Photos by Anthony Shingler | Assistant Sports Editor

By ANTHONY SHINGLER | Assistant Sports Editor

When rivals APSU Govs and Murray State meet it is almost guaranteed to be a tough physical game and Saturday, Feb. 6, it was just that. But this time, there was a controversial call that decided the ending. With 4.1 seconds remaining, APSU sophomore center John Fraley nailed two free throws that tied the game at 63-all. MSU’s Issac Miles drove up the court, and hit a jump shot at the buzzer that put Murray State up 65-63.

After the initial call from the official declaring the bucket good, they would go to the replay monitor to see if the ball left Miles’ hand before the buzzer.

APSU assistant coach Scott Combs was able to see the replay which led him to believe the ball was still in Miles’ hand when the backboard lights lit up.

The referees conversed and called the shot good, that providing Murray State their 13th straight victory and a 22-3, 13-0 in the OVC. The Racers are No. 1 in the conference standings.

“I didn’t see the video (of the shot),” said APSU head coach Dave Loos in a video interview with The Leaf Chronicle. “There were too many people around there (the replay monitor).”

The controversial loss snapped APSU’s four-game winning streak, dropping them to 14-11 overall, 8-5 in the conference standings.

APSU currently sits in fourth place in the conference, only trailing Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and Murray State.

The Govs led much of the first half, and took a 33-30 lead heading into halftime.

The second half the Govs led or tied the score for 19:08 before MSU would take the lead. APSU would lead by as many as six, 49-43 with 10:28 remaining in the half on a layup from Duran Roberson.

MSU tied score, 61-61 on a three-point play from Miles, after a Wesley Channels foul on his layup that was good with 2:19 remaining.

MSU then took their first lead of the second half, on another Miles layup, 63-61, with 92 seconds remaining.

After a missed free throw attempt by Miles on a foul after his layup, the Govs would tie the game back up from after Fraley’s free throws when the controversy started.

“It’s disappointing, because I thought our kids deserved a better outcome than that,” Loos said.

“They played so hard and did a good job. We had our chances and didn’t get it done. But I couldn’t ask for any better effort than what they gave.”

MSU’s Danero Thomas led all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds. MSU also had Tony Easley and B.J. Jenkins finishing in double digits with 12 points and 10 points respectively.

Anthony Campbell was the only Gov to score in double figures with 20 points. Channels who had an uncharacterstic night, served his first single-digit game since the Marian game earlier than season, had eight points for the night. He was 3-of-8 from the field, but 2-of-3 from beyond the arch.Roberson also chipped in eight points each.

The Govs shot 20-of-45 from the field (44.4 percent), while going 7-of-15 (46.7 percent).

The Govs were out-rebounded by MSU 42 (20 offensive, 22 defensive rebounds) to 24 (six offensive, 18 defensive rebounds).

“They played so hard and did a good job,” said Loos. “We had our chances and didn’t get it done. But I couldn’t ask for any better effort than what they gave.”

The Govs return to action on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Gentry Center to take on Tennessee State University with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. The Govs will play host to Jacksonville State, Monday, Feb. 13 at home with a 7 p.m. tip-off.

Visit Murray State Athletics Web site.

By ANTHONY SHINGLER | Assistant Sports Editor

The Govs might have very well seen freshman shooting guard Justin Blake grow up in front of their very eyes. Blake’s 3-pointer with 10.9 seconds to play lifted APSU to a 56-55 come-from-behind win against Morehead State, Sunday, Jan. 31, afternoon at Dave Aaron Arena.

Blake’s 3-pointer finished off a 12-point second half comeback win for the Govs.

The win improves the Govs to 13-10 overall, 7-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. With the loss, Morehead State is still sitting in second place in the conference, falling to 15-7 overall, 9-2 in the OVC.

“He (Justin Blake) was feeling pretty comfortable, playing with a lot confidence right now,” said APSU head coach Dave Loos. “He got an open look and he drilled it.”

The first half, APSU shot an ice cold 6-of-21 (29 percent) from the field, and 1-of-6 from three-point range.

Even the poor shooting performance in the first half, the Govs only trailed 30-18 at half.

