Johnson City, TN – The Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team dropped a 79-57 decision to East Tennessee (ETSU) on Saturday at Freedom Hall.
LJ Thomas led the Governors with 15 points, while Tate McCubbin had a career-high 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Daniel Loos – who made his first start of the season – opened the game with a layup, but four-straight ETSU baskets answered the early score, as a 9-2 Buccaneers lead forced an Austin Peay timeout with 16:31 remaining in the opening half.
LJ Thomas ended a three-and-a-half-minute APSU scoring drought with a pair of free throws. Tekao Carpenter was the third Governor to find the scoring column, with his three-pointer answered by back-to-back ETSU triples.
Austin Peay State University cut its deficit to 24-14 with 8:32 remaining in the half following a Me’Kell Burries three-pointer, to end a stretch of six-straight misses from the field, and another perfect, 2-for-2 trip to the line for Thomas.
APSU made 3-of-6 attempts from the field, with Tate McCubbin and Anton Brookshire connecting on a pair of three-pointers, and held ETSU without a make from the field for over four minutes to cut its deficit to 29-22 with 3:52 remaining in the opening half.
The Govs and Buccaneers split the final 12 points of the opening half, with Loos making a pair of free throws with 24 seconds remaining for the final points of the period.
The Buccaneers went 14-of-31 from the field across the opening 20 minutes, while holding the Govs to 8-of-26. McCubbin, Lax, and Carpenter led the Govs with five points in the first half, and Loos paced the team with a season-high six rebounds, including a pair on the offensive end.
APSU missed its first four attempts from the field, but cut the Buccaneers’ lead to seven at 39-32 following layups by Thomas and Darius Dawson less than four minutes into the second half.
ETSU went 5-of-7 from the field, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, to extend its advantage to 51-35. After LJ Thomas scored APSU’s next four points off a pair of buckets in the paint, Terrell Gaines made his first-career attempt from the field, with the layup cutting APSU’s deficit to 13 points.
Another one of APSU’s three freshmen, Bowen Hammer scored his first-career points on a right-wing three-pointer with 7:33 remaining in regulation.
ETSU later went on to score 11 of the game’s final 15 points to secure the 79-57 victory.
The Difference
The paint. Austin Peay State University was out-rebounded 46-29 and 15-9 on the offensive glass. ETSU also outscored APSU 42-24 in the paint.
Box Score Bullets
Austin Peay State University fell to 30-42 all-time against East Tennessee State and 9-26 all-time against the Buccaneers in Johnson City.
LJ Thomas led APSU in scoring for the sixth time this season with 15 points. The scoring performance marked the eighth-straight game Thomas has scored in double figures.
Tate McCubbin scored a career-high 10 points and hauled in a career-best seven rebounds.
Tekao Carpenter made Austin Peay State University’s first three-pointer of the game with 13:05 remaining in the first half. The triple extended the Governors’ program record of consecutive games with a triple to 709, a streak that began February 23rd, 2002 against Southeast Missouri.
Daniel Loos made his season’s first start. It is the Clarksville native’s first start since APSU’s 2023-24 nonconference final against Memphis (12/30/23).
Quan Lax recorded his first block of the season and was the lone Gov with a rejection.
Tate McCubbin won the jump ball for Austin Peay State University. It is the second jump the Govs have controlled this season and the first since November 17th at Tennessee.
Bowen Hammer scored his first-career points off a right-wing three-pointer with 7:333 remaining in the second half.
Terrell Gaines scored a career-high three points.
Terrell Gaines’ grabbed his first-career offensive rebound and laid it in for his first-career basket.
Tekao Carpenter was the first Gov off the bench for the seventh time this season and for the fourth-straight game.
Austin Peay State University’s starting five of Tate McCubbin, LJ Thomas, Daniel Loos, Anton Brookshire, and Quan Lax fell to 0-1 on the season
The APSU Govs’ starting five was its sixth unique starting five of the season and its fifth in as many games.
Next Up For APSU Men’s Basketball
After seven days off, the Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team’s longest road trip since 2018 comes to an end with a December 8th, 2:00pm game against Samford in Birmingham, Alabama. The contest against the Bulldogs is the Governors’ second and final game as part of the 2024 Atlantic Sun – Southern Conference Alliance.
