CLARKSVILLE, TN. -- Eastern Kentucky hit four free throws in the last 41 seconds of overtime to secure a hard-fought 67-63 victory over the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Austin Peay Governors Thursday night in APSU's Dunn Center.
With the score at 63-63, senior forward Michael Haney, who had his fourth double-double of the season and the 15th of his four-year career, nailed two charity tosses with 41 ticks left in the extra period to give the Colonels a 65-63 advantage.
After Austin Peay leading scorer Anthony Davis missed a three-point shot, EKU junior guard Matt Witt was fouled and hit 1-2 free throws with 25 seconds left to up the margin to 66-63.
Davis once again tried a three-point shot to tie the game with nine seconds left, but the shot was off the mark and Eastern's Julian Mascoll was fouled at the 5.6 second mark.
Mascoll hit 1-2 free tosses to complete the scoring and end Austin Peay's 17-game winning streak against EKU and stop the Govs' 21-game regular-season OVC win skein.
"I'm so proud of our kids," said EKU head coach Travis Ford. "Several guys stepped up for us tonight. You can throw all the streaks out the door now. We survived in a very tough, physical defensive game.
"We wanted the fans to talk about our defense after the game tonight, and I believe that's the case since we held them to 36.5 per cent shooting for the game.
"Both teams played extremely hard. It was an incredible defensive effort by both teams. No. 35 (Michael Haney) put us on his back tonight and came up big for us.
"To say the least, it's a happy locker room in there."
EKU battled through nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes and led 31-28 at the break.
The Colonels came out on fire to start the last half and jumped out to a 10-point margin at 49-39 at the 18:08 mark.
However, Austin Peay went on a 17-4 run that gave the Govs a 46-43 lead with 9:50 left. APSU upped that to 49-44 before a 6-0 run gave the lead back to EKU at 50-49.
After that, neither team led by more than two points until Austin Peay led 58-54 with 1:05 to go in regulation.
After Haney hit his first free throw with 41 seconds left to slice the lead to three points, he missed the second charity toss and EKU junior guard Jason McLeish passed the rebound back to Witt who canned a three-point shot at the top of the key which effectively sent the game into overtime, tied at 58-58.
Haney led all scorers and rebounders in the game with his double-double of 23 points and 11 boards. McLeish added 11 points and Witt scored 10 points and had six assists.
EKU outrebounded its fourth straight opponent, owning the boards, 43-32. Substitute inside players, freshmen Ryans Wiersma and Darnell Dialls, each added seven boards to Haney's 11.
Guard Maurice Hampton and center Zac Schlader each had 14 points for Austin Peay, now 4-11 overall and 2-1 in the OVC. Davis and William Durden each scored 12 points.
EKU, now 10-4 overll and 2-1 in the OVC, meets Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, TN, Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. EST.
