Seniors rally Austin Peay Governors Basketball to first-ever win against the Tennessee Vols

APSU Sports Information: Austin Peay Basketball

Knoxville, TN – Led by a quartet of seniors, Austin Peay State University scored the game’s final eight points as it stunned Tennessee, 74-70, Saturday afternoon in a non-conference basketball contest played at Thompson-Boling Arena.

It was Austin Peay’s first win in nine games of the cross-state series. It also was Austin Peay’s second straight win after opening the season with nine consecutive losses. Tennessee lost its third straight as it fell to 3-5 the season.

With the Governors trailing 70-66 with 2:39 remaining, senior forward Melvin Baker, on a pass from senior guard TyShwan Edmondson, responded with his second three pointer of the game at the 2:08 mark to slice the deficit to one.

After a Tennessee turnover, the Govs captured the lead, 71-70, when Edmondson threaded a bounce pass to fellow senior Josh Terry on a reverse layup with 1:05 remaining.

After Baker blocked Cameron Tatum’s drive to the hoop with 51 seconds left, Edmondson continued the Govs’ momentum by driving the lane and floating in a jumper with 16 seconds left, putting the pressure back on the home-standing Volunteers.

After a timeout, Tennessee was hoping to set up Skylar McBee, who had knocked down a trio of three pointers earlier, but Terry had McBee smothered while Baker blanketed Cameron Tatum, the team’s other vital three-point option.

That left it up to point guard Trae Golden to fire up a three point attempt from well behind the three-point line. It bounced off the glass and Terry grabbed the rebound with 2.8 seconds remaining.

After being fouled, Terry made the second of the two-shot free-throw attempt, sealing the Govs first win against an Southeastern Conference team since the 1991-92 season when APSU downed Mississippi State in the Dunn Center.

Although Terry, Edmondson and Baker starred down the stretch, especially statistically, it was the return of senior center John Fraley that also sparked the Governors. Playing for the first time since the season opener at Middle Tennessee (concussion-related symptoms), Fraley actually scored two of the Govs first three buckets. He played 29 minutes, finished with 12 points and five rebounds.

However, his presence inside helped open things up on the perimeter as APSU shot a seething-hot 72.7 percent (16 of 22) from the floor in the second half. Fraley also had two key second-half blocks, one on a Tatum attempted dunk with 3:18 left and the Governors trailing by only two.

The Governors led early in the game but trailed by as much as 10, 36-26, in the first half before cutting it to seven, 37-30, at halftime. Tennessee bolted from halftime to lead 47-35 with 17:07 remaining and still led by 11, 64-53, with 6:27 left when Josh Richardson scored on a layup.

But Austin Peay closed the game on a 21-6 run. In fact, all 21 points were scored by Govs’ seniors-Terry (9), Edmondson (7), Baker (3), Fraley (2).  

Terry led all scorers with 20 points to go with five assists and four steals while playing suffocating defense on Tatum, holding him to one point.

Edmondson added 19 points, including 11 in the final half while Baker, despite foul woes, tossed in 10.

The Govs shot a season-high 59.1 percent (26 of 44) from the floor, making it two straight games of 50 percent shooting after shooting below 40 percent in seven of the first nine contests.

The Governors, who were outrebounded 24-12 in the first half, including 14 offensive rebounds, actually out-boarded Tennessee in the final half 12-10 and only allowed four second-chance points.

Also, after committing 10 first-half turnovers, the Govs only committed six in the second half while forcing nine Volunteer miscues. APSU finished with 10 steals on the night.

Jeronne Maybin, virtually unstoppable in the first half, finished with 18 point and nine rebounds for Tennessee while Jordan McRae added 14 and Kenny Hall 12 along with 10 rebounds.

The Copies in a Flash APSU Player of the Game was John Fraley.

After taking a break for finals, the Govs will return to action, 7:00pm, Saturday, when they play host to Rochester (MI).

Postgame Quotes

Austin Peay Head Coach Dave Loos

(Opening statement)
“It was obviously a great game for us. This is really huge for us going forward. It’s hard to explain. We had not been shooting it well.

(On momentum carrying over from Monday’s win against Arkansas State)
“I think it did. We made half of our shots in that game and kept our turnovers under 12. It was a good solid game for us, although we had a 10-point lead in that one and had to go to overtime. But it really helped the way we felt about ourselves.

(On switching from man to zone)
“It helped for a while, but then they put another shooter in and we went back. We were just looking for something to break the momentum. They had 16 offensive rebounds in the first half but only three in the second half, so that was big for us.

(On John Fraley returning to action)
“It was really significant, just his presence out there. He got started great and then he tried to force a little – I think he got caught up in the moment. But he makes a big difference for us on the boards, and just his presence out there is important.

“I didn’t think he could play that much, to be honest. We probably couldn’t get much out of him tomorrow if we had to, but today was good.

(On Tyshwan Edmondson’s play)
“He made some big shots and we’ve been waiting for him to get started. I think he did today. And he’s a good passer. He did a good job today.”

Box Score

Austin Peay vs Tennessee
12/10/11 – 12:00pm ET at Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee

Austin Peay 74

Austin Peay	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	OREB	AST	PF	ST	TO	BLK	PTS
Josh Terry	39	6-10	0-0	8-10	6	1	5	3	4	2	0	20
Melvin Baker	20	4-5	2-3	0-0	2	1	0	4	1	1	1	10
John Fraley	29	5-6	0-0	2-3	5	2	1	1	0	3	2	12
Jerome Clyburn	33	3-5	1-1	2-3	2	0	4	3	1	3	1	9
Herdie Lawrence	15	0-3	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	2	3	0	0
TyShwan Edmondson	30	7-13	2-4	3-4	3	1	2	2	1	3	0	19
Will Triggs	16	0-1	0-0	2-2	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	2
Chris Freeman	15	1-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	2
Thomas Greer	3	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Total		26-44	5-8	17-22	24	5	15	15	10	16	6	74
		59.10%	62.50%	77.30%

Tennessee 70

Tennessee	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	OREB	AST	PF	ST	TO	BLK	PTS
Jeronne Maymon	31	8-10	0-1	2-5	9	6	2	1	2	2	0	18
Kenny Hall	28	5-5	0-0	2-4	10	7	1	1	1	2	2	12
Jordan McRae	23	7-14	0-3	0-0	2	0	3	4	3	3	0	14
Trae Golden	30	1-9	1-5	4-4	2	1	4	3	0	3	0	7
Cameron Tatum	30	0-6	0-2	1-2	0	0	3	2	0	2	0	1
Skylar McBee	21	3-6	3-6	0-1	3	1	2	1	0	1	0	9
Yemi Makanjuola	10	1-1	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Josh Richardson	10	2-4	1-2	0-0	1	1	0	3	0	2	0	5
Wes Washpun	10	0-3	0-0	0-0	3	2	1	2	1	2	0	0
Dwight Miller	7	1-2	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2
Total		28-60	5-19	9-16	34	19	16	19	8	18	2	70
		46.70%	26.30%	56.30%

 
Officials: Gary Maxwell, John Hampton, Pat Adams
Technical fouls: Austin Peay-None. Tennessee-None.
Attendance: 14692

Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Austin Peay……………….   30   44  –   74
Tennessee………………..   37   33  –   70

Points in the paint-APSU 24,UT 42. Points off turnovers-APSU 27,UT 20.
2nd chance points-APSU 9,UT 21. Fast break points-APSU 6,UT 12.
Bench points-APSU 23,UT 18. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-APSU 2nd-00:16, UT 2nd-02:39.
Largest lead-APSU by 4 1st-19:09, UT by 12 2nd-17:02.