NASHVILLE, Tenn. — (CLARKSVILLENOW) For the first time since 1990, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball debuted under new leadership, squaring off against Vanderbilt under the watchful eye of first-year head coach Matt Figger.

Although Austin Peay battled until the final whistle and pushed Vanderbilt to the limit, playing the Commodores within single digits for the early portion of the second half, a late Vanderbilt shooting barrage conspired to down the Govs, 73-54, at Memorial Gymnasium.

Freshman Terry Taylor got the Govs going early. The Bowling Green native, who picked up 24 points in the exhibition against Sewanee, didn’t seem to have much trouble going against SEC competition, hitting a pair of threes early on and scoring 10 first-half points. His dish to Averyl Ugba for a layup at the 10:27 mark put the Govs within a point at the halfway mark in the first half.

Unfortunately for Austin Peay, the hosts closed the half on a 23-11 run to take 41-28 lead into the break. Senior Zach Glotta beat the first-half buzzer with a jumper to cut into the deficit.

The Govs jumped out on an 11-5 run to start the second half, highlighted by a three-point play from junior Steve Harris. And although the Governors bench outscored Vanderbilt’s 15-8 in the second half, another late-half burst from the Commodores pushed the final deficit to 19.

Although the turnover numbers were comparable (17 for the Governors, 15 for Vanderbilt), the Commodores turned those Austin Peay turnovers into 18 points, whereas the Govs were only able to punish Vandy’s miscues with eight points.

“I felt like the first eight minutes of the game, we really defended. Our offensive execution wasn’t very good; if we had executed more in the first half, we might have had more opportunities. But I give Vanderbilt all the credit; they did some things to get us off-kilt,” said Figger.

“We’re a work in progress, but I can’t fault our kids effort. Defensively, we fought; we got a little tired, and I think that’s where we need to take more advantage of our depth and get guys prepared to play more minutes. That’s on us as coaches to get those guys ready to help us go win. The way we try to play, with the physicality and effort, you can’t do it with five or six guys; you need the whole team,” Figger said.

Up Next for the Govs, a challenging early slate continues with a trip to Charlottesville, as the Govs take on ACC foe Virginia on Monday.