MARTIN, Tenn.—Ajani Kennedy hit a three-pointer as time expired to stun Austin Peay State University men's basketball team and give UT Martin a 76-75 victory Thursday night from the Elam Center.
The Govs fall to 11-8 overall, and 7-6 in the league, while UT Martin improves to 7-11 (5-9).
The beginning was mildly concerning, in that it took more than three minutes for the Govs to get a shot from the floor to drop. The good news is that UT Martin wasn't doing much offensively either; the two teams missed 17 of their first 24 shots as they struggled to find the range.
Sometimes you don't have it for stretches of play; perhaps the Governors fourth game in seven days caught up to them. The absence of Reginald Gee and Alec Woodard, both for precautionary reasons not related to COVID-19, couldn't have helped as it shortened the bench. Whatever it was, the Governors didn't get shots to fall and they didn't stop the Skyhawks on the other end for stretches of the opening 20 minutes. Add it all together, sprinkle in a very good defensive effort by UT Martin against Terry Taylor over the opening 20 minutes and you have the Govs entering the locker room trailing 43-31.
And then the second half started. One 22-6 Austin Peay run later, the Govs were in front.
As difficult as the first half was for Austin Peay, the start of the second half was the opposite. Bounces went the Governors way, and those bounces became points. Taylor started splitting double teams. Jordyn Adams sank a pair of threes to kickstart the effort. It was all coming up Austin Peay, and would be that way for the half's first 10 minutes as the Govs built an eight-point lead at the 9:13 mark.
Even as the Skyhawks began to flash some of their first-half success, the Governors seemed to have a counter every time UT Martin began to string anything together. A 5-0 run was ended by a Tai'Reon Joseph jumper. When a Kennedy jumper cut the Austin Peay lead to two with 2:37 to play, it was Joseph who answered at the other end with a three. Five-point lead for the Govs, 1:53 left.
Credit Kennedy for his part in the late UT Martin heroics; the junior tossed the Skyhawks on his back, draining the game-tying three with just over a minute remaining after a pair of Eman Sertovic free-throws cut the Governor lead to three at the 1:22 mark. And after Taylor hit a pair of free-throws with 14 seconds left to put the Govs back up two, it was Kennedy's whose number was called again; on the inbounds underneath the Skyhawk basket following an out-of-bounds ball with 2.3 to play, the ball was lobbed to Cameron Holden who turned in the air and kicked to Kennedy; he stepped back from the top of the key and sank a three as the clock expired to stun the Govs and bring heartbreak to the end of this road trip.
The Difference
Unexpectedly, three-point shooting was the difference, and not in Austin Peay's favor. The Govs, who entered play over 40 percent as a team over their last eight and knocking down 8.9 per night. The Skyhawks were averaging fewer than seven threes per game and hitting just 33.6 percent for the season from deep. But UT Martin got 11 threes to drop at a 47.8 percent clip against the Governors, and Austin Peay's shooting fell off to a 5-for-22 mark for the evening.
Notably
- The loss snaps a six-game winning streak for the Govs against UT Martin and is the first to the Skyhawks during Figger's tenure.
- The Govs have forced double-digit turnover numbers out of their last 23 opponents dating back to last season.
- Elton Walker hit his first three-pointer since the Dec. 4 outing against Carver; he finished with 11 points, his first double-digit outing since Jan. 2.
- The Govs were plus-17 in Mike Peake's 15 minutes of action.
- Joseph was outstanding in his first start since Jan. 2, reaching double figures for the first time since the Dec. 21 outing against Murray State.
- Austin Peay's 23 second-chance points were a season-high.
- Milestone Watch—Career: Taylor became the first player in Austin Peay history with 900 career made field goals. He also passed Nick Stapleton (1998-02) and Bubba Wells (1993-97) for second all-time in shot attempts (1,671). He also passed Josh Robinson (2014-17) for seventh all-time in made free-throws (375) and passed both Wes Channels (2006-10) and Will Triggs (2010-14) to settle into fifth all-time in free-throw attempts (521).
- Milestone Watch—OVC: Taylor passed Nick Mayo (Eastern Kentucky, 2015-19) for fifth in OVC history with 2,330 career points.
They Said It
Up Next for the Govs
For the first time since 2011, the Govs will play the same opponent in back-to-back games when UT Martin makes the return trip to the Dunn Center Thursday, Feb. 11; tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
