RICHMOND, Ky.. ? It was a Field(s) Day for Austin Peay State University's basketball team, Thursday night, and, as a result, the Governors own outright the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.
Sophomore forward Ernest Fields, making his first start in the place of the suspended Drake Reed, scored 16 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead Austin Peay to a 65-59 win in McBrayer Arena.
The victory improved the Governors to 20-10 overall and 15-4 in the OVC while Eastern Kentucky slips to 14-14 overall and 10-9 in the OVC.
As the Govs were finishing off their second straight regular-season OVC championship, they were not aware it was already theirs as Tennessee Tech defeated Murray State, eliminating the Racers for a chance to finish in a first-place.
The reason the short-handed Govs won this night rested squarely with Fields, who had 10 second-half rebounds and nine points to help elevate the Govs. The Memphis sophomore was playing in place of Reed, the junior forward who was suspended for the game after receiving two technical fouls against Tennessee State last week.
Fields helped ignite APSU's rally from a 51-48 deficit with 7:51 left. After Fernandez Lockett hit a pair of free throws to make it a 51-50 game, Fields blocked Darnell Dialls shot. Another Lockett free throw tied it before APSU took the lead on a driving layup by Derek Wright.
Then on the defensive end Fields grabbed the rebound on an EKU miss and did the same on the offensive end, grabbing the rebound of a Wright miss and dropping it in to give APSU a four-point advantage.
One possession later, Wes Channels, Fields' teammate at Memphis Ridgeway, made it a seven-point game by knocking down a three pointer. EKU would never get closer than four points the game's remainder.
In addition to Fields, Wright and Todd Babington were the Governors other double-figure scorers. Wright finished with 14 points, six assists and three steals. All 12 Babington points came on four three pointers.
Fernandez Lockett finished with nine points and nine rebounds while playing 40 minutes.
EKU's Mike Rose led all scorers with 19 points, 16 coming in the first half. Adam Leonard added 11 while Josh Taylor tallied 10.
-AP-
