CLARKSVILLE—Austin Peay will continue its search for offensive consistency when it plays host to Ohio Valley Conference surprise UT Martin, 7:30 p.m., Thursday in Dave Aaron Arena.
The third game of a five-game homestand, the Governors are seeking to snap a two-game losing streak. APSU is coming off a pair of weekend losses to Morehead State and Southeast Missouri, the latest Saturday by 70-64. It dropped to 2-6 in OVC play and 7-15 overall.
The contest was 10th in the last 11 games where the Govs have scored fewer than 70 points. In both weekend losses, they shot less than 40 percent from the floor (22 of 58/37.9 percent against SEMO). The Govs now have shot less than 40 percent 14 times this season.
The Govs struggles have occurred despite one of the best stretches by a Gov in recent history. Junior center Chris Horton has rolled off five straight double-doubles—he scored 23 points in each of APSU's weekend losses. He has also grabbed a career-best 18 rebounds in the loss against Southeast Missouri, despite not grabbing his first rebound until 9:50 was left in the first half. Horton had 11 offensive rebounds in the contest.
If Eastern Illinois is the surprise team in the OVC this season at 7-3 and second place in the OVC West, then UT Martin is not far behind in catching experts off guard in 2014-15. The Skyhawks were picked to finish sixth in the OVC West and find themselves in third place at 5-3 in the OVC and 13-8 overall.
New coach Heath Schroyer, the former Wyoming coach who was an assistant at UNLV a year ago, brought along guard Deville Smith, who is averaging 14.7 points and 4.4 assists per game as perhaps the OVC's top newcomer. In addition, the Skyhawks also Twymond Howard, the former UTEP forward, who is averaging 13.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Guard Marshun Newell is one of the returnees who has flourished in 2014-15. He is averaging 12.5 points, shooting 41 percent from three-point range, along with 6.2 rebounds per outing.
UTM will look to bounce back after a 65-62 loss at OVC leader Murray State last Saturday. In the contest, UT Martin rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to tie the game with 5:00 remaining. However, the Racers scored five of the final seven points in the final minute to hold on for the win.
-AP-
