CHARLOTTE – If numerology is your thing, there were
plenty of numbers to enjoy Wednesday night in Charlotte.
32. Five. 21-for-34.
The 32 – worn by Austin Peay’s Collin Parker – easily eclipsed his
career-high point total. The five – Rashaud Marshall – backed up his teammate with a 9-for-10
effort of his own. The 21-for-34 came from Queens, which was one of the main
points Royals coach Grant Leonard wanted to address after the game.
Austin Peay held serve in Curry Arena, turning away Queens,
95-87, and extending its clutch on the top spot in the ASUN.
“We knew it would be a hard-fought game,” Austin Peay head
coach Corey Gipson said after the game. “We knew we had to be the more physical
team. And we were.”
Austin Peay (18-6, 12-1 ASUN) asserted its will almost from
the opening tip. The Governors ripped off an 11-0 run after Queens took the
lead on the first bucket of the game, then pushed the lead as high as 12 on a
Parker triple. Queens (14-12, 9-4) gradually whittled away at the lead,
snipping it to five on an Avantae Parker bucket at the 5:39 mark of the first
half.
The Governors used a 5-0 burst to swell the lead back to 10
a minute later, only for the Royals to clip it to six. Queens then scored 11 of
the final 18 points of the half, capped by a Nas Mann jumper at the horn to
head to the locker room down 52-50.
Queens charged out of the intermission and landed a haymaker
on Austin Peay, delivering a 10-0 killshot run to take a 60-52 advantage buoyed
by a pair of Chris Ashby triples. As quickly as the Royals landed the blow,
Austin Peay punched back with a killshot run of its own, taking a 62-60 lead.
The Royals tied the game on a Jordan Watford jumper but surrendered a 20-8 run
from there to put Austin Peay ahead by 12.
“I’ll have to study that stretch to see exactly what happened,”
Leonard said. “I thought we came out (in the second half) with great energy. I
thought (guard Yoav) Berman’s third foul kind of took some energy away, which
was unfortunate. That’s kind of when they went back on their run.”
Austin Peay held Queens at bay through a team defensive
effort and strong offense from Parker, Marshall, and others. Gipson had an
interesting assessment of how the Governors weathered the storm.
“It’s hard to let the game be boring,” Gipson said. “Our
guys really bought into it in the second half. We knew we had to go to a couple
of people (on offense) because they would have a mismatch all night long. I
thought the second half – and the latter part of the second half – our defense
got better, even though it wasn’t predicated off the energy of (our players)
getting a touch to score the ball.”
The trading of punches continued, despite the Austin Peay
run. Queens responded by halving the Governors’ lead completely keyed by Jordan
Watford’s seven points, then using a 7-0 burst to cut it to three on a Watford
free throw with 1:38 to play. Austin Peay was able to salt away the game from
the line, though, earning the final result in a true battle.
“The fact that we could go on the road and come away with
one against a really good team is special,” Gipson said. “At the end of the
day, it was just two solid teams getting after each other, making each other
better.”
The 21-for-34 number on Leonard’s mind was the final Royal
result from the free throw line. Queens had a lot of free throw opportunities
circle off, including some in pivotal moments.
“When you’re playing a really good team, the margins are rail-thin,”
Leonard said. “There were a couple of categories that I wasn’t really pleased
with. Obviously, our free throw shooting kind of went awry. What we’ve got to
do is (to) start making our free throws. We can’t go to the line 34 times and
make 21, look down, and we’re at 60 percent and they’re at 80 percent, then
think we’re going to win a high-stakes game. It’s just not going to happen like
that.”
Parker’s 39 points were a career-high for the Govs, with the
senior forward hitting 11-of-23 from the field (3-of-5 from distance) and
14-of-17 from the line. Parker’s total was his third 30-point outing in the
Govs’ last four games.
“I knew (Parker) was going to be – he only shot 50 percent
from the field. But I knew he was going to be good,” Leonard said. “We can’t
put him at the foul line that much. The difference in the game was small
things. If we want to win a championship, we’ve got to be cleaner.”
Marshall tallied 21, connecting on 9-of-10 from the field.
Ja’Corey Robinson added 13 in 24 minutes of reserve duty, hitting 4-of-6 from the
field and all five of his free throw tries. The Govs shot 56.1 percent
(32-for-57) from the deck, with 35.7 percent (5-of-14) of their tries from
distance finding the net. The 80 percent Leonard referenced from the line came
on 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) from the stripe. Austin Peay also outrebounded
Queens by 10, 38-28.
Watford turned in a career-high of his own, netting 26 in 27
minutes of play off the bench for the Royals. The freshman from nearby
Lancaster, S.C., hit 8-of-13 from the field and 8-of-12 from the line.
“Jordan was able to get mismatches and get downhill,”
Leonard said. “I was really proud of how he played and I thought he played well
enough to put us in a position to win. Jordan keeps getting better and better.
I know it’s going to keep happening.”
Four other Royals joined Watford in double figures. Chris
Ashby scored 15 on 4-for-10 from the field, with Berman notching 13 on 4-for-9 from
the field and 5-for-9 from the line. Mann and Avantae Parker tallied 12 apiece,
shooting a combined 9-for-18.
Queens shot 51.6 percent (29-for-56) from the field, with
8-of-22 (36.4 percent) connecting from deep. The Royals shot 61.8 percent
(21-for-34) from the line.
Austin Peay returns to F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville,
Tenn., to face Bellarmine Saturday afternoon. Tip time is set for 5:30
(Eastern), with ESPN+ handling the coverage. Queens welcomes Lipscomb to Curry Arena
Saturday afternoon as the Royals close a small home stand. Tip time is set for
4:00 over ESPN+.
AUSTIN PEAY 95, QUEENS 87
AUSTIN PEAY (18-6, 12-1 ASUN)
McCubbin 3-8 2-2 9, Collins 2-5 2-2 6, Marshall 9-10 3-6 21,
Brookshire 1-2 0-0 3, Parker 11-23 14-17 39, Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Morisch 0-0 0-0
0, Torain 2-3 0-0 4, Robinson 4-6 5-5 13. Totals 32-57 26-32 95.
QUEENS (14-12, 9-4)
Mann 5-11 1-2 12, Parker 4-7 4-8 12, Ashby 4-10 3-3 15,
Schwieger 2-4 0-0 4, Berman 4-9 5-9 13, Watford 8-13 8-12 26, Henry 1-1 0-0 2,
Larson 0-0 0-0 0, Jabriel 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 29-56 21-34 87.
Halftime: Austin Peay 52-50. 3-Point
goals: Queens 8-22 (Mann 1-5, Ashby 4-10, Schwieger 0-1, Berman 0-3,
Watford 2-2, Jabriel 1-1), Austin Peay 5-14 (McCubbin 1-4, Collins 0-3,
Brookshire 1-2, Parker 3-5). Fouled out: Collins (APSU), Schwieger
(QUC). Rebounds: Austin Peay 38 (C. Parker/McCubbin 9),
Queens 28 (A. Parker 7). Total fouls: Austin Peay 24, Queens 23.
Technicals: NA.
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