AUSTIN PEAY 89, TENNESSEE STATE 84

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Drake Reed had 27 points and was 75 percent from the line to help top seed Austin Peay hold off Tennessee State for an 89-84 overtime win in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament Tuesday night.

Austin Peay (20-10) pushed it into overtime on a jumper by Fernandez Lockett to tie it 69-69 with 30 seconds left in regulation.

Tennessee State (12-20) tied it four times during the game, including a jumper with two minutes to go from Ervin Reiley, who led the Tigers with 24 points. But they never took a lead until Andrae Belton put them ahead 69-67 with a jumper with 55 seconds left.

The Governors pushed ahead in overtime, with an 8-2 run in the first three minutes and Landon Shipley and Todd Babington both hit a pair of free throws in the last two seconds to hold off the Tigers.

Babington was 7-of-7 from the line and all five of his field goals were from 3-point range, for 22 total. Lockett added 18 and a game-high eight rebounds.

Reiley hit 6-of-11 3-pointers for the Tigers. Belton added 15 points, followed by Ladarious Weaver with 14, Clarence Matthews with 13 and Jerrell Houston with 12.

SAMFORD 70, MURRAY STATE 60

MURRAY, Ky. - The Samford University basketball team earned its biggest road win of the 2006-07 season Tuesday as the Bulldogs rallied for a hard-fought 70-60 victory against the Murray State Racers in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

With the win, Samford (16-15) advanced to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament for a second-straight season.

The Bulldogs will square off against the No. 1-seeded Austin Peay Governors at 5:30 p.m., in the Gaylord Entertainment Center in downtown Nashville, Tenn.

I thought that this was one of our better played games this season, said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette. Our seniors played like seniors and our juniors played like juniors, and our experience showed up out there. We shot the ball well and we were able to handle their crowd. We did a lot of good things tonight. Samford finished Tuesday’s game with four players scoring in double figures.

Seniors Randall Gulina and Jerry Smith both paced the team with 20 points apiece, while juniors Travis Peterson and Joe Ross Merritt tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Bulldogs torched the nets in the second half of play and shot 75 percent from the floor in the final period.

Samford turned in a 60 percent shooting performance for the game, its second-best road outing of the season. The Bulldogs shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc and improved to 14-0 this year when shooting better than their opponent.

Smith and Gulina both finished with 10 points from the free-throw line.

Smith turned in an unblemished 10-for-10 performance from the charity stripe, while Gulina recorded a near-perfect 10-for-11 outing.

Junior Joe Ross Merritt grabbed a game-high six rebounds, while Curtis West and Smith tied for the team-lead in assists with four.

Smith, Samford’s all-time leader in assists, improved his school-record total to 430. Gulina, the Bulldogs leading scorer this season, moved into 13th place on Samford’s all-time scoring list. With his 20 points Tuesday, he increased his career total to 1,224 and surpassed former Bulldog-great Arnold Hamilton.

Murray State has improved tremendously since the first time that we beat them, but tonight was one of those games, Tillette said. I can’t say enough about the game that Jerry (Smith) had. I thought that he was phenomenal. He played all 40 minutes for us and Joe (Ross Merritt) did a lot of great things down the stretch.

With the loss, Murray State (16-14) had its two-game winning streak snapped and fell to 10-2 at home in OVC Tournament first-round match-ups.

The Racers previous defeat in the opening round of the tournament was a loss to Southeast Missouri in 2005. Ironically, Southeast Missouri was the only other team to defeat Murray State twice at home in the same season before Samford accomplished the feat Tuesday.

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs handed the Racers their worst home defeat in over four years with a 55-44 triumph at the Regional Special Events Center.

Murray State finished with three players scoring in double figures and was led by Ed Horton’s 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. The senior Birmingham-Southern transfer scored nine of his 16 points in the second half of play.

We knew that the game was not going to be won in the first 10 minutes of the second half, said Tillette. We knew that we were still going to have to play solid defense and that it’s a 40-minute game. We played good defense down the stretch and we were able to guard their shooters well. I also thought we played with toughness and intensity.

After playing to a 26-26 tie at the half, Samford opened the second period with a 10-0 run and never relinquished the lead.

