Govs jump on Indians, hold on 52-48

The way Southeast Missouri State University's Indians started out Thursday night, it's remarkable they even had a chance to win their Ohio Valley Conference opener.

But the Indians could never quite make up for a nightmarish beginning as Austin Peay held on for a 52-48 victory in front of 3,961 fans at the Show Me Center.

The defending OVC champion Governors improved to 2-0 in conference play as they won the second of five consecutive road games to start the league season. Austin Peay is 5-7 overall. The Indians fell to 7-5.

"We started off real slow, got in a big hole and had to play catchup," Southeast senior center Brandon Griffin said.

Austin Peay scored the game's first eight points, led 16-3 10 minutes into the contest and was up 22-7 with six minutes left before halftime. The Indians made things dramatic at the end but never could catch up.

"We had a horrible start to the game," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "We played very cautious offensively, very soft. It was almost like we started the game not to lose.

"We didn't execute offensively. Some of that you have to give to Austin Peay because they're a very good defensive team, but we played very poorly offensively."

The Indians clawed back to within 29-20 at halftime, quickly fell back behind by 15 points early in the second half and then finally got going a bit offensively to make a furious comeback.

A 3-pointer by junior guard Derek Winans with 6:23 remaining pulled Southeast to within 45-38 -- the closest they had been since the game's opening moments.

Griffin's three-point play made it 47-41 and Griffin's follow shot with 4:04 left cut Austin Peay's lead to 47-43.

When junior forward Dainmon Gonner scored with 3:05 remaining, the Indians were within 47-45.

Austin Peay went back up 50-45, but freshman guard Terrick Willoughby nailed a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left, making it 50-48.

After Austin Peay's Rhet Wierzba missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 38 seconds left, the Indians were poised to either tie or take the lead. But Gonner forced up an ill-advised 3-pointer against tight defense with 21 seconds left.

"We made some bad decisions down the stretch," Garner said.

With 16 seconds left, Govs senior center Josh Lewis hit two free throws to effectively ice the victory.

Griffin led the Indians with 17 points and six rebounds. Winans scored 13 points as he became the 18th player in Southeast men's basketball history to score at least 1,000 career points. He has 1,007. Gonner added 12 points but hit just three of 12 shots.

"It's very disappointing," Winans said of the loss. "We got off to a slow start, gave it a good effort but couldn't come back."

Zac Schlader, a sophomore reserve center, led the Govs with 12 points. He came into the game averaging 4.5 points and 13.5 minutes but played 26 minutes largely because of foul trouble to Lewis.

"The opportunity arose and I happened to step up," Schlader said.

Lewis added 10 points and 11 rebounds. The OVC's leading shot-blocker was credited with two rejections but appeared to have several more.

Of Austin Peay's early substantial lead, Lewis said, "That was really big, cause without that lead we might have been in trouble in the second half."

Sophomore guard Maurice Hampton, making just his second start of the season, also lifted the Govs with nine points as he made all three of his 3-point attempts. Austin Peay leading scorers Adrian Henning and Anthony Davis combined for just 12 points; they entered the contest averaging nearly 27 between them.

Southeast shot 30.8 percent (16 of 52) while Austin Peay shot 35.7 percent (20 of 56).

"It was the kind of game I thought it would be," Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said, referring to a defensive struggle. "The start really helped us."

The Indians host Tennessee Tech Saturday night.