APSU Governors Basketball explode in second half to down Southeast Missouri Redhawks 80-74

Clarksville, TN – Rarely does a foul motivate a team but that was the case Saturday night as Austin Peay rallied to defeat Southeast Missouri, 80-74, in Ohio Valley Conference action played in Dave Aaron Arena.

But that play energized APSU. The Govs proceeded to go on a 26-5 run to build a 14-point lead and then held off a late Redhawk charge to even their overall record at 8-8, but more importantly improve to 2-0 in OVC play.

Southeast Missouri, one of the co-favorites to win the OVC West, fell to 0-2 in league play and 8-7 overall.

“Instead of being frustrated (over the play), it really seem to energize us,” APSU coach Dave Loos said. “The energy really was apparent on the defensive end. Our defensive helped create our offense.”

Sophomore center Chris Horton, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds—his eighth double-double this season—scored six of those points as did Travis Betran, his via back-to-back three pointers, while Will Triggs had seven of his second-half 14 points as APSU built a 67-53 lead with 6:46 left.

The Govs then were forced to brace for a Redhawk 15-5 spurt that was punctuated by 11 Jarekious Bradley points (of his 30), including a trio of three pointers. After his second straight three with 3:08 left, the Govs lead was sliced to 72-68.

But two Zavion Williams free throws temporarily quieted the run and then Bradley picked up his fifth foul while trying to guard Triggs inside. Triggs’ subsequent free throws put the advantage to eight, 76-68 with 1:58 left. Without Bradley’s presence, SEMO couldn’t find that late punch for the comeback.

Meanwhile, the Govs, leading by six with 1:42 left, was able to put the game away when Damarius Smith found Chris Horton for an alley-oop dunk with 59 second left for 78-70 lead.

That was Smith’s 10th assist—his second straight double-digit assist performance. Meanwhile, Betran, who was uncertain prior to the game with back issues after a collision in Thursday’s UT Martin game, finished with 16 points, two more than Triggs who struggled through a scoreless first half. For a second straight game Zavion Williams came off the bench to score double figures, this time 12 points.

The Govs finished the night shooting 52 percent—their third straight game shooting 50 percent or better—while committing just nine turnovers—the second straight game with their season low in that category.

Tyler Stone (16 points, 10 rebounds) was the only other Skyhawk double figures after Bradley’s 30. The Redhawks shot 50 percent (29 of 58) from the floor and out-rebounded the Govs 35-28 but committed 18 turnovers.

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