Austin Peay State University men’s basketball hosted a UNC Asheville squad picked to win the Big South and nearly took down the Bulldogs in an 82-79 overtime affair, Sunday afternoon. With preseason All-Big South choices MaCio Teague and Ahmad Thomas on the court, it’s reasonable to suspect the Bulldogs fancied themselves the favorites heading into the matinee meeting with the Govs. But Terry Taylor and Dayton Gumm, the freshman duo from Bowling Green, continue lighting up opponents and Austin Peay got a well-timed breakout performance from Steve Harris as they pushed the Bulldogs to an extra period.
Harris’ hot start got the Governors on solid footing in the first half. He scored 10 of his 14 points in the opening session, including a three-point play at the 13:16 mark to put the Govs up eight early on. The lead would climb as high as 11 points after Taylor’s jumper with 9:01 to go, but the Bulldogs closed the half on a 25-9 run to take a 41-36 lead into the break.
Under different circumstances, with a different coach, a young team might fold after seeing a double-digit lead erased so thoroughly. The Govs are coached by Matt Figger, which means even after four games they’ve adopted a toughness that won’t allow them to be discarded so easily. The teams traded buckets and stops for much of the second half, with the Bulldogs lead reaching 10 points before the Govs mounted a rally with 6:13 to go.
First, Harris sank a lay-up. The Govs started getting stops, Taylor hit a free-throw and junior Zach Glotta knocked down a jumper. The Bulldog lead was halved with just over a minute off the clock.
Over the final 4:13 of regulation, Austin Peay’s freshmen started taking over. Taylor got a bucket, followed by a Richard Henderson jumper and a Gumm layup after a Glotta steal. Junior Chris Porter-Bunton’s steal and subsequent jumper made it a one-possesion game with 90 seconds to go.
With 38 seconds left, UNC Asheville’s Kevin Vannatta hit one of two free-throws to make it a two point game. With six seconds to go, senior Tre’ Ivory found Taylor on the left block, and the southpaw eased in a layup to send the game into overtime.
Although the Govs were able to match possessions with UNC Asheville through the first part of overtime, even leading by a point with 2:03 to go after a Taylor three-point play, the Bulldogs scored seven of the game’s final 10 points. Teague, who led the Bulldogs with 26 points, sank two free-throws with five seconds left to clinch it; the Govs were unable to get a shot off on the final possession.
(Courtesy APSU Athletics)