Box Score By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
MUSKOGEE, Okla. – A massive 23-2 second half scoring flurry erased a four-point deficit and Murray State cruised the rest of the way to an 81-58 rout of Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa in the opening round of the Region 2 men's tournament Thursday night inside Rougher Village.

The victory, which was very similar to the Aggies' win over the Mavericks in Tishomingo earlier in the season, improved Murray State to 16-15 on the season. It also set up a Friday night semifinal showdown with Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, which narrowly escaped Beames Fieldhouse with a dramatic 83-81 victory just two weeks ago.

Murray State toiled through the opening half of Thursday's opener and trailed 43-39 in a nip-and-tuck affair with 17 minutes to play when the Aggies found another gear in a big way.

Rustin Coffey scored four straight points to ignite an 11-0 burst in which Tarrance Austin erupted for seven points after being saddled on the bench in foul trouble most of the first half.

After a NOC-Tonkawa bucket, the Aggies immediately went back on the offensive throttle with sophomore Stanley Harley pitching in seven points of his during a 12-0 flurry. That 23-2 run over an eight-minute span took all the air out of the Maverick sails and Murray State continued gradually pulling away from there.

Four Aggies tallied double figures paced by Austin's 18 points. Harley tossed in 15 with R.J. Chatman and Isaiah Lewis accounting for 11 points apiece. Emery Eberhard and Treyvaughn Williams both posted seven, Coffey had six with Ignas Juskevicius adding four points.