EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Sometimes everything just seems to go right.

For everything to go right in the game of basketball it takes some talent and preparation, but it takes a whole lot of luck. It takes luck for every bounce to go your way, it takes some luck for your opponent to just not have it that night. 

In some sports there is a concrete measuring stick for when everything goes right. In baseball it's a perfect game, a win in straight-sets in a tennis match, or a shutout in football. There is no straight forward way to say everything went right in a basketball game, because there is never going to be a perfect game or a shutout.

But sometimes you find yourself in at a point in a basketball game where everything just seems to go your way. In the Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball quarterfinals matchup between Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois, everything went right for the Govs in the first half

After winning the opening tip, the Governors missed their first shot, hey no problem – they got the offensive rebound and scored. On the Panthers first possession, First Team All-OVC point guard Josiah Wallace was called for an offensive foul and had to take a seat on the bench just 49 seconds into the game.

Then things really started to roll in the Governors direction. A pair of Terry Taylor buckets put the Govs up 6-0. Then Antwuan Butler got in on the action, hitting a fast-break layup to put the Govs up 8-0 and force an Eastern Illinois timeout.

The timeout was meant to halt the Austin Peay run. It didn't. The Panthers missed their first shot out of the break, leading to an Eli Abaev layup – 10-0. The OVC Freshman of the Year was up next, as Jordyn Adams hit a pullup jumper on one possession and then converted the old-fashioned three point play on the next – 15-0.

There is no such thing as a perfect game in basketball, but it sure seemed like it was a perfect start to the game for the Governors when a Carlos Paez steal led to a thunderous dunk from Matheus Silveira to cap off a 17-0, game-opening run.

"It was literally the best start we've ever had in a game that meant as much since I've been at Austin Peay," said head coach Matt Figger "I thought we came out and guys were really locked in and really focused, they were prepared."

Obviously Eastern Illinois was not going to go scoreless for an entire 40 minutes of basketball, but that didn't mean every was not going to go the Governors in the first 20 minutes. Nothing better illustrates how everything was going Austin Peay's way than when Figger called on freshman forward Sam DeVault.

DeVault entered the contest with a 1:14 left before the half; sixty seconds later DeVault buried a three-pointer to cap off a first half that saw everything go the Governors way as they built a 23-point advantage at the break to bury the Panthers before the second half even started.

"We were feeling like we owed them one," said Taylor. "They got us up there in Charleston, so we knew we needed to have a good start, but we also knew they were going to come out and be ready to play, because they think they have the remedy to beat us, so it was really good for us."

Obviously the first half numbers were unsustainable for an entire game. The Governors shot 60.7 percent from the floor and 60 percent from three-point range, in conjunction the Panthers shot 29 percent from the floor and went 0-of-9 from three-point range.

As expected, things reverted back towards the mean in the second half and the Panthers outscored the Govs 46-34 – but that's not the point here. Austin Peay played a near-perfect first half of basketball that saw just about everything go right for them, and because of that the Govs are set for round three with Murray State, Friday, in the OVC Tournament semifinals.