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.

By ANTHONY SHINGLER
Assistant Sports Editor

Heading into Saturday, Feb. 27, the objective was simple for the APSU Govs — win and host a first-round Ohio Valley Conference game against Tennessee Tech. With an overtime period, the comeback Govs were able to accomplish the feat by knocking off Southeast Missouri, 71-68.

The win improves the Govs to 17-14 overall and 11-7 in the conference. The win allowed the hardwood Govs to clinch the No. 3 seed in the OVC tournament.

With SEMO leading 31-24, the Govs looked as if they were out for the count only connecting on 7-of-22 field goals in the first half.

Coming into the second half, SEMO jumped out to a 44-33 lead with 13:47 left, after senior center Israel Kirk got a tip-in to fall through the net.

After trailing for much of the second half, the Govs would respond with a 14-5 run to cut the SEMO lead to 49-47, after a jumper from senior guard Wesley Channels with 7:19 remaining.

Again, SEMO found ways to get close to playing spoiler, leading by as many as six, 55-49 with 4:37 remaining.

With the Govs clawing back, they would tie it at 57 points on a pair of free throws from junior guard Caleb Brown with 2:31 left. Then the Govs would take their first lead on another Channels bucket with 1:10 to go.

SEMO would tie it up again on a junior forward Cameron Butler bucket, 59-59 with nine seconds left. The Govs had a chance to steal the game away but Channels’ jumper did not fall at the buzzer.

The Govs used a 10-4 run to close out the half to force the extra period.

SEMO would take their largest lead, 68-66 with 38 seconds remaining, but failed to score another point the rest of the way. Channels scored five of the 11 points in the extra period.

The Govs were led by Channels’ 21 points in his final regular season game and sophomore forward Anthony Campbell added 13 points. Freshman guard Justin Blake, who found his way back into the starting lineup, had 10 and sophomore center John Fraley added a double-double effort with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

SEMO (7-23, 3-15 OVC) were led by Butler’s 18 points off the bench and freshman guard Marland Smith also scored 18.

“It was a heck of a game and had to be enjoyable for the fans to watch,” said head coach Dave Loos, in a video interview with The Leaf Chronicle.

“I was real proud of our defense,” said Loos. “Our zone was pretty good in the first half and our man-to-man, which had been lacking, was very good in the second half, too, and we needed every bit of it to get out of here with a win.”

Channels showed how important he was to the Govs offense this season in his final game. This season, he is represented in every statistical category in the OVC. As of the last regular season game, he has scored more points (527) than any other OVC player.

If the Govs win on Tuesday, March 2, they will play the winner of No. 2 Morehead State, No. 7 Jacksonville State 8 p.m., Friday, March 5, at the Bridgestone Arena, aired live on ESPNU in Nashville.

The OVC championship game starts at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 6, and is aired live on ESPN 2.

By MARLON SCOTT
Senior Staff Writer

The countdown to March Madness has begun.

As fans of college basketball start analyzing and cataloging every statistic they can find to help with their brackets. Teams are mustering their best games hoping to push a way into the big dance, the NCAA Championship.

The Govs hear the clock ticking.

After winning their last two home games, they hit the court in the Dunn Center for a third time last week to play in this season’s ESPN Bracketbuster against Oral Roberts on Saturday, Feb. 20.

The Govs started strong and looked like they had the Golden Eagles grounded by halftime.

But the Golden Eagles took off in the second half and left the Govs stunned at ground level with an 89-80 loss.

Both teams had five players score double-digit points. Senior guard Wes Channels led all players with 25 points.

The trio of Dominique Morrison, Kevin Ford and Warren Niles, terrorized the Govs. Ford led a brutal attack in the paint scoring 19 of the team’s total 46 points there.

“I thought we did alright the first half defensively,” said Govs head coach Dave Loos. “The second half they just beat us every way imaginable. They got 46 points in the paint, that says it all right there.”

The Govs set the pace from the beginning. They hit the first two shots and controlled the tempo for most of the first half. ORU kept the game close and the lead changed four times. But the Govs offense was hot and grew hotter toward the end of the first period.

The Govs shot 53 percent from the field in the first half (15-of-28) including 2-of-3 from three-point range. At halftime, they led 36-31.

Whatever speech Golden Eagles head coach Scott Sutton gave at halftime to his team worked.

The second half scoring started with a one-handed jam by ORU junior forward Michael Craion that had fans in the stands with pacemakers grabbing their chests.

The dunk initiated an 8-1 run that finished with the Golden Eagles leading 39-37 with 17:09 remaining in the game.

Two minutes later, Govs sophomore center John Fraley made a layup to tie the game 42-42. It was the last time the Govs would tie or lead the rest of the game.

The Golden Eagles scored 58 points in the second half, the Govs scored 44. Channels put up 14 of his 25 in the second half.

“We just aren’t good enough to give up 89 points and beat people,” Loos said.

The Govs are now 2-5 in the Bracketbuster series. This was just the third (11-3) loss for the Govs at home this season. They have already insured a spot in the OVC tournament and are currently tied for fourth place with Eastern Kentucky in the conference with a 10-6 record.

The Govs’ last two games of the regular season are on the road. They will play on Eastern Illinois on Thursday, Feb. 25 and then finish at Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Feb. 27. The Govs need at least one more win to clinch a game at home in the first round of the OVC Tournament.

By ANTHONY SHINGLER | Assistant Sports Editor

Some might know the senior forward Ernest Fields from the basketball court, but few know him as Stylistic, the hip-hop artist that is currently working on his first album, “So Fly.”

Fields has rapped and produced his own mix tapes, “Eat Da Mic,,” and “The Leak” the last two years, with good friend Brian Smith.

The Memphis native began writing music at the age of 12 about occurrences going in his life. His drive and talent for music has helped him mature into an artist that aspires to be great one day. But his music does come at a cost.

Fields, unlike most hip-hop artists, has other priorities besides his music, and that is being a college student and a key member of the Govs basketball team.

“I obviously am very busy person, but I am making it work,” said Fields.

“School and basketball comes first, but all of them are important to me.”

Fields has recently worked with producer Jerel Allen, formerly of So So Def Records, to help work on his first album “So Fly.”

While he’s trying to make a name for himself, he has had a chance to share the stage with some big name artists recently.

He performed with artist Lil Wil last spring, and with The G.S Boyz, famous for the hit “Stanky Leg.”

“It has helped me out tremendously because both Lil Wil and the G.S Boyz had the two hottest songs in the country at the time and I shared the stage with them both on the same day,” said Fields.

“Many people who attended the concert said that I looked comfortable and as if I belonged on stage with the best of them.”

With the popular Web site YouTube streaming on the Internet, Fields has his own station where he has songs he has recorded with Brian Smith, Sam Freeze and J. Sabin.

His channel “Stylistcent” currently has 77 videos of songs that he has produced.

“YouTube is now actually one of the main sources that I use to promote my music as well as MySpace and many other Web sites that I share my YouTube links on,” said Fields.

“I also e-mail them out to over 5,000 people every time I release a song to help support my YouTube plays.”

However, his album, “So Fly” which was planned on being released on iTunes in the spring, has been put on hold.

“I am holding off on releasing the official album to save it for whenever the right deal comes along,” said Fields.

With the brakes put on his album, his next mixtape “The Leak Vol. 2” will be released free of charge to everyone who is a member of his Facebook group “The Stylistic Facebook Team” on March 30.
Visit www.theallstate.org to hear Ernest “Stylistic” Fields singing accapella a verse from his song “Dear DJ.”