MURRAY, Ky. – Ademola Adeniji sat on a table outside the visitor’s locker room at Murray State on Saturday and said he was an angry runner.

But he said it with a slight grin on his face.

Eastern’s senior running back had every reason to smile after another career-setting day during Panthers’ 27-24 win against the Racers.

The 5-foot-10, 215-pound Adeniji rushed for 197 yards on 35 carries and three touchdowns, all new career-highs, to help Eastern (4-3, 3-1 Ohio Valley Conference) escape with a win against last-place Murray State (1-5, 0-3).

“I look for the contact,” Adeniji said. “That’s just my mentality.”

This performance came on the heels of Adeniji’s breakout game last Saturday. He had 25 carries for 186 yards, but the Panthers lost 28-21 to Eastern Kentucky.

The win for Eastern keeps the Panthers in contention for the league title and a Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth.

Eastern is tied for second place with Jacksonville State after EKU (5-2, 4-0) beat Southeast Missouri on Saturday. Tennessee State remained perfect in league play (3-3, 2-0) with a win against Tennessee Tech on Thursday.

“You come down on away games for one thing and that’s to win,” said Eastern head coach Bob Spoo. “And we did. I don’t care if it’s one point, three points or 50 points. It’s a win and I’m grateful for it.”

The mistakes were plentiful on special teams for the Panthers during the day. A missed extra point, a missed field goal and two fumbles on punt returns by Eastern all gave Murray State a chance to stay in the game.

Even through all that, the Panthers led 27-17 late in the fourth quarter. But the win wasn’t sealed until wide receiver Joel Evers recovered an on-side kick attempt with 19.6 seconds left after Murray scored to make it 27-24.

“Well, perfection is we recover (the on-side kick),” Murray State head coach Matt Griffin said. “Like most of the game, just a little bit, a hair away.”

The Panthers had a chance to lead by as much as 17-3 in the first half, but only led 6-3 going into halftime. Adeniji, who scored on touchdown runs of 35, 10 and 18, all in the second half, was stripped of the ball at Murray State’s 1-yard line and the Racers recovered.

Adeniji said he thought he had a clear path to the end zone, but Murray corner back Derrick Parrott came from behind him force the fumble and make the recovery.

“It goes to show that ball security is important,” Adeniji said. “If you’re fighting for more yards, you’ve just got to tuck it and try to live for another down so it won’t get knocked out.”

Parrott said the Racers knew coming in of the Panthers rushing attack, but said Murray just didn’t make enough tackles.

Adeniji bounced off two Murray State defenders on his way to his third rushing touchdown, which put Eastern ahead 27-17 with 9:07 left in the game.

Eastern quarterback Bodie Reeder, who finished 21-of-29 for 203 yards and a touchdown pass, lined up in the shotgun formation with three wide receivers. But instead of passing, the Panthers ran an inside draw play for Adeniji.

Adeniji said center Drew Cairo-Gross had told him earlier in the game to watch Murray middle linebacker Tamar Butler because Cairo-Gross had noticed Butler either cut back or overrun the ball on each play.

On the play, Cairo-Gross moved downfield and after the first wave of blockers came through, blocked Butler long enough to give Adeniji more space.

“I just was patient,” Adeniji said. “I knew I was going to get hit or make the safety miss or something. I just put my two hands on the ball and got in the end zone.”

Griffin said with the big offensive line Eastern possesses and the zone-blocking schemes it uses, he only hoped to contain Adeniji.

“Really, I think our defense did a nice job,” he said. “He’s going to have his yards throughout the course of the game. Every back that touches the ball 20 or 30 times a game is going to have 80, 90 usually over 100 yards with an offensive line like that. Year in and year out (Eastern’s) got a good back.”

Murray State quarterback Jeff Ehrhardt finished 23-of-37 for 192 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Running back Charlie Jordan had 127 rushing yards on 20 carries, the first 100-yard rushing game by a Murray running back in more than a year.

But Eastern didn’t let Murray win its first OVC game under Griffin, in his second year with the Racers, despite a lackluster performance from the Panthers.

“A win is a win is a win,” Reeder said. “No matter what, we won. It’s going to be a lot better feeling going home winning 27-24 than losing.”