Defense allows 90 points

~ The Redhawks led at halftime, but got outscored 46-25 in the second half.

NORMAL, Ill. -- From an offensive standpoint, Southeast Missouri State couldn't have played much better than it did in the first half Wednesday.

But once the Redhawks' shots stopped falling, they were no match for the Illinois State men's basketball team.

The host Redbirds erased a two-point halftime deficit and rolled to a 90-71 victory in front of 4,522 fans at Redbird Arena.

"We came out and threw the first punch," Southeast sophomore forward Calvin Williams said. "In the second half we didn't throw the first punch."

Whatever punches were thrown in the second half primarily belonged to the Redbirds (2-0) as they outscored Southeast (0-2) 46-25 over the final 20 minutes.

"I was ready to go home at halftime," Southeast coach Scott Edgar joked. "We played a good basketball team. ... For 20 minutes I thought we played really well."

Edgar thinks the Redbirds wore down the Redhawks in the second half. Southeast had only 10 healthy scholarship players available.

"We've got some depth issues at various positions," Edgar said. "I think the physicality of the Missouri Valley Conference kind of took its toll in the second half."

The Redhawks, who struggled offensively during Saturday's 90-59 loss at Xavier, clicked on most cylinders during Wednesday's opening period that ended with them ahead 46-44.

Southeast hit 16-of-31 field goals (51.6 percent), including 6-of-12 3-pointers. The Redhawks also made all eight of their free throws.

But even with that impressive first-half performance, the Redhawks could not get any separation from the Redbirds, who stayed close largely by making 7-of-16 3-pointers.

"We started out with a basketball game and a track meet broke out," Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich said. "They [Southeast] shot the heck out of the ball. They were hitting some deep bombs."

The Redbirds tightened their defense in the final period, while continuing to hit shots and pound the glass.

Southeast made 9-of-29 second-half shots (31 percent), including 1-of-7 3-pointers. The Redhawks were also outrebounded 45-30 in the game.

Illinois State senior guard Dominitrix Johnson, a former Bell City High School all-stater, said it was vital that the Redbirds played better defense in the second half.

"The main focus I had ... just make sure we played solid 'D,'" said Johnson, who missed all five of his field goals but grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists.

The Redbirds turned the game around in the final period with an 18-2 run that flipped an early 52-51 deficit into a 69-54 lead at the midway point.

Illinois State got its crowd going with several highlight-reel dunks that aided its hot second-half shooting (17-of-32, 53.1 percent).

"They just got the momentum, started having dunks and steals," Southeast freshman center Will Bogan said.

Bogan, another Bell City grad, led the Redhawks with 23 points in his second college game.

Also reaching double figures for Southeast were senior forward Brandon Foust (11 points) and Williams (10).

Junior guard Osiris Eldridge poured in 27 points for Illinois State, which hit 13-of-32 3-pointers for a solid 40.6 percent.

"They stayed aggressive all night long and we had some lapses," said Edgar, whose squad got no closer than 13 points after that decisive 18-2 burst. "But I saw a lot of good things."

Southeast will play its first home game Friday night, against NAIA Culver-Stockton.

Edgar said senior center Mike Rembert, who has been rehabilitating from knee surgery, should see his first action.

"It's going to be nice to be at home," Edgar said.