MOREHEAD, Ky. -- First looks can be extremely deceiving.
Just ask Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team.
The Indians scored the first six points of Saturday night's Ohio Valley Conference game against host Morehead State and they later led 10-2.
But the Eagles controlled most of the rest of the contest as the Indians, forced to use a depleted lineup and despite a furious late rally, suffered a damaging 83-80 defeat.
Southeast fell to 10-14 overall and sixth place in the OVC at 7-6. MSU improved to 6-14 overall and 4-8 in the league.
Richard Lyte led the Indians offensively with 21 points, 16 coming in the second half as he helped bring the Indians back. Bud Eley had 20 points while Calvert White added 15.
Jeremy Prater paced the Eagles with 20 points. Also in double figures were Doug Wyciskalla with 12, Luke Lloyd with 11, Ted Docks with 11 and Hezzie Boone with 10.
Southeast played virtually the entire way without their two point guards, Allen Hatchett and Lakeo Keller, who are both battling injuries.
Hatchett, suffering from tendinitis in his knee, played just one minute while Keller, who has a chipped bone in his foot, played only three minutes. Neither saw action in the second half. White handled the point most of the way.
And the Indians also played the final 13:51 of the contest without Eley, their junior center who fouled out.
Still, Southeast wiped out almost all of a 17-point second-half deficit.
"It was a tremendous comeback by our guys," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "We had some kids hurt and kind of had to go with a patchwork lineup. We had some guys off the bench really give us a lift."
Said MSU coach Dick Fick, whose squad won its fourth straight home game, "It would be great if we could just stay here and play. That would be fun."
The Indians appeared to get off to a good enough start as Eley got things going with two free throws, then White dunked on the break and Eley scored inside for that early 6-0 lead.
Southeast went ahead 10-2 as Eley scored inside, but the rest of the first half belonged to the Eagles.
MSU grabbed its first lead of the game on a Chris Stone follow shot with 14:53 left that made it 13-12. Southeast did briefly regain the lead, but the Eagles used a run to open up a 29-21 advantage.
The Indians regrouped and pulled to within 29-27, but the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to make it 36-27 and they opened up a 47-34 halftime advantage.
Eley and White were about all the Indians had going for themselves offensively in the opening 20 minutes as they combined for 25 points, with Eley getting 14.
"We were not a very good basketball team in the first half," Shumate said. "We gave up 16 offensive rebounds and had 16 turnovers."
MSU quickly pushed its lead to 50-34 to start the second half as Docks drilled a 3-pointer.
Southeast closed to within 50-40 before MSU pushed its advantage back to 57-40.
The Indians appeared to be making another run when they suffered a damaging blow as Eley, the squad's leading scorer and rebounder, was hit with a technical foul at the 13:51 mark. That was also Eley's fifth personal foul, relegating him to the bench for the rest of the night.
When Eley fouled out, the Indians trailed 57-45. They fell behind 59-45, but still rallied back without their 6-foot-10 center to making things extremely interesting.
Lyte hit a baseline jumper as the Indians pulled to within 64-58 at the 8:34 mark. With MSU leading 67-60, the Indians had several possessions to draw closer but they failed to convert.
Southeast did get within six points again on Travis Smith's basket with 4:37 left that made it 68-62.
But Prater answered with a 3-pointer and Docks scored as the Eagles built their lead back to 73-62.
The Eagles appeared to be cruising in the late going, but the Indians had one major rally left.
Trailing 77-65 with a little more than two minutes left, Lyte scored all the points during an 8-0 run that took barely a minute. His 3-pointer after he forced a turnover cut MSU's lead to 77-73 with 1:18 left.
Free throws boosted the Eagles' lead to 80-73, but the Indians weren't through yet.
Lyte's basket with 41 seconds left made it 80-75, then MSU turned the ball over and Kirksey scored on a follow shot with 33 seconds remaining as the Tribe closed to within 80-77.
Docks hit one of two free throws with 25 seconds left, but MSU fouled Smith on the rebound of the miss and Smith hit one of two foul shots to make it 81-78.
Freshman Shaun Cole, seeing his most extensive action of the season, then came up with a steal. He missed a layup, but White was there for the follow and the Indians were within 81-80 with nine seconds remaining.
Wyciskalla made two free throws with eight seconds left for an 83-80 lead and Cole was long on a 3-point try as the Eagles held on for the victory.
"All the credit (for the late rally) has to go to Southeast Missouri," said Fick. "We threw the ball away, but they really played hard and did they ever pick up the slack when Bud went out."
But it was too little, too late for the Indians.
"The things we did earlier in the game cost us," said Shumate. "And rebounding was a big story. We killed them on the boards at our place (55 to 30 during a 94-75 Southeast win at the Show Me Center). Tonight we only got them by one (45 to 44)."
Southeast will return to action Monday night as the Indians play at Eastern Kentucky.
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