CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — (ESPN CLARKSVILLE) Thanks to dynamite post performances from senior Averyl Ugba and freshman Terry Taylor, Austin Peay State University men’s basketball opened its Ohio Valley Conference schedule with a dominant 78-58 win against SIU Edwardsville, Thursday, in the Dunn Center.
The victory gives Austin Peay (6-7, 1-0 OVC) a win in the league opener for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign, while SIUE (4-8, 0-1) missed the presence of Jalen Henry, the league’s sixth-leading scorer, who missed the game with a lower-body injury.
Although the two teams traded buckets and stops early on, Austin Peay’s inside presence paved the way for a first-half ending 28-9 run that changed the course of the contest. Ugba scored 13 of his 15 first-half points during this stretch, opening the game-changing run with eight straight points. Taylor, his low-post counterpart, started the game with a pair of threes and scored 14 points in the first half to help the Govs take a commanding 42-26 lead into halftime.
Another huge Austin Peay run—this one of the 23-8 variety—took a 14-point lead and more than doubled it to 29 points with five minutes to go in the second half. Seven different Governors scored during the run, with Ugba (six points) yet again leading the charge as the Govs made a statement to open league play.
“This is the second game in a row we didn’t start well, and I addressed it with the guys at the first media timeout. I told them we’ve got to do what we do, and we’ve got to run the things that we’ve designed for them to run properly, not just go through the motions of doing them, but executing them properly. And for the most part, from that moment on, I thought our execution was really good,” said APSU Men’s Head Coach Matt Figger.
Now at the midway point of a six-game homestand, the Govs look to guarantee a .500 record during this stint at the Dunn Center—and secure not only a winning record in December for the first time since 2010-11, but a 2-0 start to OVC play for the first time since 2013-14—when they host Eastern Illinois, 7 p.m., Saturday.