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Austin Peay Governors Basketball suffers fifth straight loss in 52-48 heartbreaker to the Morehead State Eagles

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Men’s Basketball

Clarksville Sports NetworkClarksville, TN – With his team mired in a four-game losing streak, Austin Peay State University head coach Dave Loos turned to his bench for a spark, giving reserve guards Herdie Lawrence and Alton Williams their fifth and first career starts.

Unfortunately for Loos and the Austin Peay Governors, the extra spark would not be enough to keep the Govs from squandering a 4-point lead over the game’s final three minutes as the Govs fell 52-48 to Morehead State Wednesday night.

Melvin Baker positions himself under the goal during the Austin Peay Governors 52-48 loss to the Morehead State Eagles Wednesday night. Baker was the Governors leading scorer with 17 points.
Melvin Baker positions himself under the goal during the Austin Peay Governors 52-48 loss to the Morehead State Eagles Wednesday night. Baker was the Governors leading scorer with 17 points.

“We found a new way to give (the game) away tonight,” Loos said after his team’s fifth straight defeat.

After a back-and-forth second half, Josh Terry’s layup put the Govs ahead 45-41 with 3:23 to play.

Less than a minute later, the Govs (9-19, 6-8 OVC) would commit two offensive fouls that ultimately swung the game.

After Terry’s layup, the Govs forced a turnover but were unable to run much time off of the clock or extend their lead due to a charge foul called against Lawrence.

On their ensuing offensive possession, Terry was whistled for a flagrant one foul after receiving the ball near midcourt.

“It was a flagrant one,” Loos said. “Contact above the shoulders.”

After Austin swished home both free throws, the Govs then allowed Eagles guard Marsell Holden to pop free for a corner 3-pointer that put the Eagles ahead 48-45 with 1:30 to play.

TyShwan Edmondson broke out of his shooting slump to score 15 points Wednesday night.
TyShwan Edmondson broke out of his shooting slump to score 15 points Wednesday night.

“That play was obviously huge for us,” Eagles head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “We knocked down two big shots and then drew up a 3-point play on our out of bounds play. We were fortunate to win. Every game between these two schools is intense.”

Down three points, the Govs still had three chances to tie things up in the game’s final 90 seconds.

Unfortunately for the Govs, Lawrence and TyShwan Edmondson’s 3-point attempts rimmed out and the team’s final two offensive possessions ended without a shot attempt.

“I know I sound like a broken record,” Loos said. “But we just keep finding ways to beat ourselves in ballgames.”

In addition to the additions of Lawrence and Williams to the starting lineup, Loos also switched his team’s defensive philosophy – employing a 2-3 zone look for much of the contest, forcing the Eagles into tough shots.

Jerome Clyburn“We tried to keep them from scoring on us at the rate that people have been scoring on us when we’ve played man-to-man. And it probably worked. They shot 37 percent and they beat us.”

After the starters edged their way to an 8-7 lead, Loos put in Edmondson and Jerome Clyburn.

The move paid dividends almost immediately as Edmondson buried a corner 3-pointer in less than three seconds on the court.

With both teams employing a zone for much of the first half, the Govs managed to jump ahead 26-20 with just under two minutes remaining until halftime only to see the Eagles trim the deficit to just 26-25 at the break.

Herdie Lawrence“There were a few times when I told our guys that we should be extending those six-point leads into eight or nine-point leads,” Loos said. “But we didn’t get it done.”

Just minutes into the second half, the Govs would open up another lead, this time 30-25 before the Eagles went on a 5-0 run to knot the game at 30-30 with 16 minutes to play.

The Govs would go on another scoring run of their own, creeping out to a 36-30 lead before the Eagles responded with a 7-0 run of their own to take a 37-36 lead with 9:09 left in regulation.

After an Edmondson fast-break jam was set up by an emphatic Lawrence layup rejection, the Govs appeared to be on their way to a victory only to see the Eagles come from behind again – this time for good.

The loss soured an otherwise-solid night from Melvin Baker, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting – most of which came from jumpers in the short corner – to lead the Govs.

“Their defense was giving us some problems down low,” Baker said. “We knocked down some shots but we just had too many mental mistakes to win the game.”

Edmondson finished with 15 points – his most since a 22-point night against UT-Martin on January 28th.

Alton WilliamsWilliams – who led the Govs with 15 points on 5-of-5 shooting in Saturday’s loss to Murray State – was held scoreless in his first career start.

Drew Kelly’s 11 points led the way for the Eagles (15-13, 8-6). Knoxville native Deandre Mathieu added 10 points in the victory.

With the loss, the Govs dropped their fourth straight to the Eagles, who pulled ahead 52-50 in the all-time series.

