By Anthony Shingler | Assistant Sports Editor

Photo by Mateen Sidiq | Multimedia Editor

Much like a 12 round heavyweight boxing match, the APSU Govs and Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles exchanged punch for punch and basket for basket. But the knock out punch came from sophomore Kevin Murphy with 1.3 seconds left as he sunk a three-pointer to give the No. 6 TTU Golden Eagles the 68-65 upset win in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament Tuesday, March 2, at the Dunn Center.

The Govs finish the season at 17-15 overall, while TTU improves to 15-16.

The loss marks the first time in four years the Govs will not advance to the OVC Tournament Semifinals.
Sophomore forward Anthony Campbell did his part to try to get the game into overtime by hitting a three-pointer to tie the score at 65-65 with eight seconds left. On the ensuing possession, TTU ran a quick inbound pass and Murphy fired the three from top of the key to end hope for the Govs.

“It’s frustrating and I know it is for these kids too,” said head coach Dave Loos. “It’s been that way, up and down, the whole year. It’s disappointing.”
After a Wesley Channels three-pointer to put the Govs up 44-37 at the 12:40 mark, TTU would cut the Govs’ lead to 44-42 when Zach Bailey was charged with a technical foul after Zach Murphy hit a three-pointer, but was fouled by Channels sending Murphy to the free throw line for the four-point play. Bailey took the free throw which he hit, but was later waved off and then charged with a technical foul.

But from that point, TTU went on a 21-10 run to push ahead 56-51 on a jumper by Bassey Inameti with 6:09 remaining in the game.
From there, the Govs would cut TTU to 63-62 on a jumper from John Fraley with 58 seconds remaining.
TTU would again push the lead to 63-60 with 24 seconds remaining on a layup from Elijah Muhammad.
Campbell then would fire a three which he missed, Fraley gathered the offensive rebound and tossed it to Campbell again, then drained it to tie it at 65-65 with eight seconds left.

Senior Wesley Channels 13 point, ties him with Howard Wright (1967-70) for sixth place on the all-time scoring list at 1700 points. He ended his career on a seven-game double-digit scoring streak.

“They just made shots at the end of the game and seemed like they wanted it more,” said Channels. “We thought we were the better team but we just got out played.”
Along with Channels performance, Anthony Campbell led the Govs with 16 points, while John Fraley also had 10 points in the efforts.
Alfred Jones and Kevin Murphy led all scorers with 18 points each for TTU.

TTU will move on the face No. 2 Morehead State Friday, March 5, in the OVC Semifinals. Morehead State defeated No. 7 Jacksonville State, 87-54 in its quarterfinal game.

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