Austin Peay Governors Basketball to face Youngstown State in Sears BracketBusters

Austin Peay Men’s Basketball vs. Youngstown State
February 18th, 2012 | Tipoff: 7:30pm
Dave Aaron Arena | Clarksville, TN

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay hopes a late-season break from Ohio Valley Conference action can help get the Govs back on track as Youngstown State comes to town, 7:30pm, Saturday for the Sears BracketBusters contest.

The Govs are amidst a five-game losing streak after dropping an unseemly 52-48 decision, Wednesday. After permitting more than 70 points in five straight games, the Govs encountered other issues against Morehead State.

APSU shot just 41.9 percent from the floor, but it wasn’t necessarily the field-goal issues that proved costly. APSU shot just a meager 47.1 percent (8 of 17) from the free-throw line. The Govs had more than one chance to extend a second-half lead but the free-throw line led to be their undoing in addition to some inefficient late-game possessions.

The Govs will be facing a Youngstown State that comes in 14-12 overall and 9-7 in the Horizon League. One of those wins came against Detroit, whom the Govs lost to earlier this season in the College Basketball Experience.

Youngstown State is perimeter oriented. In fact, they have made exactly twice as many three pointers (224-112) as the Governors.

The Penguins are led by sophomore guard Kendrick Perkins, who is averaging 16.3 ppg, while fellow guard Blake Allen, who already has made 78 three pointers this season, is shooting 44.3 percent from behind the arc.

In addition, forward Damian Eargle is third in the nation in blocked shots, averaging 4.0 per game.

The Penguins were member of the Ohio Valley Conference from the 1981-82 season through 1987-88. Austin Peay has a 6-8 record against YSU, having won the last four meetings in the series—two in 1986-87 and two more in 1987-88.

This also is Austin Peay’s ninth appearance in the BracketBusters event—the most of any OVC school. The Governors are 2-6 in the previous eight games.

Governors Pardon

• This is Austin Peay’s 80th season of basketball.
• Dave Loos, APSU’s all-time winningest basketball coach, also is the OVC’s all-time wins leader with 360 victories. He also has 442 career coaching wins.
• The Dave Aaron Arena playing floor was named Dave Loos Court, Summer 2007. Loos is believed to be one of only three current Division I men’s coaches who are coaching on courts that bear their respective names–Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim–are the other two. Valparaiso’s Homer Drew, who retired after the 2010-11 season, had the floor named after him last season.
• Since 1993-94, Austin Peay has finished no worse than fifth in the OVC standings.
• Austin Peay has reached at least the OVC tournament semifinals in 13 of the last 17 years.
• Austin Peay has made 27 straight appearances in the OVC tournament.

What You Should Know

The Series: This is the 15th meeting between Austin Peay, of the Ohio Valley Conference, and Youngstown State, a Horizon League member. All previous contests came when Youngstown State was a member of the OVC from the 1981-82 season through 1987-88. Austin Peay trails 6-8 in the series. The Govs have won the last four meetings, including a pair of victories in both the 1986-87 and 1987-88.

Deeper Meanings

What A Win Would Mean: The Govs would gain their 10th 2011-12 victory and improve to 10-19 overall..it would snap a five-game losing streak…it would make the Govs 7-5 at home in 2011-12…they would improve to 3-2 at home in non-conference games…it would be their first win in February…the Govs would improve to 7-8 in the series…they would extend their winning streak in the series to five games…it would make Dave Loos 1-0 all-time against Youngstown State…it would make Dave Loos 1-0 against YSU coach Jerry Slocum…it would be Loos’ 443rd career coaching victory and his 361st APSU win.

What A Loss Would Mean: The Govs would fall to 9-20, their first 20-loss season since the 1992-93 season…it would be their sixth straight loss…it would snap a four-game winning streak in the series…it would be the Govs’ sixth home loss, the most by the Govs since the 1992-93 team went 5-7…the Govs would lose for a second time this season to a Horizon League member…the Govs would fall to 9-17 all-time against the Horizon… it would be head coach Dave Loos’ 365th career loss and 310th Austin Peay defeat.

OVC To Begin Divisional Play In 2012-13

The Ohio Valley Conference will begin divisional play for men and women’s basketball beginning with the 2012-13 season, with Austin Peay a part of the league’s new West Division. The addition of Belmont, July 1st, will give the OVC 12 member institutions, the largest Conference membership since the league’s inception in 1948 (the OVC is currently the nation’s eighth-oldest Division I conference).

The West Division will include Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State, SIU Edwardsville and UT Martin. The East Division will include Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech.

Losing Streak

Austin Peay comes in amidst a five game losing streak. This is the third time this season the Govs have experienced losing streaks of four games or more. The Govs opened the season with nine consecutive losses. They closed the 2011 portion of their schedule with three consecutive losses and then opened 2012 with another defeat to extend that streak to four.

Lineup Change

Youngstown State has utilized the same starting lineup for 26 straight games this season. On Wednesday, the Governors utilized their 10th different starting lineup this season against Morehead State.

Austin Peay started freshman Herdie Lawrence and walk-on sophomore Alton Williams at the guard spots to go with the frontline of Melvin Baker, John Fraley and Josh Terry.

Guarded Situation

For a second straight game, Austin Peay’s starting guards failed to score a point when Herdie Lawrence and Alton Williams were held scoreless against Morehead State in a combined 58 minutes of play.

Jerome Clyburn and TyShwan Edmondson were held scoreless at Murray State after combining for just two points a game earlier at Belmont.

Snaps Slump

After scoring a combined 10 points in the previous two points while encountering foul woes, senior forward Melvin Baker broke loose for a game-high 17 points on 7-of-9 field-goal attempts against Morehead State.

He also had a team-high seven rebounds.

That’s Fouled Up

Senior forward Melvin Baker entered Wednesday’s game with Morehead State having been charged with 102 fouls, 38 more than any other Governor. He also leads the team in disqualifications with six. Against Morehead State, Baker was not charged with a foul–the first time all season had not been call for personal foul.

Drought Ends

Senior guard TyShwan Edmondson, the Govs leading scorer for much of the year, snapped a two-game scoreless drought against Morehead State.

Coming off the bench, he tallied 15 points, including a pair of three pointers in 26 minutes.

Passes His Coach

With his eight rebounds against Murray State, John Fraley moved past his post coach, former Govs’ great Bubba Wells, into eighth place all time in rebounds with (he now has 729). Wells finished his career (1993-97) with 720.

In recent weeks, Fraley not only has passed Wells but a pair of other prominent rebounders–former teammate Fernandez Lockett (703/2003-07) and former Govs great and nine-year NBA vet Trenton Hassell (685/1998-01).

Defense Cuts

Before limiting Morehead State to 52 points in Wednesday’s loss, the Governors had permitted more than 70 points in five straight games, including four straight losses. In the four losses, the Governors allowed 86.8 points per game and 50.8 percent shooting.

Next Game

Austin Peay Governors at UT Martin Skyhawks
Thursday, February 23rd | Tipoff: 7:30pm

Govs play final OVC road game at UT Martin

Austin Peay will play its final OVC road game, 7:30pm, Thursday, when it travels to Martin. The Skyhawks just snapped a 15-game losing streak earlier this week with a victory at Kennesaw State. With an OVC tourney spot now gone, UTM now seeks to claim a conference victory before the season ends.

They will look to freshman forward Myles Taylor, who has scored 55 points over the last two games entering the weekend. He is averaging 13.7 ppg on the season while sophomore guard Mike Liabo is at 14.7 ppg.