The Bulldogs Travis Peterson started the half off with a 3-point basket and then Gulina and Smith scored on back-to-back lay ups. Smith added a free throw on the 3-point play and Peterson scored on a back-door drive to make the score 36-26.

Murray State would pull within two points in the game twice, but each time the Bulldogs answered with key buckets.

Peterson knocked down a key hook shot with 13:23 remaining in the game to make the score 40-36, and then Merritt drained a 3-pointer at the 12:29 mark to improve Samford’s advantage to 43-38.

The Bulldogs largest margin of the second half was a 61-47 lead with 1:59 remaining.

Samford scored the final four points of the first half to fight its way to a 26-26 tie at the intermission. The Bulldogs used a right-handed lay up from Merritt and a pair of free throws from Gulina to make the score at the half, 26-26.

Near the end of the opening period, Samford withstood a 12-2 Racer run and only trailed by as many as four points.

The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 20-14 advantage in the game following three-straight free throws from Smith at the 7:51 mark. With the shot clock running down, Samford’s Smith went up for a deep 3-point attempt from the right wing and was fouled on the arm by Murray State’s Ray George.

The Bulldogs shot a perfect 11-of-11 from the charity stripe in the first half. Gulina led the team with nine points and three rebounds in the opening period. Samford’s senior guard from Baton Rouge , La. , was also 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Smith added eight first-half points for the Bulldogs and was 5-of-5 from the charity stripe.

Murray State finished with eight players scored in the first half and was led by both Shawn Witherspoon and Horton. The pair ended the opening 20 minutes of play with seven points apiece.

EASTERN KENTUCKY 63, MOREHEAD STATE 45

RICHMOND, Ky. – In the opening round of the 2007 O’Reilly OVC Men’s Basketball Tournament, Eastern Kentucky led from start to finish on its way to a 63-45 victory over Morehead State Tuesday night in McBrayer Arena. The Colonels (19-11) now advance to the tournament semifinals for the third time in the last four years while Morehead State finishes the year 12-18 overall.

Junior Jamaal Douglas led three EKU players in double figures with 16 tallies, two shy of his season high, on 70 percent (7-of-10) shooting. Sophomore Mike Rose added 11 first half points while senior Julian Mascoll chipped in with 11 points and a career-high four blocks. Senior Michael Brock hauled in a game-best seven rebounds.

For Morehead State, Cordaryl Ballard recorded team highs in both points (17) and rebounds (six). Quentin Pryor (11 points) was the only other Eagle to reach double figures.

The Colonels took control of the game early, holding Morehead State scoreless for a nine minute stretch and going on a 16-0 run to build a 25-8 cushion. Back-to-back jumpers by Douglas gave EKU its largest advantage of the half, 40-21, before the Colonels settled on a 40-23 halftime lead. Eastern Kentucky shot 62.5 percent (15-of-24) from the floor in the first 20 minutes and forced 10 Eagle turnovers.

Two quick buckets from Ballard at the start of the second half cut the Morehead deficit to 13 points, 40-27. However, freshman Adam Leonard responded with his only three-pointer of the contest and then the Eagles missed their next four shots from the field, ending any thoughts of a comeback.

This was the third time this year the Colonels have held an opponent to less than 50 points. Meanwhile, Morehead State finished just 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from behind the arc.

Eastern Kentucky improved to 6-2 all-time against the Eagles in the OVC Tournament. The two squads had most recently met in the 1995 first round.

TENNESSEE TECH 88, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE 60

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Belton Rivers and Anthony Fisher combined for 34 points as Tennessee Tech beat cold-shooting Southeast Missouri 88-60 Tuesday in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tourney.

Tech, the No. 3 seed, will play Eastern Kentucky in the conference semifinals Friday in Nashville.

The Golden Eagles (19-12) led most of the way by shooting 60.4 percent to 34.9 percent for the visitors, seeded No. 6.

Rivers and Fisher both scored 17 points and Fisher had six rebounds. Reserve Rashaud Nixon scored 14 and didn't miss a shot, 6-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the line.

Amadi McKenzie added 11 points and six rebounds for the Golden Eagles, who led 38-24 at halftime.

The Redhawks (11-20) had just one player in double figures, Brandon Foust with 10. Dionte Perry had a game-high 10 rebounds.