NASHVILLE -- It was Chris Lofton to the rescue at the Gaylord Entertainment Center on Wednesday night.

Lofton erupted for 12 consecutive points in the second half to lead Tennessee to a 64-53 victory over Murray State before a crowd of 6,745.

A contingent of Vols' fans in the Music City was singing the blues before Lofton's second-half string music.

UT (4-0) trailed 32-26 at the half and was down 47-46 before Lofton got in tune en route to a game-high 18 points.

"You had two good teams out there, and then Chris Lofton took over,'' said UT coach Bruce Pearl, who has the Vols off to their best start since the 2000-01 team went 9-0.

Lofton's 3-pointer with 7:26 left put UT up 49-47 and ignited a 12-1 run in which he scored all the Vols' points.

"I knew in the second half I had to step up or we'd come out of here with a loss,'' said Lofton, who was 1-of-7 shooting in the first half. "I knew what I needed to do.''

UT also was aware it needed to stop Murray State's Trey Pearson, the Ohio Valley Conference preseason player of the year. Pearson entered the game averaging 19.5 points, but with JaJuan Smith, C.J. Watson and Lofton guarding him, he scored eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Pearl, leery of the Racers' depth, substituted generously through the first half; none of the Vols played more than 15 of the first 20 minutes.

But when Shawn Witherspoon knocked down a 3-pointer to open the second half, the OVC preseason favorites were up nine points and UT was under the gun.

"They were green during Louisiana-Lafayette's run (25-5, Nov. 22); there were scary looks on their faces,'' Pearl said. "I didn't see any of those faces tonight. I don't think they doubted they were going to win that game.''

Watson got the Vols going in the second half, scoring his first points when he hit a 3-pointer with 18:21 left to bring UT to 35-29.

Watson's trey ignited a 10-2 run Lofton capped with a 3-pointer to cut MSU's lead to 37-36 at15:33.

A pair of Watson free throws 3A 1/2 minutes later tied the game at 42-42.

"In the first half there weren't any looks I liked, and I wasn't finishing them (drives) like I should,'' said Watson, who finished with 11 points, seven assists and one turnover. "The game was very physical.''

Indeed, and the Racers (1-2) hung tough when Issian Redding answered Watson's spurt with a trey.

The Vols, however, were just hitting their stride.

Andre Patterson, who came through with a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, fought through the lane and scored a bucket to cut the deficit to 45-44.

Dane Bradshaw followed with a transition layup that put the Vols up 46-45 with 8:59 left -- UT's first lead since the 6:18 mark of the first half.

Redding came back with another jumper to give Murray State (1-2) its final lead before Lofton's heroics.

"Once he (Lofton) gets one down, I try to keep feeding him the ball,'' Watson said, "because he'll hit five or six straight.''

Murray State found an unlikely hero in the first half when diminutive guard Tyler Holloway came off the bench to drain three consecutive 3-pointers en route to 11 first-half points.

"We had to identify him,'' UT associate head coach Tony Jones said. "In the second half, he didn't score a field goal.''

Holloway's 11 points were still enough to lead the Racers.

The lead changed hands 10 times in the first half before MSU took a 32-26 lead into the half.

Vols Notebook: UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said the Vols will probably play Oklahoma State in Nashville next year.