Birmingham, AL – Darius Dawson scored a season-high 18 points, and Akili Evans scored 10 in his season debut in Austin Peay State University basketball’s 72-47 loss against Samford, Sunday, at Pete Hanna Center.
All 18 of Dawson’s points came inside the arc, as the senior guard/forward went 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line to pace the APSU Govs. In addition to his 10 points, Evans led the Govs with three assists and three steals and finished third on the team with four rebounds.
After missing four of its first five attempts from the field, Austin Peay (4-5) made 5-of-8 attempts from the field to lead 15-7 less than six minutes into the contest. Dawson scored 11 Governors’ points in that span, and defensively, Austin Peay State University held Samford (9-2) to 2-of-10 from the field, including seven-straight misses.
After a Bulldogs’ layup with 12:28 remaining, both sides were held scoreless for three minutes. A 12-2 SU run gave Samford a 19-17 lead, resulting in the fourth lead change in the opening 13 minutes.
An LJ Thomas layup was answered by a Tekao Carpenter mid-range jumper to return the advantage to the Governors, but the Bulldogs scored seven of the first half’s final eight points to lead 26-22 at the break.
Dawson led all scorers with 11 first-half points, but APSU went 0-for-9 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.
Dawson scored the Govs’ first four points of the second half in the opening minute to trim APSU’s deficit to 28-26, but Samford responded with a 13-5 run to lead 41-32.
An Evans three-pointer with 13:50 remaining in the half was the Govs’ final basket for over eight minutes, as the Govs missed seven-straight attempts from the field and turned the ball over seven times in the span to give SU a 59-36 lead.
A 6-2 run following jumpers by Thomas and Quan Lax cut the Govs’ deficit to 61-42, but the Bulldogs ended the contest on an 11-5 run to secure the victory.
The Difference
Austin Peay State University was held to 2-of-17 from three-point range, with Akili Evans making both of the Governors attempts from beyond the arc. On the other end of the court, Samford went 11-of-31 from distance.
Box Score
Austin Peay State University fell to 16-9 all-time against Samford and 5-8 against the Bulldogs in Birmingham.
Darius Dawson scored a season-high 18 points.
Akili Evans made his Austin Peay debut and APSU starting debut. The redshirt junior had 10 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
Akili Evans hit Austin Peay State University’s first three-pointer with 13:50 remaining in the second half. That triple extended APSU’s streak of games with a triple to 710, a stretch that began February 23rd, 2002.
Austin Peay State University’s starting lineup of LJ Thomas, Daniel Loos, Akili Evans, Anton Brookshire, and Quan Lax was its seventh different lineup this season and sixth in as many games.
The Governors’ 10 fastbreak points are its second-most of the season and most since scoring 24 fastbreak points in the season opener against Union on November 4th.
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Next Up For APSU Men’s Basketball
After six-straight games on the road, the Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team returns home for the first time since November 11th when the Governors face Southern Illinois in a 4:00pm, Saturday game on Gary Mathews Court at F&M Bank Arena.
