Indians flounder in finale at AP

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- As the lone Austin Peay senior, Nick Stapleton was the only player honored in pre-game ceremonies Saturday night as the Governors had their final regular-season home game.

Stapleton then went out and helped make sure the Govs would get to play one more contest at Dave Aaron Arena.

Stapleton, the nation's 13th-leading scorer, got off to a strong start Saturday and the rest of the Govs followed along as Austin Peay crushed Southeast Missouri State University 80-47 in the regular-season finale for both squads.

With their 21st loss of the season, the Indians tied the program's all-time record for most defeats, matching the 1975-76 squad that went 5-21.

Coupled with an Eastern Illinois loss Saturday, the Govs (13-17, 8-8) slipped into fourth place in the nine-team OVC and will host Tennessee-Martin in a first-round conference tournament game Tuesday night.

The Indians (6-21, 4-12), who lost for just the second time in their last five games, had already been locked into the No. 8 seed for the eight-team tourney. They'll play Tuesday at regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech.

Stapleton matched his season scoring average in the first half as he pumped in 22 points. The quick guard hit eight of 11 shots from the field, including four of six 3-pointers, over the opening 20 minutes as the Govs built a 44-18 halftime lead.

Govs snap a streak

Stapleton finished with 37 points as the Govs snapped a five-game losing streak. He hit 14 of 20 shots overall and six of 11 3-pointers. Austin Peay's No. 2 all-time scorer, Stapleton went over the 2,000-point mark for his brilliant career that has seen him start all four seasons.

"Stapleton is just a great player," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "He came out hot and it seemed like their whole team came out hot. We didn't have an answer and the game got away from us pretty early."

Freshman guard Anthony Davis added 17 points for the Govs, 14 coming in the opening half when he hit six of eight field-goal attempts.

Southeast was paced by Demetrius King with 14 points. No other Indian reached double figures.

With Stapleton leading the way, the Govs came out on fire. They hit their first five shots -- including two 3-pointers and a long two-pointer by Stapleton -- in building a 14-2 lead in the game's opening minutes.

Falling behind quickly

And things would only get worse for the Indians from there as they quickly fell behind 21-6, then 39-15 on their way to the 44-18 halftime deficit.

Southeast hit just seven of 27 first-half shots for 25.9 percent. About the only threat the Indians had in the opening period was freshman Brett Hale, who connected on two of three 3-pointers and scored eight points. Hale missed the previous game with an injury.

There was no suspense in the second half, particularly after the Govs scored 11 of the first 13 points to open up a 55-20 advantage. Their biggest lead of the night was 72-35 with under five minutes remaining as Southeast suffered its most lopsided setback of the year.