Eastern junior center Jake Byrne made an inside basket and was fouled.

Byrne converted the free throw and the Panthers were tied at 27, the Ohio Valley Conference leader, Austin Peay with xx minutes, xx seconds left in the first half.

It was the closest Eastern would get the rest of the game.

The Governors (16-7, 13-2 OVC) used a 15-4 run after Byrne’s basket to go into the locker room ahead 46-36.

Austin Peay cruised from there en route to a 98-71-blowout win Thursday night at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tenn.

It was the Panthers’ worst loss at Austin Peay since joining the Division I ranks in 1981. It was also the most points Eastern allowed in a game in second-year head coach Mike Miller’s tenure.

The last time Eastern allowed this many points in a game was during the 2002-03 season when the Panthers lost 99-65 at Florida.

The loss almost guarantees that last-place Eastern (7-18, 3-13) will miss the OVC Tournament for the second straight year and third time in the last four years.

The top eight teams in the conference advance to the postseason tournament and eighth-place teams

Austin Peay forced the tempo in the first half and shot 60 percent in the first half.

“I can’t remember seeing a team that has shot the ball like they did,” Miller said. “(Austin Peay guard Landon) Shipley shot balls 30 feet from the basket. They hit shots falling down. Everything that came out, you knew it was going in.”

The tempo didn’t slow down in the second half.

It only got worse for Eastern.

The Governors’ continued their hot shooting, connecting on xx of their first xx shots in the second half to jump out to 67-46 lead with xx:xx left.

Austin Peay shot made 33 of 50 shots (66 percent) and made 11 of 18 3-point attempts for the game.

Forward Drake Reed’s 22 points led the Governors, while fellow forward Fernandez Lockett added 20 and Shipley chipped in 18 points.

Shipley’s near perfect six of seven shooting (five of six from beyond the arc) personified Austin Peay’s shooting. All 11 players Austin Peay used in the game scored.

“Guys that normally don’t shoot it like that did,” Miller said. “Different people kept making shots. It wasn’t just one person.”

Eastern guards Mike Robinson and Romain Martin added 15 points each. Martin was back in the starting line-up after missing Saturday’s game against Samford. Martin served a one-game suspension against Samford after being ejected for fighting in last Thursday’s win against Jacksonville State.

“I’ve been fairly pleased with how we’ve performed in the last couple weeks,” Miller said. “Tonight, just hit a team that was hot and made some errors at the wrong time.”

The Panthers get back into action Saturday when they host Tennessee-Martin.

Tip-off is at 7:35 p.m.