Ticket punched: Austin Peay is first Cinderella story of season

Austin Peay completed one of the most unlikely runs to the NCAA Tournament in recent memory Saturday night by winning its fourth game in four days to capture the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title 83-73 over UT-Martin.

It was quite the birthday present for Austin Peay coach Dave Loos, the winningest coach in OVC history who turned 69 on Saturday.

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The Governors became the first No. 8 seed in OVC history to advance to the title game and the first to win the title behind 16 3-pointers, including eight made by freshman Jared Savage. He finished the game with 24 points.

Austin Peay knocked off No. 5 seed Tennessee Tech, No. 4 seed Tennessee State, No. 1 seed Belmont in overtime and the second-seeded Skyhawks.

In its win over Tennessee State in the quarterfinals, Austin Peay overcame an 18-point deficit to claim victory.

Two days later, the Governors threatened to run away with an easy victory in the championship but UT-Martin managed to keep it interesting but never could get it close enough down the stretch to cause any real anxiety for Loos, who is in his 26th season coaching the Governors.

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“It’s just unbelievable,” Loos said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “I’m still wondering what happened. These guys played their hearts out. They absolutely played their hearts out.”

It might have helped Austin Peay that it had to go into do-or-die mode earlier than the teams it was competing against. The Governors had to win their final two games of the regular season and get help just to get into the conference tournament as the final seed.

There was an extra bit of emotion in the victory celebration just as their has been a jolt of motivation fueling the Governors as they fought to keep their season alive. Loos’ granddaughter, Rhyan, is fighting cancer and the team wanted to win for her and her grandpa. Rhyan is also the daughter of Missouri assistant coach Brad Loos.

Austin Peay will likely be no better than a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament but it will be a dangerous team with a shooter like Savage and the talents of center Chris Horton, who was held to eight points in the championship but is averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds this season.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo