Nate Johnson's career night sends SEMO to OVC semifinals

It took two more games than originally imagined after the last home game of the season, but Southeast Missouri State reached the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Indiana.

SEMO won the free throw battle 34-17 and eventually the game 91-83 over Tennessee State in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The Redhawks (17-16) rode the usual backcourt duo of senior Chris Harris (29 points, 12 rebounds) and sophomore Phillip Russell (18 points), but the unsung hero of Thursday's tilt with the Tigers (18-14) was senior center Nate Johnson.

"Any time you can be senior led, and execute and finish the way that these guys did, it makes it a lot easier," SEMO head coach Brad Korn said. "I felt we came with the right mindset, the right kind of physicality, the right attention to detail that we knew that we needed to have on the defensive side of the ball in order to get it done."

The colossus from Coal Springs, Florida, scored a career-high 17 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, and most importantly, a game-high three blocks.

"We have really good guards," Johnson said. "Every single time I can do down there and be in the right positions and just call for the ball, then I'm gonna do what I got to do to get to the rim, score, and hit free throws, something I've been working on.

"Chris gives me a lot of slack for it," he said. "These guys put a lot of confidence in me to just go out there and play hard."

Johnson is helped by the dynamic guard play of Harris and Russell, which is a hallmark of Korn's offensive system.

"How we've thought and designed our system is, what would be the hardest thing to do if I had to do a scouting report on our team," Korn said, "and I think that's the way that we play. There's a lot of space out there. We have dynamic guard play. We try to keep it fairly simple but at the same time, be extremely hard to guard."

Korn has built his program over the past three seasons to share the ball with a guard-heavy offense, and Johnson's mature play is the final component.

"When we share the basketball, that's why we've had so much success offensively in the league, really the three years that we've been here," Korn said. "To go along with guard play and a center that knows what he's supposed to do and where he can be successful too, the floor is open."

The Tigers took a 29-26 lead over the Redhawks on a three-point jumper and a layup by Dedric Boyd with 5:21 left in the first half.

SEMO responded with a 9-2 run to go into halftime with a 35-31 lead. Johnson slammed a jam at the start of the second half to extend the run to 16-5 and the Redhawks lead to 42-34 with 17:08 left in the game.

A pair of free throws by Russell extended the Redhawks' lead to as high as 15 points, leading 58-43 with 11:31 remaining.

After Harris made a three-point jumper to pad the SEMO lead to 67-54, the Tigers responded with a 10-3 run to pull within seven with 3:51 left in the game, but they could not complete the comeback.

The Redhawks will take on Morehead State (21-10) in the semifinal round on Friday at 7 p.m. The Eagles won the regular season OVC championship but it's the team who wins the tournament title that gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Johnson missed the tournament last year due to a season-ending injury. He's relishing a chance to play on this stage and make an impact.

"This year, being able to be out there, be with my guys in a pivotal point in our program is something huge," Johnson said.