FINAL SCORE: Austin Peay 72, Western Kentucky 68

RECORDS:
Western Kentucky "Hilltoppers" — 2-7 Overall / 0-0 Sun Belt Conference
Austin Peay "Governors" — 6-3 Overall / 1-1 Ohio Valley Conference

PLAY-BY-PLAY HIGHLIGHTS:
First Half — WKU took it's only lead of the game on a jumper by Filip Videnov that put the Hilltoppers up 2-0 just 3 seconds into the game ..... APSU then got at layup by Nick Stapleton, followed by a FT by J.J. Halliburton (at 17:53) to go up 3-2 and never trailed ..... the Governors led 20-8 (their long lead of the half) on a jumper by Joe Williams at 10:27, but the Hilltoppers began chipping away and narrowed the gap to 24-22 on a dunk by Chris Marcus at 5:07 before the Govs held WKU off to go in with a 33-25 lead ..... APSU's Trenton Hassell and Joe Williams led all scorers at the half with 11 each and Marcus and Tremain Rowles led WKU with 6 each .....

Second Half — APSU pushed it's lead up to 10 points 4 times in the 2nd half, but couldn't put Western away ..... Nashon McPherson's jumper at 13:28 cut a 10-point lead down to just two (43-41), but APSU was up by 10 again (57-47) on a three by Stapleton at 8:37 and it was a 9-point game (67-58) at 4:27 ..... but, WKU outscored the Govs 10-2 in a 3:27 span of time to pull within one (69-68) on a follow underneath at 0:43 ..... Stapleton hit 1 of 2 FTs at 0:21 (AP 70-68) ..... then WKU got a look at three by Tremain Rowles (off the mark), Lee Lampley rebounded and got off a shot on the left side (also off the mark) and, Allenspach battled with a pair of APSU players for the rebound that went out of bounds and the ball was awarded to APSU with just over 2 seconds to go. WKU fouled on the in-bounds and Hassell hit 2 FTs at 0:02 for the final scoring.

COACHES' QUOTES:
WKU Head Coach Dennis Felton — "Austin Peay came in with a very good gameplan. They trapped us fullcourt most of the game and it worked. They were particularly successful the first 20 minutes, we turned it over too many times and came up with just 25 points. Our inexperience led us to take some quick shots. We were impatient and made some bad decisions that cost us. And, we didn't come strong defensively. But, I was proud of the way our guys stayed in it and made themselves a chance to win it in the end. Austin Peay shot well, particularly when we were charging at them in the second half. We got the shots we needed in the final 20 minutes and it showed. But, we couldn't get the shot to go down at the end."

NEXT GAME — The Hilltoppers face the loser of the Wisconsin-Green-Bay vs. Drexel game (now in progress) in the consolation game tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 30) at 5:30 p.m. (CST) while Austin Peay faces the winner in the championship game at 8 p.m.

NOTES — WKU and APSU, whose campuses are a mere 61 miles apart, meet here in tournament play in Green Bay, more than 600 miles from Bowling Green ..... WKU's first game in 11 days (since a 101-77 loss at Vandy on Dec. 18) ..... tomorrow night, veteran Western broadcaster Wes Strader will call his 1,000th Western basketball — in the Hilltoppers' last game of the millenium! ..... WKU had 10 turnovers in first half, compared to APSU's 5 -- in 2nd half, WKU, playing much better, charged with 7 turnovers while AP had 13 ..... sophomore center Chris Marcus just missed his 4th double-double of the year (12 pts, 8 rebs) ..... WKU now 2-7 -- opened year last season 2-7 before winning 7 of next 9 .....