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HomeSportsAustin Peay State University Basketball hosts SIU Edwardsville Saturday

Austin Peay State University Basketball hosts SIU Edwardsville Saturday

Austin Peay (9-18/5-8 OVC) vs. SIU Edwardsville (5-23/0-14 OVC)

Saturday, February 18th, 2017 | 6:30pm CT
Clarksville, TN | Dunn Center

APSU Men's Basketball - Austin Peay State UniversityClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team will host SIU Edwardsville with a lot on the line in a 6:30pm, Saturday, tipoff in the Dunn Center.

At 5-8 in league play, wins are paramount for the Governors, who face a winless Cougar squad in the regular season home finale. Tennessee Tech, Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State currently stand as the sixth, seventh and eighth seeds for the OVC Tournament, each with seven wins entering the weekend.

Austin Peay Men's Basketball plays Eastern Illinois on Senior Day, Saturday. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Men’s Basketball plays Eastern Illinois on Senior Day, Saturday. (APSU Sports Information)

Senior Night

APSU Men's Basketball seniors Assane Diop, Kenny Jones and John Murry

Saturday will be Senior Night, honoring Assane Diop, Kenny Jones and John Murry for their contributions to the program. Halftime festivities also will feature a performance from Acrodunk.

About the SIU Edwardsville Cougars

SIU Edwardsville CougarsIt’s a desperate SIU Edwardsville squad visiting the Dunn Center in search of its first Ohio Valley Conference victory of the season and its first victory of any sort since December 28th–the Cougars have but four wins against Division I opponents this season, all of which came in November.

Burak Eslik has upped his scoring in OVC play to 14.1 ppg (13.0 ppg overall), but the Govs must remain wary of the Turkish guard–his 40-point performance against Morehead State last season was the last 40-point performance by an OVC player.

Summing Up Eastern Illinois

[32oright]Behind a career night from John Murry (32 points), the Govs rallied from a 19-point first half deficit to topple the Panthers and earn Dave Loos‘ 500th career win in an 85-80 affair at the Dunn Center.

Josh Robinson broke out, scoring 22 of his 25 points in the second half. Despite the prowess of two perimeter players, the Governors did their damage inside, outscoring Eastern Illinois 34-16 in the paint.

Last Time Out Against SIU Edwardsville

APSU Men's Basketball - John MurryThe Govs held off SIU Edwardsville before a national audience on the CBS Sports Network, taking an 83-81 overtime win for their first OVC victory of the campaign.

John Murry tallied 23 points in a career-high 43 points, while St. Louis native Josh Robinson returned to the area with a 26-point outburst.

Led by Jared Savage and Chris Porter-Bunton (four steals each), the Governors forced 21 SIU Edwardsville turnovers, which turned into 21 Austin Peay points.

Keep An Eye On

APSU Men's Basketball - Josh RobinsonMovin’ On Up: Robinson needs 93 to pass the legendary James “Fly” Williams for 11th all-time in scoring.

Murry has needed less than five minutes to tally 10 or more points on nine occasions this season, including once in each half against Eastern Illinois, Thursday night. Since the start of OVC play, he’s averaging 19.8 ppg, hitting 46.6 percent (83-for-178) from the floor and 80.2 percent (73-for-91) from the free-throw line.

Robinson (20.6 ppg) and Murry (19.8 ppg) are the only set of teammates among the top-five in scoring during league play, ranking fourth and fifth, respectively. Robinson is still challenging for the overall scoring title, ranking third at 20.9 ppg behind Murray State’s Jonathan Stark (21.3 ppg) and Belmont’s Evan Bradds (21.1 ppg).

APSU Jared SavageSince the start of league play, Jared Savage has six multi-steal games and ranks second behind only Tennessee State’s Tahjere McCall (1.8 spg).

Kenny Jones enters play on a career-long seven-game streak of double-digit scoring performances.

The Cougars rank in the OVC cellar in scoring (67.2 ppg), free-throw percentage (67.8 percent), field-goal percentage (40.3 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (28.8 percent), but are among the OVC elite in three-point field goal defense (32.6 percent).

APSU Govs Online

Check back at LetsGoPeay.com and on Austin Peay’s Official Athletics Facebook page often for up-to-date news about all Governor athletics, as well as the Governor men’s basketball Twitter page (@AustinPeayMBB). Live stats will be available during the game at PeayStats.com, and all home games and Ohio Valley Conference games can be viewed on www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com

Postgame video interviews and other videos from around APSU Athletics can be found on our YouTube page (www.youtube.com/letsgopeay).

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