Austin Peay State University’s late-game rally fell short as it dropped a 78-72 non-conference basketball decision to Drake, Saturday night, in Dave Aaron Arena.
It was the home opener for Govs, who fell to 2-4 overall, while Drake recorded its season first road win as it improves to 2-4.
APSU trailed by as much as 13 second-half points and by 10 with 2:16 left. However, APSU cut the lead to two with 1:05 left and had the ball in the final minute but could not complete the comeback, missing a layup and a follow with 41 seconds left.
For the fifth straight game APSU followed a similar pattern, falling behind by double digits in the first half. The Governors shot just 11 of 31 (35.5 percent) in the first half while Drake connected on seven first-half three pointers. In fact, guard Ryan Wedel had 19 points in the opening half as the Bulldogs took a 38-29 halftime advantage.
The Governors would cut the deficit to five on three different occasions in the second half but couldn’t get a defensive stop when needed. The Govs’ defense finally began to click with a little more than two minutes left with APSU down 74-64.
Anthony Campbell opened the run with a three pointer and then the Govs forced consecutive turnovers by Drake, culminating with a dunk by Marcel Williams to make it 74-69 with 1:33 left. Then Tyrone Caldwell, who set up Williams for the dunk, came up with a steal. Then on the ensuing play Caldwell rebounded a missed shot and was fouled while making the bucket. After he made the free all of a sudden it was a two-point game 74-72, with 1:05 left.
Craig Stanley then missed the front end of a one-and-one and APSU had a chance to tie the game. But Wes Channels could not get a left-handed layup to drop and then freshman Chris Reaves could not get the follow to go in either.
APSU immediately fouled on the rebound, sending Adam Templeton to the line. He also missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Govs in attempting to block out, knocked each other off the rebound attempt. Seth Vandeest picked up the loose ball in the lane and scored with 33 seconds left. The Govs, as a result, could not recover.
Wedel cooled off in the second half but still finished with 21 points while forward Aaron Hawly added 16.
Sophomore forward Anthony Campbell led the Governors with a career-high 23 points while Channels was the only other double-figure scorer with 10 points.
After a dismal first-half shooting performance, the Govs shot 53.3 percent (16 of 30) in the second half. Drake shot 50.9 percent (28 of 55), including 13 of 22 from three-point territory.
The govs were outrebounded 37-32 on the night.
APSU will return to action, 7 p.m., Monday when it plays host to Freed-Hardeman in another non-conference game.
