CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Five players finished in double figures for the host Governors as Austin Peay held off the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team Saturday night in the Dunn Center, 79-63. With the win, APSU improves to 4-4 and 2-1 in the OVC while the Colonels fall to 2-6 and 0-2.

Senior Jason McLeish tied a career high with 21 points on 66.7 percent shooting (8-of-12) from the floor. Meanwhile, sophomore Darnell Dialls led all players and posted a personal-best 13 rebounds.

For Austin Peay, Kyle Duncan, Maurice Hampton and Derek Wright each tallied 12 points. Wright also notched nine assists to just one turnover on the evening.

The Governors took a 44-34 lead into the locker room thanks to shooting 56.3 percent (18-of-32) from the field in the opening 20 minutes of action. Junior Michael Brock kept the Colonels hanging around in the first half by coming off the bench and going 3-for-3 from behind the three-point line.

Senior Matt Witt, who was held scoreless in the first half, notched Eastern Kentucky's first nine points of the second stanza to help the Colonels cut the deficit to six, 49-43. Austin Peay regrouped with a 9-2 run of its own to build its largest advantage to that point in the contest, 58-45.

From there, EKU made one more charge by holding the Governors scoreless for almost a five-minute stretch. The Colonels scored seven straight points over that time to get back within six at 58-52. Eastern had a few more opportunities creep even closer to APSU, but a Kyle Duncan layup at 9:21 finally ended the Governor drought.

Austin Peay used a 15-3 run down the stretch to pull away from the Colonels and win its second straight home conference tilt.

The Colonels have the week off before hitting the court against Eastern Illinois in a home game on Monday, Dec. 19, which will be televised nationally by ESPNU. Game time is set for 7 p.m.