CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Ja'Monta Black hitting threes and the Governors winning at home: call it the Austin Peay staple.

Led by Black's game-high 27 points and seven three-pointers, Austin Peay State University's basketball team shot 52.0 and 48.1 percent from the field and three-point range, respectively, to earn an 85-69 Atlantic Sun Conference Victory against Kennesaw State, Thursday, on Gary Mathews Court at F&M Bank Arena and improve to 9-1 on its home hardwood.

Black's 27 points are tied for the third-most by a Governor this season and match his season-high set in the opener against Life, Nov. 6. Black also matched his career-best performance on the boards with eight rebounds, which tied with Sai Witt for the highest of the night.

Austin Peay (12-13, 5-5 ASUN) and Kennesaw State (13-12, 4-6 ASUN) exchanged the game's first four points, with a Witt layup to open the contest quickly being answered by a fastbreak basket by the Owls' Quincy Ademokoya less than 80 seconds into the contest. 

Then Dezi Jones hit a three-pointer, and the game was all Govs.

Jones' triple sparked a 13-2 Govs' run prior to the first media timeout, as APSU connected on four-straight three-pointers. 14 of APSU's first 15 attempts on the night came from beyond the arc, with the outlier being the aforementioned Witt layup to begin the evening's contest.

Austin Peay led 24-8 with 13:50 remaining in the opening half following Black's fourth long-range make and, after the Owls cut the deficit to 10 with six-straight points following a quintet of consecutive Govs' misses. Jones ended the brief cold spell to regain a 13-point advantage.

The Owls trimmed the Govs' lead to six points prior to the under-8 media timeout – the closest the game had been since the opening three minutes – but it was the closest the two sides got in the first half, five-straight points via a Witt split trip to the line was followed by a pair of Jones and Dez White points to put APSU back up by double digits. 

After leading by 13 with 1:22 left in the first half, the Owls closed the half on a 5-1 run to make it 44-35 in favor of Austin Peay at the break.

Black led the game with 17 points and five three-pointers at the half, while Witt tallied 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.

Despite connecting on just one of their first seven attempts from the field to open the second half, the Owls made it a two-score game after forcing four APSU turnovers in the opening 3:18 of the period.

A pair of technical foul free throws by Black following the first media sparked a 7-0 run for the Govs as they led by 11 at the under-12. After battling back and forth over the next five minutes, the Govs scored nine-straight points to take a game-high 18-point lead at 76-58 with 5:49 remaining in the game.

APSU maintained a cushion of at least 14 points throughout the remainder of the game and came away with the 16-point, 85-69 win against the reigning ASUN Conference champion Owls.

The Difference

Coaching and efficiency. Let's break it down.

Kennesaw State entered the game as one of the fastest teams in the nation in terms of average time of possession per possession. That pace allowed them to speed up games, get more possessions, and, more often than not, more points. Today, that did not necessarily happen. 

Kennesaw State entered the game averaging 78.2 possessions per game – shoutout to the video and analytics coordinator, Joey Heimel, for that stat. Today, the Govs held them to 67.

Efficiency also was a deciding factor. The Govs made 26 of their 50 attempts (52.0 percent) from the field and 13-of-27 (48.1) from three-point range. On the other end of the court, the Govs limited KSU to just 41.4 and 32.0 percent from the field and beyond the three-point line, respectively.

Up Next

The Govs wrap up their penultimate homestand of the season with a 4:15 p.m. Saturday contest against Queens, which will follow the women's 2 p.m. contest against Jacksonville.

What the Peayple Are Saying

Inside the Box Score

• Austin Peay improved to 12-13 on the season, 5-5 in ASUN Conference play, and 9-1 at F&M Bank Arena.
• The Governors also claimed the program's first win against Kennesaw State and evened the all-time series to 1-1.
• Ja'Monta Black led the Govs in scoring for the sixth time this season. His 27-point outing marked his seventh evening of scoring at least 20 points. 
• With his seven three-pointers, Ja'Monta Black brought his season total up to 87, moving him to fourth all-time for single-season three-pointers. The next mark on his list is Joe Sibbitt's 90 which he made during the 1995-96 season. Black needs 16 to pass Todd Babington for the most three-pointers in a single season in program history.
• Dezi Jones led Austin Peay in assists with six – his fifth time leading the Govs in the category this season.
• Sai Witt was tied with Jones for second on the team and in the game with 18 points, his sixth double-figure scoring night in the last seven games.
• Sai Witt dished out a season-high four assists in the win.
• Austin Peay's 15 assists are its most in an ASUN Conference game this season and the most this season since dishing out 18 at No. 18 Memphis, Dec. 30.
• Austin Peay has shot at least 50 percent from the field in back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, 2022.
• With Dezi Jones' three-pointer less than two minutes into the game, he extended Austin Peay's record on consecutive games with a three-pointer to 691 games.
• Austin Peay improved to 9-2 when shooting a higher clip from the field than the opponent and 9-4 when holding the opposition to under 45 percent from the field.
• The Govs also improved to 9-3 when leading at the half and 8-2 when making more attempts from the line.
• The Govs' 20 made free throws are their third-most in a game this season and the most since hitting 23 against North Alabama, Jan. 18.

Coach's Corner
With Head Men's Basketball Coach Corey Gipson

On the win… "It was a valiant effort. Our guys really prepared well. I want to give credit to the staff for their detail to scouting. I also am very proud of our guys for their detail in scout and taking the ball to the court. Obviously, our players have to execute and both offensively and defensively tonight, our guys were on point. I am proud of how our team is growing, learning and trust each other."

On Ja'Monta Black… "He is such an unselfish person. [Ja'Monta] always plays the right way, but how about his teammates really working to get him the ball in the right spots? How about the spacing and how Dezi Jones is leading the team and just all of the other players. Even the guys that did not play, I felt like the energy, effort, and enthusiasm were all so on point. I am so proud of our guys. I always tell them that when I am truly happy on the inside, I become speechless and at a loss of words and I totally am at a loss of words with how our guys have prepared, executed, and even in how they manage themselves after an outcome. I felt like they represented this program like mature young men."