“I told our guys at halftime, we were making an enormous amount of mistakes, but we were playing really hard on the defensive end,” said Loos.

The second half opened up with MSU surging to a 16-point lead 39-23 with 15:55 left in the game.

But the Govs fought back to within four on a 3-pointer from Caleb Brown, 39-35 with 12:31 remaining.

But preseason Conference Player of the Year, Kenneth Faried made his presence felt over the next seven minutes, to help MSU to push their lead to 51-40 with 6:03 remaining.

“He (Faried) is a good player, real good player, said center John Fraley. “It is just a job in itself (to defend him).”

The Govs, looked down and out, but clawed their way back slowly, thanks to a defense that created opportunities on the offensive side of the floor.

“I told them if we could keep that up and get something going offensively without turning the ball over, we’d have a chance,” said Loos.

With the MSU lead slowly dwindling away, a dunk by Fraley cut the lead to 52-49 with 2:14 left was the spark APSU was looking for.

The Govs kept the defensive pressure, holding MSU to three points over the final minute and 26 seconds. The last point came from Faried’s one-for two from the free throw line.

“That (Fraley’s dunk) can usually give you a big lift,” said Loos. “I thought John played hard.”

After a time-out by APSU, Blake would strike with 1:03 left on a layup to cut the lead to 54-53.

Following a foul from Fraley, Faried was at the free throw line, where he hit one of two. Then Blake would get the ball from Caleb Brown, and sunk the three that had the entire Dunn Center on their feet.

MSU would get two opportunities to score, but both fell short. Wesley Channels lead the way for the Govs and for the 12th time this season he was the team leader in scoring with 17 points. Blake finished with 14 points including the remaining five points for the Govs.

MSU was lead by Faried’s double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds, Maze Stallworth’s 12 points, and Demonte Harper 11 points.

The Govs will go on the road Thursday, Feb. 4 to face University of Tennessee-Martin with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

Then finish up their road trip with a visit to conference leader, Murray State, with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

By Anthony Shingler | Assistants Sports Editor

Despite poor free throw shooting and playing short-handed, the hardwood Govs were able to squeak out a 66-64 victory, on the road at Jacksonville State Saturday, Jan. 23, in Ohio Valley Conference action.

The Govs were able to stop their five-game losing skid and got their first OVC road win this season to improve to 11-10, 5-4 in the OVC.

APSU Govs were without starting forward Anthony Campbell and forward Marcel Williams due to ankle injuries. Without two key players, the Govs had to play survival of the fittest in overtime, only making 5-of-12 free throws. Then subject to watching JSU’s John Barnes’ potential game-winning three-pointer final short at the final buzzer.

With the Govs leading 46-33 with 16:37 remaining in regulation on a 3-pointer from Wesley Channels, all looked well. But over an eight minute span, Jacksonville State went on a 12-2 run to tie the score on a 3-pointer from Trenton Marshall at the 8:26 mark.

JSU then would take a three-point lead at the 4:06 mark off a layup from Amadow Mbodji. Then, Wesley Channels followed it up with a counter 3-pointer to tie the score at 53-53.

Again, JSU took the lead, but Tyrone Caldwell tied it up at 55-55 with 1:56 in regulation. Neither team scored again. Channels bid to win it at the horn to end regulation came up short due to the physical JSU defense.

The Govs quickly took the lead using a 7-2 run capped off on a layup by Duran Roberson with 57 seconds remaining in the extra stanza. But then missed free throws doomed the Gov lead as they missed six free throws out of eight attempts down the stretch.

The Govs shot a blistering 17-32 shot (53.1 percent) in the first half. But then went stale, connecting on only 7-of-24 shots (29.2 percent) in the second half.

In the win, Wesley Channels led the way for the Govs with 23 points and 10 rebounds, in his second career double-double. Duran Roberson recorded his first career double-double; 12 points and 10 rebounds. Justin Blake contributed his third straight double-figure scoring effort with 14 points.

John Fraley had a team-best with 11 rebounds. The conference’s leading scorer Trenton Marshall was held scoreless in the first half, but led JSU with 17 points, while Mbodji added 12 points and 12 rebounds in game.