Austin Peay clinched the regular season Ohio Valley Conference championship Monday night with a 89-44 victory against Tennessee State in Clarksville, Tenn.

The victory secures Austin Peay the No. 1 seed in the OVC tournament and, in a new rule this year, secures Austin Peay a slot in the National Invitation Tournament.

The NIT decided prior to the season to give automatic bids to teams that were the conference regular season champions but do not win the post-season tournament and secure a slot in the NCAA tournament.

Austin Peay head coach Dave Loos likes the idea of having a guaranteed slot, which is something he felt his team should have had in years past.

“It was much different before,” Loos said. “Last time we were in this situation we went undefeated in conference and were not guaranteed anything.”

While winning the OVC tournament and securing the league’s lone automatic berth into the NCAA tournament is the Governors ultimate goal, he said having the guaranteed NIT bid allows him and his team to “take a step back and catch our breath.”

Colonels stay hot

Eastern Kentucky has rattled off five straight wins and is only 1.5 games back of Samford for second place in the OVC.

Three Colonels average double-digit scoring but the play of freshman point guard Adam Leonard has been the most impressive in the five game stretch.

Leonard is averaging 12.2 points this season but has scored 12 or more points in each of the last five wins and matched his career high, 22 points, twice.

Even with the improved play for Leonard late in the season, head coach Jeff Neubauer points to the Colonels defense as the reason behind the winning streak.

“Last year’s team was very inconsistent and it started with the defense,” Neubauer said. “This year we’ve been able to play more consistently especially with our tempo on defense.”

Morehead State and Tennessee State slide

Morehead State has dropped eight games in a row and Tennessee State has lost six straight.

Morehead’s last conference win was a 70-48 win against Tennessee-Martin on Jan. 13.

TSU last won Jan. 25 with a 63-62 win against Eastern Kentucky.

Morehead is now alone in seventh place and TSU is in eight place after the Tigers’ loss Monday at Austin Peay.

But Morehead State head coach Donnie Tyndall thinks his team’s defense has to improve to stay in the postseason mix, evidenced by the Eagles allowing Murray State to shot 49 percent from the field in their last loss.

“We let them shoot 50 percent from the floor, which is ungodly,” Tyndall said. “I think me and my staff could hold teams to 50 percent just sitting in a 2-3 zone.”