CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -It only seems appropriate Austin Peay and Murray State will be battling for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, in Dave Aaron Arena.
Since 1987 one or both teams have appeared in the OVC tournament title game. Since the turn of the century, the Govs have won four regular-season OVC titles while Murray State has won two, including last season. In other words the two programs have appeared in a multitude of intense ball match ups, some surrounded by controversy.
The second 2009-10 contest ended on a three-pointer replays later showed occurred after the buzzer. In the first game of 2010-11, controversy rose over an elbow thrown with 1:50 left that was called intentional and it fouled out Racer guard Isacc Miles. The Governors, who led by as much as 15 second-half points, were forced to hang on as B.J. Jenkins missed a potential game-winning three-point attempt at the buzzer. The loss snapped Murray State's 25-game home winning streak.
As a result, the Racers will elbow their way into the Dunn Center, Saturday, with a collective chip on their shoulders in hopes of returning the favor-handing the Govs a home loss and regaining first place.
Up until last Saturday's win against UT Martin, Murray State had not had a player score 20 or more points. Now they have had players do the trick in consecutive games. Isaiah Canaan scored 24 points against the Skyhawks while on Thursday, forward Ed Daniel had 21 points at Tennessee State as the Racers prevailed on the road, 74-65.
Meanwhile, the Governors are coming off an impressive 82-53 home victory against UT Martin, especially impressive after the Governors suffered through a disappointing performance at Morehead State last Saturday in a 69-56 defeat.
The Governors watched UT Martin score the game's first two points and then scored 17 of the next 18 themselves. The game, for all purposes, was over at halftime.
OVC scoring leader TyShwan Edmondson, who struggled to a pair of single-digit performances in Death Valley last weekend, had 14 at halftime and finished with a team-best 16 points.
Center John Fraley continued his recent upturn with 14 points on 6-of-7 seven shooting. Meanwhile, reserve forward Will Triggs continue his emergence, also going 6-of-7 from the floor for 12 points. He tied Fraley for the rebounding lead with seven.
-AP-
