Eastern senior forward Billy Parrish’s final shot gave Austin Peay a scare on Tuesday night in Clarksville, Tenn.

Parrish had an open 3-pointer from the top of the key with nine seconds left in the game, but after the ball struck the rim two times — it trickled out.

Austin Peay was able to get the rebound and make free throws to seal the first round Ohio Valley Conference Tournament victory against Eastern 57-54.

“From where I was, I thought it was dropping in, but it went out to the side,” Eastern head basketball coach Mike Miller said in a post-game radio interview with WEIU 88.9 FM. “That’s just one of those things. We played the way we wanted to play everything short of that basket.”

The Govs scored the games’ final four points, ending Eastern’s season after the Panthers had maintained the lead for most of the game.

The Governors, a No. 2 seed in the league tournament, took their first second-half lead with 2 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the game on a jumper from Govs red-shirt freshman forward Marcel Williams.

Eastern junior guard Romain Martin was fouled on a lay up with 1:50 remaining and his two free throws gave Eastern a 54-53 lead.

The Govs responded with a free throw from senior forward Drake Reed and two free throws by senior guard Kyle Duncan to take the lead by two. The Panthers led by as many as 10 in the first half after Eastern sophomore center Matt Dorlack’s layup capped off an 8-3 run dating back to the first half to give the Panthers a 40-30 lead.

Austin Peay (18-12) scrapped its way back into the game and cut the lead to 52-51 with 3:45 remaining in the game. The Panthers’ full court pressure defense gave Austin Peay fits in the first half as they went 10-29 (35.6 percent) from the field as Eastern forced six steals in the game.

“Defensively, I thought we played as well as we could play,” Miller said. “I think as far as executing the gameplan and doing what we wanted to do, we did as good as we can.”

Reed, the Govs’ leading scorer, had dominated the Panthers in the two teams’ previous games this season scoring 38 and 28 points respectively, but Eastern kept an eye on him, double- and triple-teaming him throughout the game.

Reed was held to just 16 points, but did have five assists in the victory. Martin led the way for the Panthers with 20 points. All 10 Panthers who played scored at least two points for Eastern.

With the loss, the season is done for the team. The Panthers finished with a 12-18 record, with the 12 wins tying the 2004-05 team. This was the first conference tournament appearance for the team since that season. The team will return 12 players next year. Parrish finished his Eastern career with 10 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in his first ever OVC Tournament game.

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

Eastern junior guard T.J. Marion drives against his defenders Feb. 18 at Lantz Arena. The Panthers lost 57-54 against Austin Peay Tuesday night. (Alycia Rockey / The Daily Eastern News)

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