CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — (CLARKSVILLE) Career victory No. 500 certainly didn’t go exactly how Austin Peay State University head men’s basketball coach Dave Loos drew it up, but he’ll gladly take it all the same.

After trailing by as many as 19 points in the first half, Loos’ Governors staged a furious second-half rally to post an 85-80 victory to remain alive in the Ohio Valley Conference race and secure a hallowed milestone for the longtime head of the program.

The Governors could not get going in the first half, going down by double digits before the first media timeout and hitting rock-bottom to trail by 19 points at the 8:47 mark. John Murry then provided the first spark for the Govs, scoring a dozen points over the final 6:36 of the first half to drag the Govs within 10 points, 43-33, at the break.

The Govs would need less than 10 minutes to erase the entire deficit in the second half, with Josh Robinson erasing a 1-for-6 start with a seven-point outburst that took the Govs to within four points. Jared Savage capped the comeback with a jumper-steal-putback dunk sequence to give the Governors a lead they would never relinquish.

The latter stages of the game were not without drama in their own right. After stretching the lead to double-digits with 5:10 to go, a 14-6 run would get the Panthers within a bucket at the 1:53 mark, but that would be as close as Eastern Illinois could get as the Govs—who shot 65.6 percent from the free-throw line for the game—hit 8-of-11 to close out the contest.

The night belonged to Loos, who became the 97th head coach in Division I history to amass 500 career wins. Research pegs him as the fourth coach with OVC ties, joining Cal Luther (500, UT Martin and Murray State), Gene Keady (531 after starting his career at Western Kentucky during their OVC days) and Belmont’s Rick Byrd.

On win No. 500, “I’m thankful. I told our players that there are a lot of people who contributed to the amount of wins—players, fans. I saw people tonight who have probably been here for all of the home wins. It’s rewarding, but it’s a team effort, because you’re only as good as your players, coaches and fans.”

Austin Peay closes out the home schedule Saturday night with a 6:30 p.m. contest against SIU Edwardsville on Senior Night in the Dunn Center.