Austin Peay Beats SIUE; EIU Falls To Morehead State

Austin Peay improved to 11-16 overall and 7-10 in league play and in the process earned a spot in next week's OVC Tournament with the win. SIUE dropped to 10-20 overall and 4-13 in the OVC. The Cougars remain tied for the eighth and final tournament spot with UT Martin.

After trailing 48-36 with 7:09 to play, the Cougars got eight consecutive points from Cam Williams to pull within four at 48-44. The Cougars would continue the push and rallied for a 19-3 run in all to pull ahead of Austin Peay 55-51 after a Lamar Wright free throw with 1:41 left. Consecutive turnovers from the Cougars allowed Austin Peay to tie the score at 55 and force overtime.

"We battled like we have all year under difficult situations," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "We didn't execute some things down the stretch. Our guys just keep on fighting."

SIUE scored the first basket of overtime, but APSU scored the next eight points to lead 63-57. The Cougars eventually trimmed the scored back 64-66, but a pair of free throw from Caleb Stone-Carrawell sealed the deal for the Governors.

"We got some stops, and we got some buckets when we needed to get some buckets," Barone said. "We didn't handle their pressure at the end of the game accordingly."
Austin Peay finished the first half on a 13-2 scoring run to go up 34-20 at the break. It was 38-24 with 16:22 to play when SIUE went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead back to 38-33.

Courtney Carter led SIUE with a career-high 21 points, his first 20-point game of his career. He added five assists and seven steals.

"We're asking a lot of Courtney," Barone said. "He cares and he battles and battles. He is willing to step up."
Shamar Wright scored 12 points. Williams scored a season-best 11 points.

The Cougars connected on 42 percent (22-53) of their shots in the game, including 55 percent in the second period. After shooting just 1-12 from three-point range in the first half, the Cougars were 4-8 in the second half and overtime.

Stone-Carrawell scored a career high 24 points. He was 8-13 overall and 4-7 from three-point range. Traiq Silver scored 15 points and knocked down 4-7 from three-point land.

The Governors were 11-25 (44 percent) from three-point range for the game.

SIUE will finish the regular season with a 3:30 p.m. game Saturday against Morehead State at First Community Arena. A win would earn them a berth in the OVC Tournament.

"They're a very well-coached team and a very good team," Barone said of Morehead State. "We have to come back on Saturday and compete."

Morehead State 82, Eastern Illinois University 46

Morehead State was led by John Broome with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Jaylan Hall had 14 points and LJ Bryan 10.

Eastern was led by Dan Luers with 15 points.