A desperation Butler three-point attempt as time expired bounced off the rim, giving Austin Peay a 68-66 win Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
 
Austin Peay now is 2-0 on the young season, while the Bulldogs are 1-1.
 
KEY MOMENT:

• Two made Patrick McCaffery free throws tied the game at 63-63 with 1:07 remaining, but the next five points belonged to Austin Peay before Butler's late rally fell short.

 
HOW IT TRANSPIRED:

• LJ Thomas went the length of the floor over the final 3.2 seconds of the first half, sinking a pull-up three-pointer to give Austin Peay a 39-34 halftime lead. The Governors scored 12 of the final 13 points to close the opening half.
• Austin Peay's run followed an early Butler 12-2 run that gave the Bulldogs a 31-24 lead with 6:24 remaining in the half as the seven-point advantage was Butler's largest of the game.
• Austin Peay took a 14-point lead (52-38) with 15:59 remaining in the game, which was the largest margin of the contest.
• Chipping away at the deficit, a 9-0 Butler run pulled the Bulldogs to within 56-55 at the 7:27 mark.
• The Bulldogs never pulled even until the 1:07 mark on those two McCaffery free throws.
• Austin Peay's 5-0 run got the lead back to 68-63, but a McCaffery three-pointer and a missed Austin Peay free throw gave Pierre Brooks II the opportunity for a lengthy pull-up three-pointer to win that was no good. 

 
NOTEWORTHY:

• Seventeen of Thomas's 29 points for Austin Peay came in the first half. He was the only Governor in double figures.
• McCaffery scored 23 points, one shy of his career-high; he went 5-for-8 from the three-point line. The rest of Butler's roster combined to shoot 2-for-17 from behind the arc. 
• Finley Bizjack, who sat out Monday's regular season opener with an ankle injury, made the first regular season start of his Butler career. He handed out a career-high six assists to go along with 10 points.
• After committing 19 turnovers Monday against Missouri State, Butler committed 16 Friday night. The Governors turned those into 23 points.
• Austin Peay scored 44 points in the paint.

 
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs continue a stretch of home games to open the season, hosting Western Michigan Monday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tickets are still available for the 7 p.m. tip, which will also air on FS1.