Drake Reed and the Austin Peay men’s basketball team were too much for the Panthers Thursday night.

Reed, who scored 38 against the Panthers (12-16, 8-9 Ohio Valley Conference) on Dec. 5, scored 20 first-half points and finished with a game high at 28 as the Govs cruised to a 69-54 victory.

Eastern switched to a double team on the senior forward in the second half holding him to eight points, but the rest of the Govs (16-12, 12-5) stepped up. The closest Eastern got in the second half was five, as they trailed 49-44 with 10 minutes, 5 seconds remaining, but Austin Peay outscored them 20-10 in the last 10 minutes for the win.

Eastern coach Mike Miller said in a post-game interview with WEIU-FM that in the first half, he felt Reed was making tough shots, but they decided to switch to a double team to give him a hard time.

“We tried to run some guys at him and make some of the others make some shots,” Miller said. “It gave us a chance to get back into the game, but we couldn’t do anything offensively. I was disappointed.”

Tennessee State (11-17, 8-9) beat Southeast Missouri 87-82 Thursday, so the Panthers are now tied with the Panthers for seventh place. The Panthers and Tennessee State will square off Saturday for the final regular season game. The 7:30 p.m. game in Nashville, Tenn., will be for sixth place in the conference.

Miller said offensively the Panthers were not able to establish enough inside, and it hurt them throughout the game.

Austin Peay led 34-29 at the half as the Panthers had a tough time stopping Reed. The senior forward torched the Eastern for 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Eastern trailed 12-11 after a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Tyler Laser, but the Governors responded with a 10-2 run to take a 22-13 lead with 5:52 remaining in the half off a bucket and a free throw by Reed. The largest lead in the first half for the Governors was 11 points with 50 seconds remaining in the half, but Eastern ended the half on with a six-point run to close the gap to five. Freshman guard Jeremy Granger drove down the court to score and was fouled. He missed his free throw, but junior center Ousmane Cisse tipped the ball back to junior guard T.J. Mrrion for a buzzer beater.

Junior guard Romain Martin led the Panthers with 14 points, while Marrion was just behind with 13 with three assists.

Cambell 11 was the only other Gov to score in double figures (11).

Laser saw his consecutive free throw streak end at 45, one short of the OVC record after missing a free throw in the final minute of the game.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.

Tyler Laser, sophomore guard, rushes up the court during the home game against UT Martin on Feb. 18 in Lantz Arena. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

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