CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – And exhale.

It took five extra minutes to decide a victor, but Austin Peay State University's basketball team claimed its sixth home win of the season in an 83-80 thriller against Atlantic Sun Conference foe North Alabama, Thursday, on Gary Mathews Court at F&M Bank Arena. 

Isaac Haney scored a career-high 24 points in his second start for the Red and White, and was followed by DeMarcus Sharp's 20 points – his third-straight and ninth overall 20-point performance – which included a game-high five points in the final period.

North Alabama (7-11, 1-3 ASUN) jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first 2:17 of Thursday's game after making four of its first five shots from the field. A three-pointer by Haney followed by a JaVar Daniel layup cut APSU's deficit to one but was answered by a five-minute stretch that the Lions held the Govs to one point and six-straight misses from the field

Austin Peay (9-10, 2-2 ASUN) answered the cold spell by making four of its next five attempts over the next four minutes, but faced a 28-16 deficit to a UNA team that was shooting over 50 percent from the floor at that time.

The 12-point UNA advantage proved to be the largest of the game by either team, as the Govs slowly began to chip away at the four-score lead.

The next five minutes were controlled by APSU, with back-to-back Haney layups sparking a 15-5 run, with the Govs making it a 33-31 ball game with 2:32 remaining following Daniel Loos' second basket of the night.

A UNA layup was answered by a split trip to the line by Haney for the final scoring by either team in the half, with UNA leading 35-32 through the opening 20 minutes.

Still another half and then some to go.

Haney led the game with 13 points at the break, connecting on five of his nine attempts from the field and splitting four and two attempts from three-point range and the charity stripe, respectively. 

The Lions extended their lead to nine in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the second half after making 6-of-7 attempts from the field – all coming within the arc, and held APSU to just 2-of-7 out the gate.

But as this team has proven so many times thus far, the defense comes up clutch when it's needed.

With another brief cold spell behind them, the Govs then held UNA to just 2-of-10 from the field to begin the comeback. 

A pair of two-pointers by Sharp and Sai Witt was followed by a Dezi Jones three-pointer to bring APSU back within three at 51-48 with 10:59 remaining in the second period. 

The two teams traded scorers and UNA led 58-53 five minutes later following a pair of free throws, but the Govs rallied to score six-straight points to take its first lead of the night.

That 6-0 run was capped off – and highlighted – by a Sharp floater just beyond the restricted area which sent the defender tripping over his feet. APSU extended its lead to five with 37 seconds remaining which was answered by a UNA layup on the subsequent possession bringing within a score. The Govs went 1-of-4 from the charity stripe over the final 23 seconds, with UNA making 3-of-4 to force overtime.

After being fouled with four-tenths of a second remaining and trailing 71-70, UNA's KJ Johnson missed the first attempt but made the second to force an additional period.

For the first time since Dec. 31, 2022, and first-ever time for the Govs in F&M Bank Arena, to overtime we go.

After a quick score by Sharp, Dezi Jones picked the pocket of a UNA player on the next possession, and passed it to Hansel Enmanuel who laid it in to give the Govs a 75-71 lead 1:39 into overtime.

After having their multi-score advantage trimmed to one three times, with the final coming in the final seven-tenths of a second, Jones drained the clutch free throws to claim the win.

Up Next

The Governors remain home this weekend when they host Central Arkansas at 4:15 p.m. for College of Business Night presented by Wendy's.

The Difference

Depth. Austin Peay's bench outscored North Alabama, 31-16, with Sai Witt leading the unit with 18 points alone. The Govs allowed just three UNA rotation pieces to find the scoring column and held such players to 6-of-14 from the field.

Inside the Box Socre

• Austin Peay improves to 9-10 on the season, 2-2 in Atlantic Sun Conference play, and 6-1 at F&M Bank Arena.
• The Governors improved to 22-8 all-time against North Alabama in a series that dates back to Jan. 1935.
• The win is Austin Peay's first against the Lions since Jan. 1963.
• Isaac Haney led Austin Peay in scoring for the first time this season with 24 points.
• His mark in the scoring column surpassed his career-high of 23 set last season while at Northwestern State and nearly doubles his season's best performance which previously was 14 points against Ohio, Dec. 22.
• DeMarcus Sharp scored 20 points in the win, his ninth 20-point outing this season and third-straight. It is the second time this season Sharp has a stretch of three-straight games with at least 20 points.
• Sharp and Haney are the third APSU duo to both score at least 20 points apiece this season and the first since Dez White and Ja'Monta Black scored 22 and 20, respectively, against Midway, Dec. 5.
• Sharp also led the Governors in rebounding for the 12th time this season with eight boards.
• Sharp again paced the Govs in assists with five – on no turnovers. It is his 15th time in 19 games leading the Govs in the category.
• Sai Witt has his second-best scoring performance as a Governor with 18 points. He made a season-high eight attempts from the charity stripe.
• Austin Peay's overtime victory is its first since defeating SIU Edwardsville, 68-64, Feb. 24, 2022. It also was the Govs first overtime game since Dec. 31, 2022 against North Florida. 
• With Isaac Haney's three-pointer at the 17:28 mark of the first half, he extended Austin Peay's program record of consecutive games with a triple to 685 – a stretch that began Feb. 23, 2002.
• The Governors' 23 made throws are their second-most this season, trailing only 24 makes from the line against Sacramento State in the 2023 SoCal Challenge, Nov. 22.

Coach's Corner

With Head Basketball Coach Corey Gipson

On the win… "[UNA] head coach Tony Pujols is one of my very dear friends. When I was a young whipper-snapper in the profession, I used to go down to VCU all the time when I was an assistant at Virginia State and those guys would let me come down and watch practices when VCU had some very good teams. It is tough when you have a good, friendly battle with one of your brothers because no one wins in that. What I can tell you though is that both teams fought so hard for the outcome, it just so happened to go our way and I am so proud of our guys, but I also am so proud of the way Coach Pujols and his staff coached that team."

On Isaac Haney's career performance… "We really worked to let Haney rest this week. Our trainer Lynson Willis has been doing a phenomenal job in rehabbing Haney and getting him through the ailment. Some other ASUN games, Haney was a shell of himself, because he is a rigid, feisty, nasty player. With him not being as mobile, it stopped him from being productive, but, because we had time to rest this week, you were able to see a part of Haney that you were able to see in the Ohio game, that had lift, bounce, and buoyancy. We are glad to have him getting close to healthy. Right now he is probably about 70 percent, but if we continue to rest him and get him to 100 percent, we'll really have something."

On the comeback… "These guys have the fight in them. We have fought in some games this year. Look at the Southern Illinois game and how that came down to the wire, the Ohio game, the Murray State game was a fight all the way through. These guys have it in them. What we have to do now is work through the additions we have made to our roster. It ahs affected our rhythm a little bit. We are human beings, whenever you add someone new in your house or are bunking with someone in your room, it can have you looking over your shoulder a bit. We are starting to work through it. We are starting to welcome our brothers and realizing that we have to depend on one another and that we are all at it for the greater good of Austin Peay and the program."