Disappointing season ends tonight

~ After starting OVC play with six wins, the men's season ends today.

Southeast Missouri State senior center Mike Rembert never envisioned his final college basketball season ending this way.

Especially not after the Redhawks won their first six Ohio Valley Conference games to lead the standings nearly one-third of the way through the OVC schedule.

"It's been the longest season of my life," Rembert said.

And it will come to an end tonight when Southeast (12-18, 7-12) hosts last-place Jacksonville State (6-22, 4-15) at 7:30 p.m.

Senior Mike Rembert will play in his last game at Southeast today. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Rembert and Southeast's other two seniors, forward Brandon Foust and swingman David Johnson, will be recognized before tipoff.

But Rembert might be the only one of that trio who plays in the game.

Foust, Southeast's No. 2 scorer and top rebounder, has been out since suffering a season-ending knee injury Jan. 12 at Austin Peay.

Johnson missed the final 14 minutes of Thursday's loss to Samford after suffering what appeared to be a hip injury.

Southeast coach Scott Edgar was hopeful following the Samford defeat -- which eliminated the Redhawks from making the OVC tournament -- that Johnson would be able to play tonight.

Brandon Foust helped the Redhawks start 6-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast has gone 1-11 in conference games since his season-ending injury Jan. 12. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

Rembert could only shake his head when it was mentioned that Johnson going down seemed about par for the course during a season that has spiraled out of control.

"Us three seniors, it was supposed to be our promising year," Rembert said.

The Redhawks made solid strides during Edgar's first season last year, improving to 11-20 overall and a sixth-place 9-11 in the OVC, following a 2005-06 campaign that ended 7-20 and a 10th-place 4-16 in the 11-team conference.

And that was despite Southeast struggling to the finish line after Rembert suffered a knee injury toward the end of the campaign.

Hopes were high for the Redhawks this season, especially after they bolted to a 6-0 start in the OVC.

Then Foust went down, some other players suffered lesser injuries that caused them to miss time and the Redhawks never could recapture their earlier magic.

Southeast has lost 12 of its last 13 OVC games, including six straight. The Redhawks are assured of finishing ninth in the league. Only the top eight teams make the conference tournament.

"It's been disappointing," said Rembert, who is averaging 7.1 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Rembert said he wonders at times about what might have happened if Foust -- who was averaging 11.6 points and 6.6 rebounds while playing by far the best basketball of his two-year Southeast career -- had not been injured.

Southeast was 6-1 in OVC play with Foust in the lineup, and the Redhawks were hanging with regular-season champion Austin Peay before he went down midway through the second half Jan. 12.

Without Foust, the Redhawks have gone 1-11 in conference games.

But Rembert, who like Oklahoma transfer Foust has played at Southeast for two years following his transfer from Bradley, knows there is nothing the Redhawks can do about things now.

What they can control is how they end this season -- and they plan on going out with a victory.

"I'm not a quitter, and I don't think anybody on our team is," Rembert said. "We just hope to come out with a 'W.'"

Edgar would like nothing more, especially for the three seniors.

"It's always a special time for the seniors. They have been great members of our program," Edgar said. "It's important we get our heads back up ... so the seniors can get a victory and the young kids can feel good about themselves as they leave the Show Me Center."