Eagles overpower Redhawks in 2nd half

~ Tennessee Tech won 91-76 for its first conference victory.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech is regarded as a leading candidate to win the Ohio Valley Conference championship, but the Eagles started league play with two losses for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

For a while Saturday night, Southeast Missouri State threatened to continue the Eagles' frustrations, overcoming another slow start to lead by three points at halftime and staying with Tech for a good portion of the second half.

But the explosive Eagles were finally able to take control and pull away for a 91-76 victory.

Tech, picked third in the OVC's preseason poll after finishing third in the conference last year, improved to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Southeast fell to 3-7 and 1-2 as the Redhawks dropped both legs of its two-game OVC road trip, including Thursday's three-point loss at Tennessee State.

"I think that this is the toughest swing in the OVC because of State's athleticism and Tech's athleticism," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "It will be a difficult swing for everybody."

Junior guard David Johnson led the Redhawks with 15 points. He hit four of nine 3-pointers.

Freshman guard Marcus Rhodes had his third straight double-figure scoring performance for Southeast, as he finished with 11 points.

Junior college transfer forward Dionte Perry added 10 points, the highest total in his young Southeast career.

What is arguably the OVC's top backcourt did plenty of damage to the Redhawks.

Junior guard Anthony Fisher, who entered play tied for first in the league in scoring (19.9 points per game) and second in 3-point shooting (47.6 percent) hit five of seven 3-pointers and scored 19 points.

Senior guard Belton Rivers, the OVC's fourth-leading scorer before Saturday (16.7 ppg), hurt Southeast even more with a career-high 33 points.

Just a 28.1-percent 3-pointer shooter through seven games, Rivers made six of 10 from behind the arc against the Redhawks.

"That backcourt can play well in this league and a lot of leagues," Edgar said. "I knew coming in how good Rivers was."

The Eagles bettered their league-best scoring average of 81.3 points per game as they shot 51.7 percent overall from the field (30 of 58) while making 12 of 19 3-pointers (63.2 percent).

Southeast missed eight of its first nine shots and committed four early turnovers to fall behind 13-3 in the opening five minutes.

But the Redhawks settled down and hit 14 of of 24 shots over the remainder of the half.

Junior forward Brandon Foust scored inside with 4:18 remaining in the opening period to give Southeast its first lead of the night, 35-33.

After Tech surged back ahead 38-35, Rhodes made two free throws with 1:16 left to put the Redhawks back up 40-39. They led 42-39 at the intermission.

Tech scored the first nine points of the second half to go ahead 48-42, but again Southeast battled back and a 3-pointer by Johnson with 14:17 to play forged a 53-53 tie.

After that, however, it was pretty much all Eagles. They regained the lead for good with 12:25 remaining as a Rivers layup after a Southeast turnover made it 55-53 and started an 8-0 run.Trailing 61-53, Southeast pulled within 61-55. It was 64-56 when Edgar, in his first year at Southeast, was hit with his first technical as coach of the Redhawks, with 9:04 to go.

Rivers made one of two foul shots on the technical for a 65-56 advantage. An emphatic dunk by freshman guard Will Barnes with 8:30 remaining gave the Eagles their biggest lead to that point, 67-56.

Southeast got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, and Tech built a 17-point lead with 5 minutes left. The Eagles' biggest advantage was 85-67 with 3 minutes to play.

"I like the way we fought back," Edgar said, "but they were the aggressive team in the second half, which really disappoints me. I want us to be the aggressive team."

The Redhawks shot 43.1 percent overall (25 of 58), including 40 percent from 3-point range (eight of 20) after they entered play just 27.9 percent from long distance.

Southeast had a solid night from the free-throw line for a change, making 18 of 26 for 69.2 percent. The Redhawks came into the game last in the OVC and toward the bottom nationally from the charity stripe at 55.6 percent.

The Redhawks were hurt by 26 turnovers, while the Eagles had 23 turnovers.

Southeast returns to action Dec. 17 with a rare Sunday afternoon OVC game against Jacksonville State at the Show Me Center. The tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.