The APSU Governors hosted an Ohio Valley Conference matchup against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks on Saturday, Jan. 31, where the Govs fell short 70-64. With this loss, the Govs dropped to 7-15 overall and 2-6 in the OVC, and a two-game losing streak. 

Despite SEMO’s 17 turnovers, they were still able to pull away with a win by shooting 57 percent (26 of 46). This win pushes the Redhawks to 10-12 overall and 4-5 in the OVC. Redhawk players with the most contributions were Nino Johnson with 15, Jareklous Bradley with 15 and Jamaal Calvin with 11 points. The bench was also able to rally 15 points to help with the win.

APSU’s high scorer was junior Chris Horton with 23 points and 18 rebounds in a full 40 minutes. Other notable players for APSU include senior Ed Dyson with 12 points and senior Chris Freeman with 10 points for the Govs. Senior Jeremy Purvis had nine points in the game, from only three shots. Purvis ended the game with the most three-point shots made. APSU finished the contest shooting below 40 percent for the 14th time this season. APSU’s bench contributed an impressive 20 points to the game.

The game was close until about seven minutes left in the second half. This was when SEMO ran away with the game, keeping a lead of mostly six points.  The lead was cut down to four a few times by the Govs, but they could not cut it down any more, and lost it as SEMO answered their scores. 

In their last five games, the Govs have only shot 63 percent from the free throw line. Three of their four losses were by a deficit of six points or less. 

This week, the Govs will face off with two OVC opponents at home. Thursday, Feb. 5, at 7:30 p.m. the Govs will tip off against the University of Tennessee Martin Skyhawks (14-8, 5-2 OVC). Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., the Govs will tip off against their biggest rivals in the OVC, the Murray State Racers (19-4,9-0 OVC). MSU is on a 17-game win streak with an away record of 8-1.