Govs veto Indians' rally

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Austin Peay has built a reputation over the past two seasons as arguably the Ohio Valley Conference's most clutch basketball team, winning one close game after another.

The Governors' latest narrow conquest came at the expense of Southeast Missouri State University as they held on for a 54-52 victory in front of 3,679 fans at the Dunn Center Saturday afternoon.

Austin Peay's 10th consecutive triumph over Southeast kept the Govs' OVC record spotless at 7-0. Austin Peay, the defending OVC regular-season co-champion, is 10-7 overall after winning its 13th straight conference game.

"We were lucky today," Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. "The ball has been bouncing our way."

The ball has certainly not been bouncing the Indians' way recently. Southeast (9-8, 2-4) has suffered its four conference losses by a total of nine points, including a four-point defeat against Austin Peay on Jan. 8 in Cape Girardeau.

"It's very frustrating," junior forward Dainmon Gonner said. "We're so close. Hopefully we'll start winning some of these games."

Junior guard Derek Winans almost handed Southeast its first win at Austin Peay since 1998 as his shot from about 30 feet rimmed out at the buzzer.

"From where I was sitting, I thought Winans' shot was going in," Loos said.

So did Winans.

"It looked good when I let it go, but it was just a little bit off," he said. "That's the way it's been going for us lately. We just come up a couple of points short. We're right there. We just have to get over the hump."

Making up ground

Southeast trailed 51-40 with just under six minutes remaining but used 3-pointers by Winans, junior guard Mike Nelke and junior guard Brett Hale to close within 53-49.

Senior center Brandon Griffin hit one of two free throws with 2:02 left, making it 53-50. Hale's 15-footer with 32 seconds remaining narrowed the deficit to 53-52.

After Austin Peay senior guard Corey Gipson made one of two foul shots with 26 seconds left, the Indians had the ball with a chance to either tie or win.

The Indians called a timeout with 19 seconds left and tried to set Winans up for a final shot. But Austin Peay's tight defense pushed Southeast away from the basket as the Indians had trouble getting into their offense.

Winans wound up with the ball about 30 feet out as the clock ticked down, and he was forced to attempt a much longer shot than he wanted. It still almost went in.

"They played it well and forced us away from the basket," Winans said. "I knew I had to let it go in a hurry."

Said Southeast coach Gary Garner, "We wanted to get Derek a shot to either win or tie. They pushed us out away from the basket, but the shot still almost went in."

Griffin led the Indians with 16 points as he hit seven of nine shots. He also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Hale was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer with 14 points off the bench, including nine in the second half. He hit five of nine shots and made two of three 3-pointers.

Winans, Southeast's leading scorer on the season with an average of 14.2 points per game, had just seven points, all in the second half, as he was hounded by Austin Peay senior guard Rhet Wierzba.

Senior forward Adrian Henning paced the Govs with 16 points. Junior guard Anthony Davis added 13 points and Gipson, a former standout at Scott County Central and Richland high schools, contributed nine.

"SEMO has a real good team and they really had a good game plan," Gipson said. "We were lucky that last shot rimmed out. It looked like it might go in."

The game went just about exactly as Garner thought it would as the teams engaged in a defense-dominated, low-scoring affair for the second time this season. Austin Peay won the previous meeting 52-48.

"I knew it would be low scoring. Austin Peay plays every game that way," Garner said. "I thought we had our best defensive game of the year."

Southeast led most of the first half, including by seven points twice, and the Indians carried a 28-27 advantage into the break.

Austin Peay scored the first seven points of the second half to go ahead 34-28, and the Govs never relinquished the lead.

When Henning's basket with 5:43 remaining put the Govs up 51-40, it looked like they might cruise to victory. But the Indians closed with a 12-3 run before falling just short.

"It's frustrating because we're so close," Garner said. "We just have to keep our heads up."