Racers outlast Southeast men

The Murray State men's basketball team has been running roughshod over the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference this season.

Nothing changed Saturday night at the Show Me Center, even though Southeast Missouri State hung with the Racers longer than many people might have expected.

An enthusiastic, announced crowd of 3,261 gave Southeast plenty of energy, but the Racers proved way too strong as they rolled past the Redhawks 80-61.

"First of all, I was so proud, and our team was so proud, of our crowd tonight," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "What a beautiful sight that was, seeing this place filled with red, for a team that was 6-12 going into this game.

"I appreciate that so, so much. We had several recruits here and they said how impressed they were with our crowd."

Southeast's Sam Pearson looks for an open teammate to pass to during Saturday's game at the Show Me Center. (LAURA SIMON)

Perennial OVC power Murray State improved to 18-3 overall and 10-0 in league play with its eighth straight win.

Southeast fell to 6-13 and 3-6 as the Redhawks are eighth in the 10-team OVC.

"Murray State is a very talented basketball team," Nutt said. "They're so well rounded. They have a lot of good players and they're experienced."

MSU continued its conference dominance on a night when Southeast celebrated the fifth birthday of its mascot, Rowdy the Redhawk.

The Racers have posted eight of their 10 OVC wins by double figures. They are the only Division I men's team across the country to lead its league in both scoring offense and scoring defense.

"They're a pretty good team," freshman guard Marland Smith said. "We played pretty good, but we came across a good team."

Southeast started strong, making 10 of its first 11 field-goal attempts. A basket by junior guard Sam Pearson about 11 minutes into the contest gave the Redhawks a 22-14 lead, their biggest of the night.

Pearson led all scorers with 22 points, the highest total of his rookie season at Southeast. He had 15 first-half points.

"We came out on a real good streak. We had a nice run going," said Pearson, who hit 8 of 13 field-goal attempts.

The Redhawks were still ahead 28-27 with less than six minutes remaining, but they went scoreless for nearly five minutes as MSU used a 15-0 run to take control at 42-28.

Southeast trailed 44-31 at halftime despite shooting an impressive 54.5 percent (12 of 22).

MSU was even better at 58.3 percent (14 of 24) and the Redhawks were hurt by 11 turnovers, most of them coming over the final 10 minutes of the period.

"I thought we got out of the block good. We executed well," Nutt said. "I think the difference in the game was the last five, six minutes of the half. It started with turnover after turnover. I think their length bothered us."

The Redhawks scored the first four points of the second half to pull within 44-35, but the Racers went on a 16-4 run to break open things at 60-39 only seven minutes into the final period.

Southeast got no closer than 13 points after that and its biggest deficit was 23 points.

"I thought Southeast Missouri did a really good job executing their offense the first 10 minutes of the game and made shots," MSU coach Billy Kennedy said. "Pearson was making tough shots.

"I thought they played hard, they played together. We had to play well and our defense picked up."

While Southeast's shooting cooled off in the second half -- the Redhawks finished at 47.1 percent (24 of 51) -- MSU's didn't.

Getting numerous layups and dunks, the Racers wound up at 58.7 percent (27 of 46).

"We tried to get some stops," said Smith, who scored 10 points and had three steals. "We knew we couldn't make every shot."

Tony Easley, a 6-foot-9 senior center, led the Racers with 17 points and had six of their eight blocked shots.

Easley made all five of his field-goal attempts, including several thunderous dunks. He also went 7 of 9 from the line.

"He's a handful," Nutt said. "They had eight blocks. ... That's 16 points we would have had on layups."

Junior guard Anthony Allison, Southeast's top scorer on the season with an 11-point average before Saturday, finished with two points as he took just five shots.

Nutt came away satisfied with the Redhawks' overall effort and offensive execution, but he did not like their defensive performance.

"I was pleased with our effort. To shoot nearly 50 percent, I don't know how many teams could do that against Murray," Nutt said.