MURRAY, Ky. – Three Cougars scored in double figures but Murray State overcame a double-digit second half deficit to defeat SIUE 70-61 Saturday night in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball.

"I thought our guys grinded pretty good tonight," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "I thought our guys played pretty well and played hard."

SIUE, 6-10 overall and 2-4 in the OVC, got off to a fast start and built its largest lead of the night thanks to a Mark Yelovich three-pointer to make it 24-10 Cougars with 9:02 to play in the half. A pair of Tim Johnson free throws made it 26-12 SIUE with 6:49 to play before the break.

The Racers, now 14-4 overall and 5-1 in the OVC, scored the next eight points to make it 26-20 3:44 left in the half. SIUE answered with an 8-0 run of its own to go up 34-20 with 1:44 left in the half. The Cougars owned a 34-23 lead at halftime.

"From pregame on I thought our guys were focused and locked in and knew what they had to do," Forrester said. "That's why we had an 11-point lead going into the half."

 "I thought we took care of the ball well. That was a key for us in the first half," Yelovich said. "I thought our defense was good. We executed the game plan on defense."

SIUE connected on 57.1 percent (12-21) of its shots over the first 20 minutes, while also limiting Murray State to just 8 field goals in 30 attempts (26.7 percent).

SIUE pushed its lead back to 14 twice early in the second half. A Kris Davis three-pointer made it 37-23 just 29 seconds into the period. Jerome Jones drained a triple at 18:38 that made it 40-26.

Murray State then proceeded on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 42-40 with 14:57 left. The Racers tied the score at 47 on a Latreze Mushatt layup with 11:47 left, and then took their first lead at 49-47 on an layup by Isaiah Canaan just 27 seconds later.

SIUE briefly regained the lead, 50-49, on Yelovich's second three-pointer of the game at 10:16. Ed Daniel sank two free throws with 9:52 left to put Murray State on top for good.

"I knew Murray State was a good second half team," Forrester added "We knew that they were going to make a run especially at home. Our job was to try and keep our composure when they made those runs. We did for a while."

Yelovich led SIUE with a season-high 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the field. He also paced the Cougars with six rebounds. The two three-pointers were the first of the season for the senior forward, who moved into seventh place on the school's all-time list with 103 career three-pointers.

"Finally I could get something going for the team," Yelovich said. "I finally got in a little bit of a rhythm. I got in a groove. I came out of the game feeling a little better."

Davis and Jones each finished with 14 points. Johnson scored eight points, including hitting 6 of 6 free throw attempts.

Canaan led four Racers in double figures. The All-American guard scored 20 points, including 14 in the second half. Ed Daniel scored 15 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for his eight double-double of the year. Stacy Wilson and Brandon Garrett added 13 and 11 points respectively.

For the game the Cougars shot 45.1 percent (23-51) from the field, while the Racers were only slightly better at 45.5 percent (25-55). The Cougars outrebounded Murray State 37-30.

SIUE returns home for a pair of OVC west division contests. Southeast Missouri comes to Edwardsville Thursday, followed by UT Martin on Saturday. Both games tipoff at 7 p.m. at Vadalabene Center.