APSU Sports Information
Brentwood, TN – The dynamic duo comprising Austin Peay State University (APSU) men’s basketball teams low-post starting lineup has earned distinction from the Ohio Valley Conference’s coaches and sports information administrators.
Sophomore Terry Taylor has earned first-team All-OVC recognition for the second time in his two-year Austin Peay career, while senior Chris Porter-Bunton’s second-team selection is the crowning individual achievement of his five seasons as a member of the program.
This marks the second year in a row in which multiple Governors have earned postseason honors from the OVC; Taylor and Averyl Ugba were first-team and All-Newcomer choices last season.
The last time Austin Peay placed a player on the first team and a player on the second team was 2015-16—the same year the Governors won their last OVC Tournament championship.
For an encore, Taylor proved his 2018 OVC Freshman of the Year honor was no fluke, taking his game to new heights in his second season.
At 20.6 points per game, he’s one of two sophomores in program history to post a season scoring average of 20 points or higher; to that end, his 639 points are 10th on Austin Peay’s single-season list and second only to Fly Williams’ 1973-74 season for most points scored by a sophomore, and Taylor could eclipse that mark with a big run in this week’s OVC Tournament.
Taylor’s rise up the record book allowed him to easily eclipse the 1,000-point mark in just two seasons on campus, making part of a select group of six Governors who needed just two seasons in red-and-white to hit that milestone. Among his contemporaries, Taylor is one of 11 Division I sophomores to already have reached 1,000 career points—he ranks second on that list with 1,169 points, behind only Howard’s RJ Cole.
His prowess is no less on the glass, where he’s one of two players in Austin Peay history with 250 boards in each of his first two seasons. He enters the OVC Tournament with 273 rebounds, tied for 13th all-time, and already ranks 21st in career rebounds by a Gov with 564.
Four times this season, Taylor won or shared OVC Player of the Week honors, for November 19th, December 17th, February 4th and February 18th; he’s the first Gov with four or more weekly honors from the league since Wesley Channels (2009-10).
Taylor’s single-game highlights are nearly too numerous to list; on a near-nightly basis, it seemed like the Bowling Green native did something different to thrill on-lookers:
- Against 18th-ranked Mississippi State, Taylor posted his season’s first double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
- Posted double-doubles against Central Connecticut (21 points, 17 boards) and Campbell (17 points, 10 rebounds) to earn all-tournament honors for the island portion of the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic.
- Poured in 32 points against Liberty, earning MVP honors as the Govs took home the St. Pete Shootout title.
- Scored 20 points, pulled down nine rebounds and blocked a game-winning shot attempt at the rim to help the Govs preserve a win at UT Martin.
- 33 points and 12 rebounds in a road win at SIU Edwardsville.
- Scored 30 points in a massive road win against Jacksonville State.
- Scored 1,000th career point as part of a 25-point, 12-rebound effort to avenge an earlier loss to Eastern Illinois.
- His 42 points at Morehead State were the most by an OVC player in 2018-19 and most by a Gov since 2008, making him one of only 21 players in program history with a 40-point game. He also posted a career-high 18 rebounds against the Eagles.
- Equaled his career-high with 15 made field goals in a 37-point, 15-rebound effort at Eastern Kentucky.
Entering the OVC Tournament, Taylor is clearly one of the league’s preeminent talents; once again, he leads the league in offensive rebounds per game at 3.4 and ranks third in rebounding (8.8 rpg), fourth in scoring (20.6 ppg), fifth in defensive rebounds (5.4 drpg), fifth in minutes (33.0 mpg), eighth in field goal percentage (53.6 percent) and tied for 10th in blocks (0.8 bpg).
Porter-Bunton has been a pivotal piece for Austin Peay since his redshirt freshman campaign in 2015-16 ended in an OVC Tournament title, and his final season has been different only in that he has become a more featured part of the offense, averaging career-highs in points (13.0 ppg), free-throw shooting (70.2 percent), minutes (26.7) and rebounding (4.9 rpg).
Once the quintessential glue guy, Porter-Bunton stepped up his statistical production with no drop-off to his harder-to-quantify duties as leader and on-court energy boost. With career highs in field goal and free-throw attempts, and three attempts short of his career-high in attempts from three, he’s managed to eclipse his career percentages in all three categories, including a 40.5 percent mark from three which ranks fourth in the league.
From a 12-point performance in just 14 opening-night minutes against Oakland City, it was clear something was different for the Bowling Green native. He closed Austin Peay’s seemingly endless early-season road trip with back-to-back-to-back 16-point games, including 16 and a career-best 15 rebounds against Troy.
OVC play is where Porter-Bunton’s season took off. In league play, he has averaged 14.2 points on an absurd 42.1 percent shooting from three, hauling in 1.6 steals to help the Govs out on the defensive end as well.
His performance in the rematch against Morehead State—during Taylor’s 42-point outburst—is vintage Porter-Bunton. He hit five threes and scored 19 points against the Eagles, sinking the go-ahead bucket with 18 seconds to play and then took a pivotal charge on the other end to help the Govs secure the victory.
Entering the OVC Tournament, Porter-Bunton sits at 983 career points, needing just 17 to become the 37th member of Austin Peay’s 1,000-point club.
Taylor, Porter-Bunton and the rest of the Govs resume the march for an OVC title 7:00pm, Thursday, March 7th at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana as part of the OVC Tournament quarterfinal round against the victor between Morehead State and SIU Edwardsville.
