Excellent outings from Jones, Murray not enough for Govs to overcome TTU

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — (CLARKSVILLENOW) Despite 21 points from Kenny Jones and John Murry, a late drought cost Austin Peay State University in a 76-67 decision in their Ohio Valley Conference road-opening loss at Tennessee Tech, Thursday.

On an odd night for the Governor faithful—the first in 27 years without Dave Loos on the sideline—both Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech came out flat in the first half, with each squad struggling to make shots through the first 12 minutes. Although the Golden Eagle lead would reach nine near the half’s midway point, Austin Peay would get it to within a bucket at the break thanks largely to Murry, who scored 15 first-half points.

The Governors came firing out of the halftime break to build a 12-point lead at the 14:37 mark, but chipped away at the lead thanks largely to Aleksa Jugovic, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half and hit three-pointers on back-to-back trips midway through the period to tie the game and subsequently take the lead in the midst of a 24-7 run.

The Golden Eagles would go up by seven with 5:31 to go on another Jugovic three-pointer, but a quick 10-4 run by the Govs would get Austin Peay back within a point after Jared Savage sank a pair of free-throws with 2:29 to go. However, on the next Tennessee Tech possession, Stephaun Adams would knock down his only three of the game to give the Golden Eagles a four-point lead—the Governors would not get within a bucket for the game’s remainder.

With Dave Loos on a leave of absence while he continues chemotherapy, it marked the first time since March 7, 1990 that someone other than Loos acted as head coach for the Governors, with assistant head coach Jay Bowen filling the role. Best wishes to Coach Dave Loos and @AustinPeayMBB as he takes a leave of absence to focus on his health. Keep fighting strong, coach!

As a team, the Governors hit 18-for-20 from the free-throw line, the second time this season they’ve reached 90 percent as a team from the stripe. The Govs are now hitting 74.3 percent from the free-throw line in defeats this season.

The second leg of this road trip takes Austin Peay to Jacksonville, Ala., to take on a resurgent Jacksonville State squad that is 9-8 (2-1 OVC) under first-year head coach Ray Harper.