Austin Peay Governors Basketball falls to A-Game Hoops, 81-71

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Men’s Basketball

Toronto, Ontario – A-Game Hoops ended the game on a 15-6 run and pulled away from Austin Peay State University, 81-71, Sunday afternoon, in the second game of the Governors’ Canadian Exhibition tour.

The Govs are now 1-1 and will attempt to end the series with a winning record, Monday, with a 6:00pm contest against the ABC All-Stars.

Playing a veteran group of current and former Canadian professional players, the Governors cut their deficit to one, 66-65, with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. The Govs had a chance to grab the lead but came up empty before two free throws by the Phoenix’ Tut Rauch stemmed the tide.

APSU trailed by as much as 61-50 in the second half but made a spirited fourth-quarter run, led by junior forward Will Triggs along with freshmen Chris Horton and AJ Lynch, brought back the Govs.

Triggs finished the night with 25 points and 15 rebounds. For a second straight day Lynch scored in double figures, finishing with 12 points. Horton not only had 12 points, but as well had nine rebounds, seven in the second half.

“Some ways I feel better losing this game than I did about winning yesterday’s,” APSU coach Dave Loos said. “We were much more competitive. We fell behind, but bounced back to take the lead in the third quarter.

“We came back again late and had a chance to take the lead but we missed some free throws. ”

After shooting well from the perimeter, Saturday, the Govs were just the opposite Sunday, shooting just 30 percent (23 of 70) from the floor. That included a 2-for-18 three-point performance. The poor shooting combined with more than 20 turnovers played a key role in their undoing against a veteran team that featured former Belmont standout Jon House and former Wisconsin-Green Bay stalwart Mike King.

The Govs, who were burned by Seneca from the three-point line the previous day, were better against the Phoenix. A team that made 22 of 29 from three-point range in rolling up 102 points against Tulsa, was limited to 12 of 31 (38.7 percent) against the Govs.

With Triggs and Horton leading the way, the Govs outrebounded the Phoenix, 59-47.

Austin Peay trailed 25-16 in the first half but cut it to seven, 38-31, at halftime, APSU stormed out of the second half, leading 43-40, with 5:49 left in the third quarter.