No. 8 Austin Peay knocks out Tennessee Tech

Sean Hastings, Sports Editor

NASHVILLE- The Austin Peay men’s basketball team barely got into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament as the No. 8 seed, but that did not matter come Wednesday night when the final buzzer sounded, ending No. 5 seed’s Tennessee Tech’s season.

That night, the Governors defeated the Golden Eagles 92-72 in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in the first round of the tournament.

Austin Peay will go on to play Tennessee State in the second round of the OVC tournament. Tennessee State received a first-round bye and is playing as the No. 4 seed.

Chris Horton was the story of the game for the Governors as he dominated Tennessee Tech’s defense scoring 37 points. Horton had 16 rebounds halfway through the second half. He finished the game with an astounding 21 rebounds.

Not only was Horton just making shots, but he also threw down multiple dunks and alley-oops.

He missed just three shots the entire game from the field. He was 11-18 from the free throw line.

The next highest scorer for the Governors was Chris Porter-Bunt with 12 points. Porter-Bunt was the leading assist man for Austin Peay.

The Governors led by just 12 points at the end of the first half, but jumped out to a 20 point lead in the first few minutes of the second half. Austin Peay continued to dominate the Golden Eagles, who never came close to getting back into the game.

Tennessee Tech got the game within 10 points in the first 1:15 of the second half, but a big dunk by Horton sent the Governors on a scoring frenzy expanding the lead to 15 points 2:08 into the second half and the lead grew from there.

Austin Peay led by as much as 26 points in the game. At that point, the Golden Eagles started to foul the Governors sending them to the free throw line each possession.

Tennessee Tech finished the season 11-6, and ended it in what could be called upsetting fashion. The Golden Eagles were a five-point favorite coming into the game.

Torrance Rowe was the leading scorer for the Golden Eagles scoring 18 points.

Austin Peay will take on Tennessee State at 6 p.m. Thursday night.

 

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]