Slow Start Hinders @unco_mbb, Falls to Austin Peay 91-76

Sunday, November 22

Greeley, CO

2:30 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

Austin Peay

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

11/22/2015 7:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – A slow start to the game hindered Northern Colorado (1-3) men's hoops on Saturday as they faced a big inside presence, Austin Peay (1-4) team.

UNC never led in the game, even though they came close all throughout, they never got over the hump, dropping its second game in as many days, 91-76.

Big man, Jeremy Verhagen finally had a break out performance, scoring a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect day at the free throw line making all eight of his attempts. The redshirt sophomore also added six boards in the loss.

Junior guards, Anthony Johnson and Jordan Wilson also reached double figures for the fourth straight time this season. Johnson tied for the team-high with 20, while Wilson chimed in with 15 of his own.

The underlying story of the game was UNC's inability to get a stop on the defensive end of the court, allowing Austin Peay to shoot 63.3% (31-49) from the field and 47.4% (9-19) from three-point range.

The Bears had respectable numbers from the floor, ending the afternoon 24-of-52 (46.2%) and 8-of-18 on threes.

"The Jeremy Verhagen our staff and our team has seen in practice for the last two years showed up today," head coach B.J. Hill said. "That's the guy we've seen in practice every day, but for some reason it's never translated over to game night – so that was the one bright spot, but defensively he and the rest of the guys on the floor left a lot to be desired."

Northern Colorado opened the game converting just two of its first 11 shots, digging themselves into a seven-point deficit (11-4).

Some sound defense and big-time perimeter shooting from guards Johnson and Wilson allowed the team to hang around,keeping the spread within five to six points.

Both Johnson and Wilson went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the opening act, combining for 25 of the team's 38 first half points.

The Bears played from behind the entire first period, but still showed glimpses of promise with a majority of new players receiving some strong minutes.

UNC went on a 10-6 run beginning at the midway point of the half on the heels of three straight makes at the free throw line from Johnson and a nothing-but-net three-ball at the beginning of the rally from Wilson, cutting into the Governor's lead, 24-22.

Austin Peay took advantage of back-to-back turnovers from UNC on the next two possessions, jumping the score right back up to seven (32-25) with 4:37 remaining until the half.

Both teams traded shots inside and outside of the arc over the course of the next two minutes, before Northern Colorado hopped on a short, 6-2 spurt to end the half.

UNC headed into the locker room behind by one, 39-38 to APSU.

"What we're trying to do is change the mentality that when you walk on to the practice floor it's not about you – it's about us and all sixteen guys that step out on to the floor have to commit to thinking about that first," Hill added. "We can't have days where you (the players) score twenty and feel good about yourself walking out of the arena after a game like that. We have to be happy scoring four, when that's your supposed role. If you score four points and grab six boards and have four assists and we win by one, that should make you happy."

Despite the slow start, the white jerseys still managed to shoot 52.0% (13-25) from the field and 50% (5-10) from three-point land to end opening 20 minutes.

Despite the strong shooting at the end of the half, the team still struggled at the defensive end, allowing Austin Peay to put up an impressive 60.9% (14-23) from the floor.

After intermission, it was more of the same for UNC. They managed to get close to tying the game, or taking over the lead, but could never quite do so.

Another trey by Johnson at the 14:04 mark cut the game to just three points (54-51), but that is as close as it would be for the remaining fourteen minutes.

Two makes at the free throw line from Verhagen once again made it a close game (64-60) with under ten minutes to go, but the Governors always found an answer, breaking off five unanswered points to push the lead back up.

The final dagger for the Bears came with 5:23 left on the clock when APSU's John Murray drained a deep three pointer to take a double-digit, 79-66 lead.

Austin Peay continued to put it on UNC until the final horn sounded, picking up its first win of the year.

"We have a very good Nebraska-Omaha team coming here who handled us at their place last year," Hill said about his next opponent. "They will challenge us at every position – there is no weak link for them. It's going to be a good test for us to see if we're going to get better in the areas we need to get better at."

The Bears will take the court again on Wednesday, Nov. 25 on Thanksgiving eve taking on Nebraska-Omaha inside of Bank of Colorado Arena at 7:00 p.m.