APSU Governors Basketball takes down Oakland City Mighty Oaks, 83-55

APSU Sports Information

Clarksville, TN – Chris Horton scored 17 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in only 28 minutes as Austin Peay State University downed Oakland City, 83-55, Wednesday night in pre-Thanksgiving basketball action in Dave Aaron Arena.

He collected 12 points and 11 rebounds by halftime—APSU’s all-time shot blocker also had four rejections.

Horton’s 19 rebounds were the second most of his career (he had 20 against SIU Edwardsville late last February). With his second rebound of the second half, Horton also became only the third Governor in history to surpass 900 career rebounds—Tom Morgan (1431, 1952-58) and Otis Howard (973, 1974-78) are the other two.

Although the Governors roared to their second straight victory (2-4), head coach Dave Loos was not necessarily pleased with their performance.

“I never sensed during the night we had the energy we had Sunday (against Northern Colorado),” Loos said. “You usually get our offense going through your defense, but I never felt we had that energy tonight.

“On the offensive end our shooters were standing straight-legged when they caught the ball. You see the best shooters always in position—when they catch the ball they are in position to shoot. Our guys tonight were not ready when they caught the ball and you can look at the stats (7-of-25 from three-point territory) and that bears that out. And that’s because we just lacked that energy tonight.”

Horton received assistance from Josh Robinson, who had 16 points but failed to convert a three pointer, while Khalil Davis added 14. All 13 eligible Govs played against the Mighty Oaks, with 10 different Govs scoring at least two points.

The Govs finished the night with 17 assists—a season high—and only five turnovers—a season low.

Oakland City shot 48 percent (12 of 25 ) in the first half but the Governors limited the visitors to just seven second-half field goals in 29 attempts (28 percent) in the closing half.

“We had a long conversation about our defense at halftime,” Loos said. “The energy picked up in the final half—we did do a better job on the defensive end in the second half.”

However, all night long Oakland City freshman inside player Addison Wagler battled his way inside for 22 points and 10 rebounds. In fact, Wagler and fellow inside player Byron Dulin combined for 34 points and 17 rebounds.

The Governors will return to action 7:00pm, Saturday, when they play host to Samford, the former Ohio Valley Conference member that comes into Dave Aaron Arena amidst a five-game win streak.

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