By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Sheer grit, determination and will propelled the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team to an 81-76 victory over in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay Thursday night in the Hooper Eblen Center.
Trailing by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Golden Eagles never gave in, taking the lead for good with 10 minutes to play and never looking back. The purple and gold staved off a late push by the Govs, who hit a couple of triples with under 30 seconds to play to make it a one-possession game.
Tech stood strong, hit its free throws down the stretch and collected the most important statistic of them all, a win.
"I'm very proud of the guys," Tech head coach John Pelphrey expressed. "They've shown incredible resilience for us over the last year-and-a-half and we could not be more thankful to them for that, because it hasn't always been easy. Everyone understands how disruptive and challenging this season has been. Being down to seven scholarship players brings on another challenge in itself. We've had a number of heartbreaking games – 11 kind of came down to the last two possessions, certainly the last two minutes. And there's a lot for us to learn and grow to get better at that.
"I'm not saying it was perfect down the stretch, especially defensively giving up some threes there towards the end, but we didn't turn it over. We stepped up and made free throws. I thought the best thing we did tonight was just staying with it. We stayed together. You can't stay with it if you don't stay together."
After junior Damaria Franklin buried a triple from the corner with just over a minute to play, Austin Peay had an answer, sinking one of its own. From there, it came down to the charity stripe for the Golden Eagles, as the Govs began their stretch of fouling to create more possessions.
Tech made six of seven tries at the line down the stretch, with sophomore point guard Keishawn Davidson sinking four straight to help keep the team's lead afloat. The visitors from Clarksville kept their attack rolling, making a layup and back-to-back treys to make it a three-point game.
With three seconds left on the clock, junior guard Jr. Clay put things away for good, converting two more attempts from the stripe to clinch the victory. The Chattanooga native turned in a performance for the ages, exploding for a career-high 31 points on the night, including a whopping 25 in the second half alone.
Clay became the first Golden Eagle to score 30 or more points since Corey Tillery set the program record for 3-pointers with 10 against Warren Wilson College on Dec. 6, 2018. His career-high six makes from distance were the most by a Tech player since Tillery had six against Tennessee State on Jan. 17, 2019.
The Tech veteran continued his climb up the program's career charts, passing Hall of Famer Wayne Pack for 20th on the scoring list. His three steals propelled him past Frank Davis to eighth in team history while his six assists allowed him to pass Jimmy Howell, also for eighth on the all-time list.
Davidson also turned in a career-high scoring effort, hitting 8-of-12 tries for 21 points. In addition to his four huge free throws down the stretch, he also dished out six dimes.
"I think Jr. had a spectacular night from an offensive perspective," Pelphrey said. "He made a lot of big, big shots. I was really proud of him there at the end – really him and Keishawn both – but Jr. basically iced the game with the two free throws. That's good. That's what we need. When guys are able to step up and perform in the moment."
Dane Quest produced one of his best all-around games in the purple and gold, contributing eight points, six rebounds and four assists while playing very strong defense. He hauled in three timely offensive boards, keeping possessions alive at critical points in the contest. The Toronto native also turned in a game-high +12 in the plus/minus column.
Damaria Franklin chipped in nine points and team-highs of seven rebounds and four steals while Austin Harvell collected five boards with four points. Harvell, Shandon Goldman and Marcus Hopkins all helped contain Gov senior Terry Taylor on the glass, holding the league's scoring and rebounding leader to just six boards.
"I thought we stayed together," Pelphrey explained. "We kept fighting. This is a team win. I know there were some big performances, especially by Jr. and Keishawn, but this was a team win. I think at halftime we had five guys with six points or more. We thought that was the formula for us to win from an offensive perspective. The question was going to be, could we keep them off the backboard. In the first half, the backboard really hurt us.
"Marcus got in there and was able to compete a little bit. Austin certainly gave us something in the second half – both of them had foul trouble in the first. I thought Biggie [Goldman] was Biggie. He competed in there. He made some big shots. He had some leadership. There wasn't one guy that kind of got it done for us. It was a team win. That's what basketball is. It's a team game."
Tech dished out 21 assists and totaled 10 steals on the night while shooting 56.4 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles also hit 11-of-22 attempts from downtown on their way to 48 second-half points.
"I'm really proud of how we stayed together tonight and we did it against a really quality opponent," Pelphrey said. "What Coach [Matt] Figger has done at Austin Peay – they've been perennially one of the top two or three teams in this league since he's been there. Obviously, they have the league's reigning MVP, so we were excited to be able to compete and see where we were, and then even more excited to be able to get a victory."
The Golden Eagles will wrap up the 2020-21 campaign Saturday evening, hosting longtime OVC rival Murray State in the Hoop at 8:00 p.m. CT.
Photo by Matt Dexter, TTU Athletics
