Govs want spot in Dance
Austin Peay's goal: Win OVC tourney
? Austin Peay team members walked out of Ellis T. Johnson Arena Saturday night after its 72-56 drubbing of Morehead State to a small, but robust and faithful group of Govs' fans who were cheering them for being the 2007-08 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champs.
The Govs, who actually clinched their second-straight league crown after Thursday's win at Eastern Kentucky, wanted to make sure they entered the OVC Tournament on a strong note. And their three-game winning streak and victories in eight of their last nine games, seemingly show Austin Peay is getting things going at the right time.
"I know we're playing well, and that's what we want to keep doing," said Todd Babington, who scored a game-high 18 points against Morehead State. "That's really all you can do, keep playing well and finding ways to win. That's all it is now, finding ways to win."
Caleb Brown came off the bench to add a career-high 16 points to help beat Morehead State. Drake Reed added nine points and six rebounds. Fernandez Lockett scored eight points, and Ernest Fields had seven points. Kyle Duncan also had six points and six rebounds.
And all Austin Peay (21-10, 16-4 OVC), which has won the league by three games the past two seasons, wants to do is find a way to win Tuesday night's first round OVC Tournament game against Eastern Kentucky at 7 p.m.
After all the pageantry and praise, getting to the OVC Championship game and the NCAA Tournament is now the Govs' main concern.
"We've won a regular season championship, we've won 21 games and accomplished a number of things, but it doesn't mean anything now. We start over," Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. "Everybody is 0-0 and is about those three days in March. We've got some seniors who have three (regular season championship) rings. But they don't have that big one (for winning the OVC Tournament). They want it, and I want them to have it. So we've got to go earn it again."
And Austin Peay is finding out they might not have to rely only on its seniors and upperclassmen to get things done.
Over the past two games, a sophomore and freshman reserve have stepped in and played nicely.
Fields scored career highs of 16 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Govs to their championship-clinching win over Eastern Kentucky and helped them to keep their dominant presence in the lane. Brown came through with his 16 points against Morehead State and showed he could efficiently step in for senior D.J. Wright when he needs a rest.
"I just wanted to step in for D.J. and make them respect me," Brown said. "I know I've been the weak link on the floor, so I had something to prove. So I just wanted them to respect me and play me honest."
Said Reed: "It's been great to have Caleb and Ernest have their two best games of their career heading into the tournament, because we're going to need them to come in and hit some big shots for us and make other big plays as well. So those two are going to be instrumental in our success."
