MONDAY'S SCORES
Austin Peay 74, @SIUE 59
Murray State 77, @Southeast Missouri 60
AUSTIN PEAY 74, SIUE 59
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - For the first time in a long time, Austin Peay State University men's basketball team went on the road and emerged with a solid 74-59 win in Ohio Valley Conference play to take down SIU Edwardsville.
For the Govs, that's three straight road wins for the first time since January 2020, moving them to 10-6, 5-4 in the league. SIU Edwardsville drops below .500 at 6-7 overall, 4-3 in conference.
The Governors spent the first half hitting threes at a high rate, a new trend that currently isn't showing signs of slowing down. Austin Peay got 15 of its first 17 points via the long ball, with Carlos Paez and Jordyn Adams both knocking down from distance in the early minutes of action.
The Governors seemed on the precipice of putting this one away early, building a 15-point lead heading into the half's final media timeout. But the Cougars closed the half on a 9-2 run to halve the lead and head into the break within striking distance at 35-27.
The Cougars closed it to within four points early in the second half, but that was as close things would get. An early 12-2 Austin Peay run, highlighted by seven points from sophomore Alec Woodard, pushed the advantage back into double figures for the Govs, where it would remain for the bulk of the games remainder.
Every time the Cougars looked like making a run, the Govs would snuff it out. After a Shamar Wright three, Taylor threw down a rim-rattling dunk. When Mike Adewunmi sank a layup, Peake matched him. From 6:31-4:50, Austin Peay's 8-0 run nearly doubled the lead for the Govs to 18 points and effectively ended the contest.
With a double-digit lead for much of the game, it gave the Govs a chance to integrate a couple of guys back into the rotation, with Reginald Gee (15 minutes) getting his most action since Eastern Illinois and Corbin Merritt (nine minutes) getting his first appearance since that contest in Charleston.
Taylor led four Govs in double figures with 15 points and eight boards; Woodard turned in 13 points, including 10 in the second half, with Mike Peake (14 points) and Paez (11 points, nine assists) rounding out the day for the Govs.
MURRAY STATE 77, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 60
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Murray State Racers blitzed the Southeast Missouri Redhawks 77-60 in a Monday Ohio Valley Conference makeup game at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The Racers (8-8) improved to 5-6 in the OVC and have won away from home in back-to-back games. MSU's second game on a four-game road swing is Thursday at Morehead State.
KJ Williams, who was named the OVC Player of the Week earlier in the day, posted a second game in four days of his career-high with 26 points and 11 rebounds and he hit a career-high five 3-pointers. DaQuan Smith had a season-best 16 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the 3-point line, while Demond Robinson added 10 points.
The balanced MSU offense saw eight different players score. MSU made 62 percent from the field on 30-of-59 shots and they hit 12-of-22 from the 3-point line.
MSU has searched for what they consider an all-around complete game. MSU certainly had that kind of game in a home victory of 30 points over Austin Peay (Dec. 8) and at home win against Illinois State 76-65 (Dec. 5). However, after struggling away from home this season, the Racers might've found the formula they can repeat going forward at home and on the road in the final nine games of the regular season.
The Racers held SEMO scoreless in the final three minutes of the first half and took a 12-point lead into the halftime intermission (36-24) when Justice Hill hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
MSU had three-straight defensive stops to start the second half and ended up holding the Redhawks to no field goals in a stretch of 8:02 that spanned the end of the first half and the second half. MSU's 13-2 run at the start of the second half was fueled by a pair of fast break buckets by Tevin Brown and Smith and a pair of 3-pointers from Williams for a 47-26 lead less than four minutes into the second half.
Southeast never got any closer than 13 points the rest of the way.