RICHMOND, Ky. -- Junior guard Matt Witt's three-pointer with 58.5 seconds remaining gave the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels the lead they never relinquished as EKU defeated Austin Peay State University, 70-66, before 4,400 screaming fans at EKU's McBrayer Arena Saturday night.

EKU, now 19-8 overall, finishes in a tie for second place in the final OVC standings with Murray State at 11-5. Tennessee Tech, 74-67 winner over Morehead State Saturday night, wins the league outright with its 12-4 OVC record and gets the No. 1 seed in the 2005 O'Reilly OVC Tournament. The Golden Eagles host No. 8 seed Eastern Illinois Tuesday night.

EKU gets the No. 2 seed and will host Tennessee State, the seventh seed, Tuesday night (Mar. 1) at 7:30 p.m. EST as the second game of the tourney doubleheader at McBrayer Arena which features coach Larry Joe Inman's Lady Colonels, outright OVC regular season champions with a 20-7 overall record and 15-1 mark in OVC play and No. 1 seed, who host eighth-seeded Murray State at 5:30 p.m.

The other two first round games in the men's tourney find No. 3 seed Murray State hosting Southeast Missouri and No. 4 seed Samford hosting No. 5 seed Austin Peay.

"This was a great effort and a well-deserved win for our guys," said EKU head coach Travis Ford. "It was a great college basketball game with a lot on the line.

"We haven't been playing particularly well of late, but our guys have been finding a way to win.

"This was an emotional night. Those three seniors -- Michael Haney, Ben Rushing and Austin Newton -- have meant a lot to me.

"I told our guys when you're a kid you dream about playing in a game like this with so much at stake. Our guys played hard and found a way to win again tonight," said Ford.

Zac Schlader's traditional three-point play with 2:17 left to play gave the Govs a 62-60 lead. EKU's Zach Ingles responded with an eight-footer in the lane to tie the game at 62-all with 1:54 left.

After Schlader missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:31 left, Haney got the rebound for the Colonels. With the shot clock drifting under five second left, Witt launched a 22-foot jump shot at the top of the key that found the bottom of the net to give EKU the lead for good at 65-62.

APSU's Anthony Davis and EKU's Bubba Long each went 1-2 from the free throw line over the next 30 seconds, putting the score at 66-63 in favor of EKU with 26 seconds left, setting up one last chance for the Govs to tie.

Austin Peay's Maurice Hampton fired a 25-footer straightaway that was short and rebounded by Haney who got the ball to Jason McLeish. McLeish was fouled at the 13.6 second mark and made both free tosses to put the Colonels up 68-63.

A three-pointer by the Govs' Levi Carmichael out of the left corner trimmed the margin to 68-66 with 2.6 seconds left.

Witt was fouled on the inbounds pass and nailed both free throws with 0.8 seconds left to close out the scoring.

The game was close throughout with neither team leading by more than seven points in a game which featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties.

Austin Peay led 35-31 at the break and upped that margin to 38-31 after Maurice Hampton hit a three to open the second stanza. However, the Colonels jumped right back in it, outscoring the Govs, 11-4, to tie it at 42-all at the 15:31 mark.

From this point on, the lead stayed three points or under for either team, except one four-point lead for the Colonels at 58-54 with 6:44 to go.

Witt led Eastern with 17 points and five assists, while Haney collected his third straight double-double, ninth of the season and 20th of his career with 16 points and 12 boards.
He also added three blocked shots and two assists.

Zach Ingles contributed 11 points for Eastern, who upped its home record this season to 11-1 with the win.

Freshman forward Todd Babington led Austin Peay, now 11-18 and 9-7 in the league, with 13 points off the bench. Davis and Hampton each scored 11 points. Austin Peay, which was held to just 37.5 percent in the second half from the field, finished the game hitting 40.7 percent.

APSU won the battle of the boards, 37-32, with Schlader leading the Govs in this department with eight.

This marked the first season since 1992-93 that Eastern Kentucky has swept the season series with Austin Peay.

Tickets go on sale Monday (Feb. 28) at 9:00 a.m. at the EKU Athletics Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum for $10.00 each for Tuesday's (Mar. 1) O'Reilly OVC Tournament doubleheader in McBrayer Arena.

The ticket office phone number is 859-622-2122.