The Govs will now step out of the OVC for Saturday’s Sears BracketBusters matchup against Youngstown State – a former conference foe of the Govs.

“We all keep saying it,” Baker said. “But we’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got to figure out how to put it all together over these next three games.”

Box Score

Morehead State Eagles vs Austin Peay Governors
2/15/12 -7:00pm at Clarksville, TN (Dunn Center)

Morehead State 52

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
00 KELLY, Drew f 2-3 0-0 7-8 3-5 8 3 11 0 3 0 1 27
22 WARNER, Angelo f 1-5 0-2 0-0 1-6 7 2 2 1 1 0 3 24
04 MATHIEU, Deandre g 3-4 1-1 3-3 2-4 6 2 10 1 0 0 0 21
10 AUSTIN, Lamont g 1-5 0-2 6-6 1-1 2 3 8 3 1 0 1 36
13 PROFFITT, Ty g 2-6 0-2 0-0 0-3 3 4 4 0 3 0 0 31
02 HOLDEN, Marsell 3-11 3-9 0-0 0-0 0 0 9 0 1 0 3 20
03 BAILEY, Will 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
14 ATKINSON, Devon 0-2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7
15 PERCELL, Jordan 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 13
32 CHAVIS, Milton 3-6 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 4 6 1 1 0 0 19
TM TEAM 1-1 2
Totals………….. 16-43 4-16 16-17 8-21 29 19 52 7 12 0 9 200
37.2% 25.0% 94.1%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 8-23 2-8 7-7
34.8% 25.0% 100 %
2nd Half: 8-20 2-8 9-10
40.0% 25.0% 90.0%

 

Austin Peay 48

Total 3-point Rebounds
## Player p fgm-fga fgm-fga ftm-fta off-def tot pf tp a to blk stl min
20 BAKER, Melvin f 7-9 1-1 2-2 0-7 7 0 17 0 1 2 2 37
23 TERRY, Josh f 2-7 0-1 1-2 1-4 5 3 5 3 1 0 1 28
21 FRALEY, John c 2-4 0-0 2-5 2-1 3 4 6 0 2 0 0 21
14 WILLIAMS, Alton g 0-3 0-3 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 25
22 LAWRENCE, Herdie g 0-5 0-4 0-0 1-2 3 4 0 4 5 1 1 33
01 CLYBURN, Jerome 2-3 1-2 0-1 2-0 2 0 5 1 2 0 0 7
10 TRIGGS, Will 0-0 0-0 0-3 3-3 6 0 0 1 1 0 0 20
12 EDMONDSON, TyShwan 5-12 2-6 3-4 1-0 1 1 15 1 1 0 1 26
33 HASSE, Matt 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
TM TEAM 0-1 1
Totals………….. 18-43 4-17 8-17 10-20 30 12 48 13 13 3 6 200
41.9% 23.5% 47.1%
Team summary: FG 3FG FT
1st Half: 11-24 2-8 2-4
45.8% 25.0% 50.0%
2nd Half: 7-19 2-9 6-13
36.8% 22.2% 46.2%

 

Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Morehead State 25 27 52 Record: (15-13, 8-6 OVC)
Austin Peay 26 22 48 Record: (9-19, 6-8 OVC)


Points in the paint-MOR 12,APSU 14. Points off turnovers-MOR 13,APSU 7.
2nd chance points-MOR 13,APSU 7. Fast break points-MOR 0,APSU 4.
Bench points-MOR 17,APSU 20. Score tied-5 times. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-MOR 2nd-01:30, APSU 2nd-03:23.
Largest lead-MOR by 5 2nd-00:05, APSU by 6 1st-01:54.
Officials: Sean Casey (R), Bret Smith, Jeb Hartness
Technical fouls: Morehead State-AUSTIN, Lamont 2. Austin Peay-LAWRENCE, Herdie.
Attendance: 2012
Copies in a Flash Player of the Game:
Melvin Baker
Wade Neely
Wade Neelyhttp://www.twitter.com/WadeNeely
Wade Neely comes to Clarksville after beginning his sports media career in March 2010 as the Sports Director at WKSR AM-FM in Pulaski, Tenn. During his time at WKSR, Neely created, produced and hosted "The Wade Neely Morning Show", Pulaski's only live and local wakeup program on WKSR-AM. Neely also served as the "Voice of the Bobcats", providing play-by-play for all Giles County football, basketball and select baseball contests. Neely also served as Director of Broadcasting at Martin Methodist College beginning in January 2011, providing play-by-play for all RedHawks home contests as well as the team's trip to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City. Originally from Pulaski, Neely earned his B.S. in Electronic Media Communication from Middle Tennessee State University's famed College of Mass Communications. Neely also minored in Economics during undergraduate career.
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