MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — LaRon Dendy scored 21 points as Middle Tennessee held off Austin Peay 80-71 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
The Blue Raiders snapped a three-game Governors winning streak in the series.
Dendy, a transfer from Iowa State playing his first game for Middle Tennessee, was 8 of 10 from the field with nine rebounds and three blocks. Marcos Knight added 15 points, James Gallman 14 and JT Sulton 13.
Austin Peay got to 61-58 with 6:31 left, but Middle Tennessee answered with a 5-0 run.
TyShwan Edmonson led the Governors with 20 points.
Austin Peay’s John Fraley, who had 10 rebounds, suffered an apparent neck injury when he collided with a Blue Raiders player while going for a late dunk. Fraley was moving his extremities before he was taken off the floor on a stretcher and transported to a hospital. No further details were known.
