Eastern Kentucky battled tooth and nail against OVC champion Austin Peay, but came up short 81-64.

The loss gives Eastern Kentucky a 13-14 overall mark and an 8-8 record in the OVC. The win kept ASPU's OVC record unblemished at 16-0 and 19-8 overall.

The Colonels came out strong and took a 17-12 lead after a Julian Mascoll dunk at the 11:39 mark of the first half, however, the Austin Peay defense buckled down over the remainder of the period and held EKU to only two more points heading into intermission.

After taking a 28-19 deficit into the locker room at the half, the Colonels came out strong in the second half. The Colonels reeled off a 6-2 run in the opening minutes to cut the lead to 30-27 following a Jon Bentley layup with 16:56 left.

Adrian Henning helped the Govs cause after missing a majority of the opening frame due to foul trouble. He put together a layup and a dunk as the Govs ran off a 6-2 spurt of their own, putting the home squad up seven with 15:03 to go.

The five-point deficit would prove to be as close as the Colonels would come in the remainder of the game as the Govs built a lead as many as 18 before easing in for the win.

"We couldn't score in the first half, but I thought we competed. It could have been a lot worse with the way we played and the foul trouble we got in," said head coach Travis Ford. "I thought we really battled tonight and the score wasn't indicative of the way the game went."

Matt Witt led the Colonels in scoring with 16 with three other players netted double figures. Julian Mascoll led the EKU rebounding effort with five.

Henning's 20 points paced the Governors with three other APSU players finding double figures.

The outcome of the game, however, had no bearing on the final OVC standings. The Colonels did learn, though, that Samford will be their first round opponent in Tuesday night's opening round of the OVC tournament. The game is set to tip off at 7 PM with the winner advancing to the league's final four in Nashville beginning Friday night.