GOVS CASH IN ON LATE SE MISTAKES

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- For more than 39 minutes Tuesday night, Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team did just about everything right in its attempt to earn a berth in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

But after playing so well for most of the way, a shaky final 55 seconds of regulation helped Austin Peay force overtime and the fourth-seeded Governors went on to hand the fifth-seeded Indians a crushing 72-70 defeat in a first-round OVC tourney game played in front of 3,372 fans at the Dunn Center.

So a Southeast season that started with high expectations, hit some major roadblocks in the middle and built up to five straight wins to close out the regular campaign, winds up at 18-12.

Austin Peay, which won all three meetings with Southeast this year, advances to Friday's tournament semifinals in Nashville, Tenn., where the Govs will play top-seeded and regular-season champion Tennessee Tech.

"For 39 minutes, our players executed so well," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "It should have never gone to overtime."

In the final 55 seconds of regulation, the Indians missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation and had two turnovers as they saw a 61-57 lead evaporate into a 61-61 tie at the end of regulation.

"We played 39 minutes of great basketball. We controlled the game," said Garner, shaking his head. "We had those two turnovers in the last minute and one was really unforced where the ball went through our hands.

"We knew it was going to come down to this (the end of the game). We had been handling the press extremely well...you can talk about all the other things we did, but in a tight game, those two turnovers really killed us."

In the five-minute extra session, the Indians did most things right again. But this time, they had no answer for Nick Stapleton, the Govs' explosive senior guard.

After the lead changed hands in overtime, Southeast center Nyah Jones hit two free throws with 55 seconds left for a 68-68 tie.

Stapleton made a tough 15-footer under pressure with 35 seconds left to put Austin Peay up 70-68, but Southeast point guard Michael Stokes hit two foul shots eight seconds later to forge a 70-70 deadlock.

After an Austin Peay timeout, Stapleton dribbled out most of the clock, drove to the left of the basket and leaped high for a 15-footer under extreme pressure. The shot hit nothing but net with 3.2 seconds remaining.

"I just felt good," said Stapleton. "On the last play, either me or Trent (Austin Peay star Trenton Hassell) were going to take it. SEMO has a great defensive team and they made it tough on me."

Southeast never could get off a final shot as Austin Peay was able to knock the ball away from freshman guard Joel Shelton near mid-court just before the buzzer sounded.

"I really felt like we were going to win it in overtime," Garner said. "Stapleton just made some great shots. He's the most difficult perimeter player in the league to guard. He just went one-on-one and made some great plays."

Stapleton scored 19 points while Hassell -- named earlier in the day as the OVC Player of the Year -- led the Govs with 20, but he hit just five of 21 shots from the field, thanks largely to the sticky defense of Antonio Short.

Joe Williams added 15 points for Austin Peay.

Southeast got 17 points from Stokes, who concluded a brilliant two-year career with the Indians. Emmanuel McCuthison added 12 points and Jones had 11.

The Indians also got a big lift from Shelton, a freshman backup guard who had not even dressed for the last two games because of the flu. Shelton scored eight points and handled Austin Peay's pressure extremely well.

"They had a terrific game plan and I really feel fortunate because SEMO did so many things well," said Austin Peay coach Dave Loos. "I can't say enough about the way we battled back. Even when we were battling back and things weren't always going our way, we didn't quit.

"I mean this as a compliment. To beat a team coached by Gary Garner three times in one year is fabulous."

Besides the two turnovers in the final minute of regulation, Garner pointed to second-chance baskets as a key to the loss. The Govs had 21 offensive rebounds to five for the Indians.

"Second-chance points really hurt us," said Garner. "They only shot 38 percent (compared to 56 percent for Southeast), but they killed us on the offensive boards. That's kind of been our Achilles' heel all year.

"We outplayed them in every area except the second-chance points."

Southeast played a nearly flawless first half, particularly after falling behind 15-9 as Austin Peay climbed out of an early 5-0 deficit.

The Indians, shooting 65 percent from the field in the opening half, scored 26 of the final 34 points of the period to lead 35-23 at the break.

Austin Peay pulled to within seven early in the second half, but when Stokes buried a 3-pointer with 12:09 left, the Indians had their biggest advantage of the night at 44-31.

There was no way, however, the Indians would blow the Govs out on their home court.

Austin Peay stormed back and Matt Jakeway's 3-pointer that bounced all over the rim before falling through made it 57-53 with 4:09 remaining.

The teams traded baskets, leaving the Indians with a 61-57 lead as the clock ticked under a minute to play.

That's when things unraveled a bit for the Indians. First, McCuthison missed the front end of a one-and-one with 55 seconds left. And to compound matters, Jones fouled Williams on the rebound.

Williams made one of two free throws, then Drew DeMond was stripped in the backcourt, which led to Adrian Henning making one of two free throws with 50 seconds left as Austin Peay pulled to within 61-59.

With 34 seconds left, Stokes was unable to handle a pass from DeMond in the frontcourt as the ball rolled out of bounds.

Stapleton had his shot blocked, but Hassell put in the air ball in one motion for a 61-61 tie with 25 seconds left. It was on to overtime after McCuthison was way off on a tough shot from just inside the free-throw line in the closing seconds.

McCuthison's 3-pointer at the start of the extra period gave Southeast a 64-61 lead and the Indians led 66-63 on a McCuthison basket with 2:57 left.

Austin Peay came back with five straight points to go ahead and set the stage for the back-and-forth finish during which Stapleton had the last word.

The Indians finished the game with a relatively low total of 14 turnovers -- but two in particular will haunt the Tribe for a while.