Brown University
1-5
Austin Peay
2-4
Second Half Surge Lifts Austin Peay Over Brown, 79-58
11/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Las Vegas, NV – Austin Peay used a 31-8 surge to open the second half and cruise to a 79-58 win over Brown in the Las Vegas Invitational at the Orleans Arena. Sophomore forward Leland King led the Bears with 20 points, while Chris Freeman scored 20 points for the Governor's.
The loss drops Brown to 1-5 overall, while Austin Peay improves to 2-4.
The Bears were without the inside presence of senior forward Rafael Maia, the Ivy League's top rebounder for the last two years, who missed the game with a stomach bug that was making its way through the team.
Trailing 38-33 at the half, Austin Peay broke the game open by outscoring the Bears 31-8 at outset of the second half to build a 64-46 lead following a lay-up by Khalil Davis with 8:50 remaining in the game.
The Governor's shot 59-percent in the second half, while forcing the Bears into 11 second half turnovers and 29-percent second half shooting.
King's 20 points came on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, while grabbing seven rebounds. Bears' junior forward Cedric Kuakumensah also scored in double figures with 15 points, while grabbing five rebounds and blocking four shots. Kuakumensah now has 170 career blocked shots, ninth best in Ivy League basketball history.
Freeman shot a phenomenal 10-of-12 from the field in scoring his 20 points. Ed Dyson chipped in with 18 points, while Davis had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Governor's.
The cold shooting Bears fell behind 11-2 at the five minute mark of the first half, before Kuakumensah caught fire. He knocked down back-to-back treys, and converted a three-point play, to tie the game, 11-11, and sophomore forward Steven Spieth scored on a lay-up to give Brown its first lead, 13-11, to complete an 11-0 Brown run.
From that point forward the game was a sea-saw battle, with five first half lead changes. Brown finished the half with a 5-0 run, on a lay-up by Kuakumensah and a three-point play by King to grab a 38-33 lead at intermission, its biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes.
King (14 points) and Kuekumensah (13 points) led all first half scorers.
Brown continues play in the Las Vegas Invitational, playing either Steven F. Austin or Prairie View on Friday, November 28 at the Orleans Arena at 2:30pm EST.
