski said. “I can't do anything without my teammates, they're coming off hard, they're making it easy for me to get the screening angles, and they're hitting their shots and that gives me the assists so all props to my teammates.

In the closing minute Alexander pulled his starters allowing players on the bench to get some court time.

Freshman forward Graydon Lemke made the most of it, scoring the final layup of the game for the Bruins.

Belmont significantly beat out Murray State in three-point and field goal percentages but trailed in free-throws. 

The ball was spread out between a good amount of players with four Bruins finishing the night in double-figures.

Even without key contributors like graduate guard Nic McClain and sophomore forward Sam Orme, Belmont received strong production from its freshmen filling in for them.

Eoin Dillon turned in the strongest performance among the freshmen, finishing with 15 points, four assists and a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the arc.

“What Eoin Dillon’s doing, I mean, he is crushing it… He's just been awesome,” said Alexander.

Senior forward Aidan Noyes made the most of his minutes, scoring 15 points in 16 minutes of action.

“Senior year, being out a few months, it's been really, really tough so I’m really happy that I was able to come back and help this team win this game,” said Noyes

The Cincinnati native went 5-for-6 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Alexander provided updates on the expected returns of McClain and Orme, noting that Orme’s return is close while McClain’s status remains to be determined.

Belmont will look to extend its conference lead when it faces Drake at home Tuesday in the Curb Event Center.

This article was written by Reece Leddy