CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.?Austin Peay State University suffered through a horrendous shooting first-half and could never recover as it fell to Tennessee State at home, 88-82, Saturday night in Dave Aaron Arena.

The loss dropped the Governors 14-11 overall and 10-4 in the OVC while Tennessee State improved to 8-17 overall and 6-9 in the OVC as the Tigers make a late-season run for a league tourney berth. It was Tennessee State's first win in Clarksville since Jan. 2, 1999.

Tennessee State jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first seven minutes. APSU's first points came at the free-throw line (Drake Reed) at the 14:07 mark. In fact, APSU did not score its first field goal until the 12:48 mark in the half on Reed layup. In fact, no other player than Reed scored a point until reserve center Marcel Williams hit a layup with 9:42 remaining in the half.

The Govs cut their deficit to three, 15-12, with 8:34 remaining but TSU quickly pushed it to double figures as Darius Cox and Emmanuel Gaiter help stretched the lead.  The duo hit late-half free throws to extended the lead to 12, 36-24, before the Govs went in 36-25 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Govs cut their deficit to six, 41-35, on a Williams layup bit TSU quickly pushed it back to double figures. In fact, after a Drake Reed layup made it a 50-39 contest, Tennessee State went on a 13-4 run, six by forward Jerrell Houston, that extended the lead to 20, 63-43.

TSU still led 67-47 when Austin Peay stormed back, cut it to five, 73-68, with 2:38 left. But the Govs missed opportunities to get it closer, failing to connect on some open shots and turning over the ball in another. And TSU also took advantage of blown defensive assignments as guard Gerald Robinson hit three breakaway layups while Houston had one. As a result, TSU shot a scorching 72 percent (18 of 25) in the final half.

Cox and Houston recorded double doubles, with the former scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while the latter had 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as TSU dominated the Govs on the boards, 47-36. Robinson led all TSU scorers with 25 points.

Reed led Austin Peay with 30 points and seven rebounds while Wes Channels and Caleb Brown each added 11.
The Governors finished the shooting 40.9 percent for the game, but much of that improved shooting came during their late-game run.

-AP-