Bogan delivers huge effort in loss

~ Southeast's rookie from Bell City scored 23 points Wednesday.

NORMAL, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State suffered its second straight lopsided loss against stiff competition, but Will Bogan couldn't be blamed.

Bogan, a freshman center playing only his second collegiate game, turned in a monster performance during Wednesday's 90-71 defeat at Illinois State.

The 6-foot-10, 290-pound Bell City High School product scored 23 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the team in both departments.

"Will had a very good game," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "Am I surprised? No.

"He's big, he's blessed with a tremendous amount of gifts. He's got hands, he's got feet, he's got the ability to put the ball in the basket, he's got instincts. The only thing he's got to do is continue to work hard and get in better shape."

Bogan had a solid collegiate debut during Saturday's 90-59 loss at Xavier with seven points, 10 rebounds and five blocks.

Wednesday night, Bogan hit 8-of-10 field goals -- all from within a few feet of the basket -- and also made 7-of-10 free throws.

Bogan, who has come off the bench in both games, admitted that he didn't expect to fare so well so early in his college career.

"I'm surprised," said Bogan, who was also impressive in Southeast's two exhibition contests. "But we have to keep working as a team. We have to get better every day."

Bogan had an especially strong first half Wednesday, scoring 15 points as he hit all five of his field goals and all five of his free throws.

Illinois State started sending more defenders at Bogan in the second half, which helped slow him down a bit.

"Bogan in the first half completely took over," Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said. "He's a really, really good talent."

Several of the Illinois State players also came away impressed with Bogan, including senior guard Dominitrix Johnson, another former Bell City all-stater.

"He played pretty good, better than I thought he would," said Johnson, who graduated from Bell City the year before Bogan arrived, but says he knows Bogan.

Added senior forward Anthony Slack, who spent some time guarding Bogan: "He's a big guy. It's kind of like defending Shaq [Shaquille O[']Neal] in there."