Southeast men rejuvenate OVC hopes

Sure, Southeast Missouri State has been playing impressive basketball during its five-game winning streak that is the program's longest since the 2000-01 team also reeled off five straight victories.

But good fortune has also been with the Redhawks, as senior forward Reggie Golson was quick to point out following Saturday's 61-58 upset at Murray State in which Southeast missed two of three free throws in the final seconds.

"Earlier in the year, when we missed some free throws late, somebody would throw in a three and we would get beat," Golson said, laughing. "Lady luck is with us right now."

The Redhawks (11-10, 6-4 Ohio Valley Conference) hope their good fortune continues tonight when they play Eastern Illinois (9-12, 4-6) in a 7:35 p.m. tipoff in Charleston, Ill.

"We've got a lot of confidence right now and we just need to keep playing well," sophomore guard Terrick Willoughby said.

Southeast, which can complete a perfect three-game road swing tonight, has already posted its most OVC victories since 2000-01. And the Redhawks have already matched their most overall wins since 2000-01.

"We're playing good and we have to keep it up," senior forward Dainmon Gonner said.

The Redhawks, while two games out of first place, are in a four-way tie for fourth place in the 11-team OVC. The top four finishers earn home games for the first round of the eight-team league tournament, which moves to Nashville for the semifinals and finals.

"It would really be big for us if we could get that home game and at least give ourselves the best possible chance to get to Nashville," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "But as tight as things are, you can go from fourth to seventh real quick."

Southeast beat EIU 79-60 on Jan. 11 at the Show Me Center, but the Panthers have been playing well lately and they are notoriously strong at home, having lost just one OVC home game so far. Among their victims at Lantz Arena are first-place Samford and defending conference champion Austin Peay.

"It's going to be a tough game," Garner said. "You look at what they've done at home so far. They always play well at home and they're playing real well right now."

The Panthers feature one of the OVC's better backcourts in 6-foot-3 junior Josh Gomes and 6-1 senior Emmanuel Dildy, who are averaging 16.1 and 15.6 points per game, respectively. Both are shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range.

"They are really tough to guard because they run the motion offense as well as anybody in the country," Garner said. "And their young inside players have really improved, which makes their team much tougher now."

Southeast leads seven of the 13 main individual statistical categories that the OVC tracks, led by Gonner and Golson.

Gonner is first in scoring (20.3 ppg) and steals (55), while Golson is first in rebounding (8.9 rpg), blocked shots (52) and defensive rebounding (6.0 rpg). He also is the league's fourth-leading scorer (16.5 ppg).

In addition, Willoughby -- who has averaged a little more than 19 points over his last four games -- is first in 3-point percentage (47.1, on 33 of 70), and freshman point guard Paul Paradoski leads in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.19, on 68 assists and 31 turnovers).

"To be leading in seven categories, that's pretty good," Garner said. "If you had told me that before the season, I wouldn't have believed it."

Turnovers hurt the Redhawks during some of their early, narrow OVC losses, but during the current five-game winning streak they have averaged just nine turnovers.

"That's really been a big key for us," Garner said.

Garner figures it will take another strong performance to extend the winning streak because he believes the Panthers -- in eighth place in the OVC but just two games out of fourth -- will be tough to knock off.

"They're a good team anyway, and coming right after we beat Murray State, I'm worried about the mental aspect of the game," Garner said. "This game scares me, it really scares me. We'll have to play very well to win."