Main Street Clarksville
CLARKSVILLE WEATHER
physicians-mutual-dental-insurance-banners

Governors suffer first OVC loss




Junior Eli Abaev (14) and the Govs suffered their first OVC loss at Tennessee State last Thursday.ERIC ELLIOT/APSU SPORTS INFORMATION

Junior Eli Abaev (14) and the Govs suffered their first OVC loss at Tennessee State last Thursday.ERIC ELLIOT/APSU SPORTS INFORMATION

Going undefeated in a conference is not easy… and the Austin Peay Governors will not be doing it this season.

After starting OVC play 10-0, the Govs have suffered their first loss in Nashville on Thursday, falling to the Tennessee State Tigers 70-68.

APSU’s 34.4 field goal percentage was the worst of the conference season so far. It was brought down by an especially poor second-half shooting performance, when the Governors hit just 9-of-31 attempts. 

Junior Terry Taylor shot just 7-for-20, but still managed 23 points and 14 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. 

Star freshman Jordyn Adams struggled, shooting 3-for-15, including going 1-for-7 from three, scoring 12 points.

The Governors fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first half before closing the gap to just one at halftime. The latter half was extremely tight the entire way with teams trading leads five teams each with seven ties across the full 40 minutes.

 

 

Where things started to truly unfold was in the final six-plus minutes. Eli Abaev’s layup gave the Govs a 62-60 lead with 6:12 remaining. It was the last field goal they’d make.

Austin Peay’s last six points came on free throws — and they missed two free looks at that time, which could have potentially made up the difference between a loss and overtime.

As a silver lining, APSU did manage to get several clean looks and had just seven turnovers — their second fewest in a game all season.

BOX SCORE

Tennessee State (70): Carlos Marshall Jr. 19, Mark Freeman 11, Wesley Harris 9, Shakem Johnson 8, Jy’lan Washington 8, Michael Littlejohn 7, Ben Kone 4, Jon Brown 2, Emmanuel Egbuta 2.

Austin Peay (68): Terry Taylor 23, Jordyn Adams 12, Eli Abaev 11, Evan Hinson 8, Carlos Paez 7, Alec Woodard 5, Antwuan Butler 2.

Leave a Reply