Bradley's buzzer beater propels Southeast men's basketball team past SIU

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt knew that with .8 seconds remaining and his team trailing by one to its regional rival that the shot he set up for his players would be "live and die."

He decided to get the ball in the hands of star senior Jarekious Bradley, who hadn't made a field goal in the second half, for the final shot against Southern Illinois on Wednesday.

Bradley caught the inbounds pass from junior guard Isiah Jones with his back to the basket, turned and knocked down a fadeaway jumper as time expired to give the Redhawks a 55-54 win against the visiting Salukis at the Show Me Center.

"Coach was drawing up the play and Isiah was like, 'Big players make big-time shots in these types of situations,'" Bradley said. "... I just wanted to go and shoot it, and shoot it with confidence. When I released it, it felt good and went in."

Bradley's shot came after SIU had taken a 54-51 lead with 51 seconds left in regulation on a runner by guard Anthony Beane.

Members of the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team celebrate following Jarekious Bradley's buzzer beater that gave the Redhawks a 55-54 win against regional-rival Southern Illinois. (Laura Simon)

Southeast sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland missed the front-end of a one-and-one on the following possession, but Beane missed a 3 and the Redhawks collected the rebound and took a timeout with 7.8 seconds left.

Nutt drew up a play for a 3-point shot, but the Salukis elected to foul and sent sophomore guard Jamaal Calvin to the line with 4.9 seconds on the clock.

Calvin knocked down both free throws -- his only two points of the contest -- to pull Southeast within a point.

Saluki forward Sean O'Brien attempted a long inbounds pass against the Redhawks' full-court press, and Southeast senior guard Nino Johnson came up with a steal before throwing it into the hands of an SIU player.

The Salukis were called for a backcourt violation on the play, though, to give Southeast the ball back for Bradley's final shot.

"I'm hard on these players at times, and I talk about our faults openly, and I'm here to tell you tonight that the head basketball coach at Southern Illinois University cost us this ballgame," SIU coach Barry Hinson said. "I take full responsibility for it. I'm disappointed in myself. I made the decision there to not call a timeout on the press offense. We felt like we didn't want to give them a chance to set it up, but with a young basketball team you don't do that.

Members of the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team celebrate following Jarekious Bradley's buzzer beater that gave the Redhawks a 55-54 win against regional-rival Southern Illinois. (Laura Simon)

"Let's get one thing straight: I don't want to take anything away from what SEMO did. They did a great job. Dickey and them were well-prepared. Their matchup zone gave us problems in the second. When we went zone they made their run in the first half and did a great job getting back in this game, but when it came down to the stretch where all we had to do was get the ball inbounds, and we know how to do that and I elected to not do that. I take full responsibility for that."

Hinson said he'd have to watch the back-court violation on film to see if it was the right call, but that the game shouldn't have had to come to that call.

The referees double-checked Bradley's final shot to make sure that he got it off in time.

"I'm not going to argue the officiating," Hinson said. "I thought the clock did not start. ... I thought it was a little slow starting, but that's OK. The kid hit a great shot. Fallaway jumper. Give him credit. He had a great shot. I'm not one of those guys. They executed. They did a great job. Dickey ran a great play."

The Redhawks battled back from 12 and 13-point deficits in the first half.

They didn't score for nearly six minutes when the Salukis scored 12 unanswered points to take a 19-7 lead with 9:15 remaining in the first half.

SIU held its largest lead of the game at 31-18 with 3:26 before halftime, but Southeast closed out the half on an 11-2 run that featured a pair of 3s by Bradley and a 3 by Jones to pull within 33-29.

"I thought in the first half we were hit in the nose," Nutt said. "They went to a zone there with a few minutes to go and we were able to hit a few shots, kind of gained a little bit of momentum. We felt like going into halftime we were OK. I told our guys, 'We're hit in the nose. We're bleeding. Now what are we going to do?'"

The Redhawks opened the second half with a 3-pointer by senior forward Aaron Adeoye to pull within a point. The Salukis maintained a lead until Bradley hit a couple of free throws -- his only points of the second half until his buzzer beater -- with 10:39 left to tie it at 41.

Southeast took its first lead since three minutes into the game on a dunk by Johnson with 8:21 to go.

A pair of free throws by Adeoye and a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland sandwiched a Saluki layup to push the Redhawks' lead to 50-46 with 6:45 left.

SIU scored the next six points to regain a two-point lead.

Johnson split a pair of free throws before Beane made it a 3-point game with his runner and set up the wild final minute.

SIU shot just 32 percent (8 of 25) from the field in the second half and was 1 of 6 (16.7 percent) behind the arc. Beane was held to nine second-half points, finishing with a game-high 22.

"I thought in the second half we basically controlled the game," Nutt said. "I thought the matchup zone gave them a few problems. I thought we controlled the game. We were able to take some good shots and we were playing pretty good, but as always the best player or one of the best players comes to the forefront, and that's Anthony Beane. He got loose for a couple shots and next thing you know and they get a four-point lead. But I was particularly impressed with our team, and very proud of our team, with how we held our composure."

Bradley led Southeast with 17 points and six rebounds while Adeoye had 14 points and four rebounds.

Jones, who Nutt said played his "best game as a Redhawk," played the entire second half and finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.

"Exhibition I kind of played OK, but during the season I've been struggling," Jones said. "I haven't been making shots, and coach Nutt just kept telling me, 'Keep shooting, you're going to shoot yourself out of the slump. Your game's going to come, just be patient.'"

The Redhawks improved to 5-4 and snapped the Salukis' four-game winning streak. They host Missouri State at the Show Me Center on Saturday night.

"The jubilance in that locker room was unbelievable," Nutt said. "They were so happy to win, number one. But how they did. They let a good lead get away. We knew we were getting ready to have something slip away from us -- we felt like we outplayed them in the second half. But for them to fight back, execute, keep your calmness and execute -- man, that's a happy locker room. And I think about half of them are crying."