Recap: Austin Peay vs. Western Carolina

Cancun, MX (Sports Network) - Travis Betran scored a game-high 22 points on Tuesday to lift the Austin Peay Governors to a 72-71 victory over the Western Carolina Catamounts at the Cancun Challenge.

Anthony Campbell followed with 21 points, while Chris Freeman donated a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Governors (2-2), who had lost their last two games.

Austin Peay advances to play Gardner-Webb in Wednesday's championship.

Trey Sumler led Western Carolina with 16 points and Preston Ross chipped in 14 points, nine boards and four assists for the Catamounts (1-4), who have lost three straight and will play Howard in the third place game on Wednesday.

The Catamounts held a 42-30 lead at halftime, but the Governors battled back with a 14-4 run early in the second half to pull within 50-48 just before the midpoint of the frame.

The lead was down to one shortly after before Betran buried back-to-back 3- pointers to spark an 11-0 Austin Peay surge to give the Governors a 68-58 lead with 4:38 remaining.

Western Carolina cut the lead to three with under a minute left thanks to an 8-2 swing, but James Sinclair missed a game-tying 3-point attempt with less than five seconds remaining and the Governors held on for the victory.

The Catamounts shot 52.9 percent from the field in the first half and held the Governors to 37.5 percent shooting to build a double-digit lead heading into the locker room.