Florence, AL – Trailing by 18 points less than 12 minutes into the game, the Austin Peay State University (APSU) basketball team used 52 second-half points to defeat North Florida 90-69 in the first round of the 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, Sunday, at Flowers Hall.
Isaac Haney, LJ Thomas, and Darius Dawson led Austin Peay State University in points (14-18), each scoring 20 points in the victory. Dawson and Thomas also combined for a team-best 30 points across the final 20 minutes, leading a Governors’ offense that shot 71% from the field in the second half – the team’s highest field-goal percentage in a single game this season.
The nation’s leader in three-pointers made (12.8) and attempted (36.0) per game entering Sunday’s contest, North Florida (15-17) opened the game on a 10-0 run, with all of its points coming from within the paint while going 0-for-3 from distance in the first five minutes.
UNF’s first three-pointer of the contest came 5:59 in, with the Osprey’s Jaylen Smith making a three and converting the four-point play after being fouled at the top of the key to give his team a 15-4 advantage.
Austin Peay State University responded to the 11-point deficit with a 9-3 run in which a quartet of Govs found the scoring column; however, UNF took its largest lead of the night following a 13-0 run in which UNF went 3-for-3 from three-point range.
Facing a 31-13 deficit following the under-eight media timeout an Isaac Haney old-fashioned three-point play sparked an eight-minute, 25-14 APSU run to end the break.
Another Haney layup was followed by three-straight Austin Peay buckets coming by way of Darius Dawson points in the paint.
Behind by 13 points in the final minute of the opening period, Haney’s first triple of the night came with 35 seconds remaining, before he then beat the buzzer with a three-pointer from 30-plus feet out.
After missing its first attempt from the field in the second half, Austin Peay went 13-for-14 from the field between 19:25-11:46, including 3-for-3 from distance,
From there, APSU continued to maintain all momentum, outscoring the Ospreys 18-5 across the final eight minutes to claim its third-ever ASUN Conference Championship victory.
The Difference
The second half. After shooting 42.5% (17-40) from the field and 25% (3-12) from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes, Austin Peay State University made 22 of its 31 second-half attempts and 4-of-6 attempts from three point range, while holding the Ospreys to 35.7% and 25.0% from three field and three-point range, respectively, in the second half.
Box Score Bullets
Austin Peay State University’s postseason victory was its 48th in program history and third as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
APSU also improved to 3-1 all-time in the first round of a conference tournament.
Austin Peay State University improved to 2-1 all-time as a No. 7 seed in program history.
Isaac Haney, LJ Thomas, and Darius Dawson are the first trio of Governors to score 20 plus points since Anton Brookshire (25), Sai Witt (23), and Thomas (23) last time the Governors and Ospreys met, Jan. 2.
Head coach Corey Gipson is the second head coach in program history to win at least one postseason game across each of his first two seasons at the helm of Governors basketball, joining Matt Figger (2017-18).
Darius Dawson scored a season-high 20 points on 9-for-9 shooting from the field. He is the first Gov with a perfect mark from the field since Tekao Carpenter went 5-for-5 from the field in the season opener against Union.
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