Featured photo by Savion Davis
Story by Calvin White
MURFREESBORO, Tenn- Middle Tennessee men’s basketball survived a 19-1 first-half run by Stephen F. Austin to pull out a 67-62 overtime win in the Murphy Center.
For the second consecutive game, MTSU played an opponent that is picked to finish near the top of its conference and won. Northern Kentucky is picked to win the Horizon League and Stephen F. Austin is picked to finish second in the WAC.
MTSU jumped out to a 13-5 lead but quickly surrendered it. In minutes, Stephen F. Austin closed the gap to only trail 14-13 with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half. This started over a nine-minute drought where MTSU did not make a field goal.
To make matters worse, point guard Camryn Weston turned the ball over five times in the first half which led to multiple Lumberjack runouts for layups.
Early in the second half, Weston went down with a knee injury and did not return to the game. In Weston’s absence, Jestin Porter took over primary ball-handling duties for the Blue Raiders and finished with nine points, three rebounds and one turnover.
“I told the team there were a couple of guys out there tonight that looked like warriors, and he (Porter) was one of them,” MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt said.
MTSU was 23-of-33 at the free-throw line and turned the ball over 18 times, but outscored Stephen F. Austin 32-23 in the second half and 13-8 in overtime. The Blue Raiders also had six fewer turnovers in the second half than in the first half. McDevitt made some adjustments at halftime that helped MTSU come alive in the second half.
“We scrapped some stuff we were doing in the first half,” McDevitt said. “We saw some of the things they (SFA) were doing defensively to run us out of our base offense and had to adjust. We weren’t able to run what we normally do and they’re not going to let you do that but our guys adjusted well and found a way to win ugly.”
MTSU racked up 11 steals and four blocks. Through the first two games, the Blue Raider defense has passed the test against a tough opponent.
Against the Lumberjacks, Justin Bufford and Jacob Johnson combined for six of MTSU’s 11 steals. Bufford picked up two fouls early in the first half and had to sit for most of the first 20 minutes. But in the second half, Bufford was only called for one foul and was one of the main reasons the Lumberjack guards weren’t able to penetrate the paint as much as they did in the first half.
“The adjustment I made was I just tried to show my hands a little more,” Bufford said. “I tried to play with my chest a little more and not my hands to stay out of foul trouble.”
Through the first two games, the Blue Raider defense has come to play. The offense, however, has yet to catch up. To be the team that many people think this team can be, MTSU has to avoid going such long stretches without scoring and avoid turning the ball over.
Calvin White is the sports editor at MTSU Sidelines. If you have information for a story, you can contact him at wcw3f@mtmail.mtsu.edu. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
