MURRAY, KY. — (ESPN CLARKSVILLE) Alright. Next. That’s the attitude Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team has to adopt following a 94-83 loss to Murray State in the regular season finale. It wasn’t the ending to the regular season anyone in red was hoping for. But the next season starts now.

Austin Peay (21-10, 13-5 Ohio Valley Conference) may have concluded an otherwise-stellar regular season on a lower-than-hoped-for-note, but the Govs have five days to prepare for next week’s OVC Tournament in Evansville. And they’ll take away plenty of learning experiences from this contest into a series of big games next week.

For the first time since the Troy game in late November, the Govs had a lineup change; Antwuan Butler and Jabari McGhee entered the lineup, while Steve Harris and Jarrett Givens joined the second unit. This switch seemed to provide a spark for Harris, who scored 16 points in the first half alone.

The Govs would build their lead to eight points in the first half, helped by threes from Isaiah Hart and Terry Taylor. Marked by Brion Sanchious, Murray State’s (25-4, 16-2) ace post defender, Taylor rendered the situation moot by taking Sanchious out to the perimeter and hitting four threes in the first half.

On home court, it would’ve been surprising if the Racers didn’t rally, and rally they did. During one particularly up-and-down stretch, the Racers tied the game on a Devin Gilmore lay-up at the 8:03 mark, only to have Zach Glotta answer with a jumper, followed by a Sanchious lay-up, answered by a Harris jumper, over 1:01 of playing time. Another Gilmore lay-up at the 3:37 mark tied it up again, but the Govs closed on a 7-3 run, with Taylor hitting another moonball three and Harris punctuating the half with a layup to make it 46-42 Govs at the break.

An Isaiah Hart lay-up at the 18:32 mark gave the Govs a six-point lead early in the second, but 10-2 Racer run put the hosts up a bucket. By the 9:50 mark, the Racers were in the bonus and Porter-Bunton, Harris and Butler were in various states of foul trouble. It was emblematic of the contest at large, as Murray State shot 25 free-throws, compared to just eight for the Govs.

A 7-2 Austin Peay run cut a deficit that had reached eight points down to three with just under three minutes to play. However, the Govs could get only two of their final five shots to go down, while Murray hit all three shots from the floor and six free throws over the final 2:31 of the contest.