Two halves weren't nearly enough for Murray State and Ranger College in Monday's non-conference shootout at Beames Fieldhouse.
Even two extra frames wasn't enough as it took until the third overtime for the visitors from Texas to escape with a 94-91 victory that dropped the Aggies to 6-9 heading into the semester break.
Freshman sharpshooter Freddie Cooper tallied just five points before intermission but erupted in the second half and overtime sessions to help rally Murray, which watched a 31-23 halftime lead gradually slip away after the break. Cooper canned four three-pointers and notched a season-high 28 points to fuel the Aggie offensive arsenal.
After shooting just one free throw in the opening half, Murray State went to the line 18 times after the half, sinking 16 of those opportunities for a strong 89 percent. But Ranger shot even more at the charity stripe in connecting 21 of 28 tries during the rally.
The Aggies also picked up double figure scoring totals from A.J. Richard and K.J. Boone as they tallied 16 and 14 points respectively along with 10 points early by Ridley Shema. Tarrance Austin and Kameron Johnson posted six apiece, Cordrayius Graham had four, T.J. Gardner scored three with Stanley Harley and Jaelen Tucker adding two each.
Murray State will be idle until Thursday, January 5 when they visit Grayson College ahead of a Saturday road trek to Ranger.
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