MONDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 62, Eastern Illinois 54
AUSTIN PEAY 62, EASTERN ILLINOIS 54
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - For the seventh time this season, the Austin Peay men’s basketball team held its opponent to under 60 points as the Govs defeated Eastern Illinois, 62-54 for their third straight victory Monday evening inside the Winfield Dunn Center.
It was a scorching start for the Govs, who shot 46.9 percent in the first half and knocked down seven threes for an 18-point halftime lead. The 18-point advantage was the largest lead at half this season for Austin Peay. It was a much different story in the second half as APSU was outscored 32-22 and shot 23.1 percent from the field with two made threes. Despite the Govs cold shooting, APSU was able to pull away down the stretch for their third straight OVC win.
Leading the way for Austin Peay was freshman Elijah Hutchins-Everett, tallying his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Hutchins-Everett was 3-of-10 from the field against the Panthers and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free-throw line. It was the freshman center’s first double-double since Feb. 7 against Belmont.
Junior Carlos Paez led the Govs in scoring with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field with three from long distance. It’s the second time this season Paez has led the Govs in scoring and the eighth game this season in double figures. Paez also had five rebounds to go along with five assists and four steals in 26 minutes.
Off the bench, the Govs got a key contribution from junior Cameron Copeland with nine points. Copeland was 4-of-9 from the field while also tallying four rebounds. Behind Copeland was redshirt senior Tariq Silver with seven points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field. Junior Alec Woodard recorded eight points in 20 minutes of play on 3-of-8 shooting from the field. Woodard also tallied four rebounds with three assists and one steal.
As a team, the Govs shot 36.2 percent from the field and was 9-of-32 from long distance. APSU was 11-of-13 from the free-throw line compared to EIU going 24-of-31 from the charity stripe. The Govs outrebounded the Panthers, 34-31 with APSU earning an 11-4 advantage on the offensive glass. Defensively the Govs forced 18 EIU turnovers, scoring 19 points off of Panther mistakes.