EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -Shooting 61.3 percent in the second half, Austin Peay State University pulled away from Southern Illinois Edwardsville to capture an 80-67 Ohio Valley Conference victory, Thursday night, at the Vadalabene Center.

The victory was the Govs' fourth straight and improved them to 4-3 in OVC play, 7-13 overall. It was the Govs' first OVC road win.

SIUE, meanwhile, slips to 3-4 in the OVC and 5-11 overall. This was the first meeting between the OVC newcomer Cougars and the Governors.

The Govs utilized a balanced attack to move above the .500 mark in the OVC. However, it again was the inside senior duo of Melvin Baker and John Fraley who came up big in the final half. Both scored 10 second-half points as they combined for 10-of-11 shooting and 13 rebounds. The Govs overall were 19 of 31 in the final half.

Leading by one point, 37-36, at halftime, the Governors emerged from the intermission scoring the first eight points and eventually built an 11-point lead. But SIUE cut it to six points, 60-54, when Fraley tossed down a dunk. Baker followed with a tip in, but the Cougars were able to slice their deficit to four, 66-62, after a Mark Yelkovich jumper off the glass.

But Melvin Baker hit three straight jumpers while SIUE could answer with just one field goal and a free throw as the Govs held a 72-65 advantage with 2:36 left.  SIUE could not get closer than five points the game's remainder as another senior, Josh Terry, hit back-to-back layups, the second after a steal, to put the game away, 76-67, with 56 seconds left.

Baker led the Govs with 19 points, finishing the contest 9-of-13 from the floor. Terry added 14 points, four assists and four steals. Fraley tallied his season's third double-double with 13 points, going 6-of-7 from the floor, and 15 rebounds to go with three blocks.

Point guard Jerome Clyburn, playing his best game in over a month, ended with 12 points and a career-best seven assists. Clyburn helped spur the Govs second-half momentum with back-to-back driving layups.

The Govs finished the night 35-of-64 (54.7 percent) from the floor and outrebound the Cougars by a 26-27 margin, limiting the home team to just nine second-half caroms.

Yelovich, who made 9-of-13 shots, led all scorers with 20 points while Jerome Jones and Wickware each had 12.

-AP-