NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Wrapping up road non-conference play the Austin Peay men's basketball team fell to in-state foe Vanderbilt, 71-55 inside Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

The Govs were led by the duo of redshirt freshman Caleb Stone-Carrawell and junior Cameron Copeland, who each scored in double figures and accounted for over half the Govs total points. Stone-Carrawell led the way with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field with three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block. It's the seventh game this season Stone-Carrawell has scored in double figures.

Behind Stone-Carrawell in double figures was Copeland with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field with two rebounds and one steal in 34 minutes. Off the bench, senior Corbin Merritt scored nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field with all three field goals coming from behind the three-point line. Merritt also had five rebounds in 16 minutes.

Also contributing off the bench was junior Alec Woodard with five points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field with one three-pointer. Woodard corralled four rebounds off the bench while securing one assist and one steal. Leading the way on the glass was freshman Elijah Hutchins-Everett with nine rebounds, three of which came on the offensive glass. Hutchins-Everett also had six points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field.

As a team, the Govs shot 35.8 percent from the field while going 6-of-26 from behind the three-point line. APSU was a perfect 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, shooting 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the second half. Vanderbilt outrebounded Austin Peay, 41-30 with an 18-11 advantage on the offensive glass en route to 26-second chance points for the Commodores.

It was a tough shooting start for the Govs as Vanderbilt jumped out to an 8-0 lead just four minutes into the game. Stone-Carrawell got the Govs on the board and scored four of the six points for APSU as Vanderbilt held a 17-6 advantage at the 11-minute mark. The Commodores widened their lead to double-digits midway through the first half as Vanderbilt made three straight field goals to take a 21-10 lead.

Freshman Elijah Hutchins-Everett rattled off four straight points to cut into the Vanderbilt lead, but the Commodore's offense continued to stay hot, making five of their next six field goals. Trailing 33-17 with less than four minutes remaining, senior Corbin Merritt got hot off the bench, knocking down back-to-back threes to trim the Vanderbilt lead down to 33-23.

To end the half, Vanderbilt made just one of its final seven field goals as the Govs trailed 37-23 heading into the locker room. In the first half, the Govs shot 41.7 percent from the field and was just 2-of-12 from long distance.

Starting off the second half, neither team scored a point during the first three minutes of action before Stone-Carrawell scored a wide-open lay-up off an out-of-bounds play. Stone-Carrawell scored the first five points for the Govs in the second half as APSU trailed 42-28 with 15:10 remaining. That was as close as the Govs got in the second half as Vanderbilt embarked on a 16-3 run over three minutes to widen its lead.

With eight minutes remaining the Govs embarked on an 8-0 run of its own to cut the Vanderbilt lead down to 60-42. However, the Commodore offense responded quickly with a 12-0 run to gain a 72-42 lead with 4:17 remaining.  The Govs were unable to get any closer down the stretch in a 77-51 loss inside Memorial Gymnasium.

UP NEXT
Following Saturday's contest, the Govs return home for their final non-conference match-up against Western Kentucky on Wednesday, Dec. 22.  Tip-off is set for 7 pm inside the Winfield Dunn Center.

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