Austin Peay Sports Information
Carbondale, IL – Austin Peay State University held the nation’s 10th leading scorer, Anthony Beane, to nine points, Saturday night. But that was one of the few things that went right for the Governors against Southern Illinois as the home team rolled to a 71-49 non-conference victory.
In many respects Saturday’s road loss resembled their last defeat, November 28th, against Stephen F. Austin. SIU’s pressure on the APSU guards in the frontcourt saw the Governors trying to initiate its offense sometimes three steps across midcourt.
The offensive inefficiency led to the Govs shooting 39.1 percent (18 of 46) while committing 18 turnovers. The Governors have been charged with 52 turnovers in the last three contests.
Defensively, the Governors could not stop Southern Illinois guards from getting in the lane and creating easy shots for Jordan Caroline (13 points) and Sean O’Brien (11 points). A team that was averaging 8.5 assists per game entering the contest had 14 against the Governors.
The Salukis also shot 48 percent from the floor a game after Stephen F. Austin connected on better than 60 percent against the Governors.
“We were not even close to where we need to be on either end of the floor,” APSU coach Dave Loos said. “We could not stop their dribble penetration on the defensive end—we could not keep them in front of us.
“On the offensive end it was a matter of a lack of execution and timing. They pushed our guards out of where we wanted to be, needed to be. They forced us taking quick shots instead of being patient and trying to get it inside because we didn’t have the right discipline.”
When the Govs did get it inside Chris Horton and Chris Freeman were able to do some damage. Freeman scored 10 first-half points but was held scoreless in the second half. Horton recorded his second straight double-double with a game-high 15 points and 13 rebounds.
APSU led 5-4 with 17:51 left in the first half. That proved to be their last advantage. The Salukis utilized 11-2 and 11-3 runs to build a double-digit 41-26 halftime lead. Â The Governors never mounted a serious second-half challenge. Loos inserted senior Jeremy Purvis, who missed the season’s first seven games, at point guard to start the second half looking for offensive answers.
The Govs now will have another week off for final before facing Lipscomb, 4:00pm, Saturday, in the APSU’s first home contest since November 16th.
“There is much work to be done on both ends of the floor,” Loos said. “First of all we have to take some pride in guarding the basketball and I don’t see the interest and the sense of urgency to do that. I thought we were better on the defensive earlier this year but we have not played that well for at least the last two games.
“On the offensive end we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, being more disciplined with our execution and timing.”
