Local stars shine in Jacksonville State men's basketball team's win over Southeast Missouri State

The Jacksonville State men's basketball team may have been the visitors on the scoreboard at the Show Me Center on Monday night, but a few of the Gamecocks felt right at home.

Cape Central graduate Andre Statam and Charleston graduates Greg Tucker and DelFincko Bogan, who each had a contingent of supporters from their home towns, made key contributions in the Gamecocks' 74-60 win over Southeast Missouri State.

"It's kind of a home-court advantage for us -- me, Del and Tuck," Statam said. "I felt good, felt like I needed to come back and bring my game, show everybody that I improved."

The JSU win was its first on the road this season and snapped a streak of 21 straight road losses dating back to Nov. 25, 2014. The Gamecocks' last Ohio Valley Conference road win was on Jan. 23, 2014.

"I thought that was a situation where [there was] the energy that those three guys want to come into a local area and prove that they're good basketball players and probably prove that they should've been recruited and played here at Southeast Missouri State," Southeast coach Rick Ray said, "and I thought that kind of resonated through the rest of their team and I thought they came out with much more energy because of those reasons."

Southeast Missouri State's Joel Angus drives to the basket in the first half against Jacksonville State on Wednesday at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

Southeast led twice early and held a 12-11 advantage with 12 minutes, 22 seconds left in the first half.

Statam and Bogan then combined for a 10-0 spurt that created all the separation JSU would need.

A layup and 3-pointer by Statam were followed up with a layup and triple from Bogan to give JSU a 21-12 lead with 9:06 to go in the half.

A free-throw by freshman guard Eric McGill snapped the scoreless streak for the Redhawks less than a minute later. Southeast added four more free throws before finally knocking down another field goal with 4:08 left in the half to cut it to 30-19.

The Gamecocks took a 38-23 lead into halftime.

"We just didn't play with energy," Southeast senior Isiah Jones said. "No passion. They beat us to every loose ball. Just no passion at all."

Southeast cut it to 13 with 11:35 to play, but never got any closer.

JSU pushed its lead as large as 21 points with 5:46 remaining.

Southeast Missouri State's Eric McGill shoots over Jacksonville State's Jaquail Townser in the first half Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

It was the Redhawks' first game without leading scorer Antonius Cleveland, who will miss the next two or three games with a right wrist injury.

Southeast shot 42.9 percent from the field and was 4 of 15 from 3-point range. The Redhawks were outscored 36-26 in the paint.

"Our inability to attack the paint and finish continues to be a problem, and obviously not having your best player there to do that [doesn't help]," Ray said. "He's our best guy getting into the paint, he's our best guy finishing at the rim. *... We just don't have a lot of guys that can create and generate their own offense."

Freshman forward Tony Anderson led the Redhawks in scoring. He scored double figures for the third straight game and set a new season high for the third straight game with 17 points.

He was 5 of 6 from the floor and knocked down his lone 3-point attempt. He also made all six of his free-throw attempts and snagged five rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

"I think it boils down to just one thing -- the shot selection," Ray said of Anderson's progress. "I think he's done a much better job of figuring out what's the difference between a good shot and a bad shot, and if you look at his field-goal percentage, he's getting to the free-throw line, so I think now he understands when he can generate his own offense.

"The fact that he's getting to the free-throw line*...you can see that he's doing things of more of a typical big man as far as using his size to his advantage and getting to the free-throw line, but then also that he's got a good touch from 15-feet, 17-feet, you see he has the ability to make the 3."

Fans watch the Southeast Missouri State vs. Jacksonville State game Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016 at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

Tucker led JSU with 15 points while JaQuail Towners and Malcolm Drumwright added 13 and 11, respectively.

Statam added nine on 4-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes of action and Bogan had seven and did not miss a shot from the field or free-throw line in 12 minutes.

The Gamecocks shot 50.9 percent from the field and made 9 of 25 3-point attempts. They were 9 of 15 from the charity stripe.

"It was the top and the bottom guys," Anderson said of JSU attacking the paint. "The guards let them get through and the bigs, we let them finish. We didn't give them any resistance down there."

The Redhawks dropped to 2-15 and 0-5 in the OVC with the loss and will take a five-game losing streak into their 7:30 p.m. game at Tennessee Tech on Saturday.

"I think the team's feeling like it's the same routine, like the beginning of the year starting off 0-10, and I feel like everybody's confidence is low right now," Jones said. "We need to all have short-term memories and just come and play."