Redhawk hoops bounce back with impressive 2H vs. Central Arkansas

Following up, what fourth-year Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn deemed the most disappointing – in many regards – performance of his team’s four years since he arrived in Cape Girardeau, the Redhawks bounced back with a very impressive 70-68 thrilling victory over Central Arkansas on Monday at the Show Me Center.

“We talk a lot about character in this program,” Korn said following the win, “that doesn’t mean that you are always perfect.”

The Redhawks (1-3) definitely weren’t perfect on Monday or in their preceding 19-point loss at home to Evansville last Wednesday. However, what Korn’s kids showed over the final 12:24 of Monday’s game was a good amount of toughness and connectivity, which he said his team lacked in spades against the Purple Aces.

“You’ve got to go make the next play,” Korn said, “and I thought that we stopped (doing that) against Evansville, which was disappointing.”

SEMO didn’t “stop” against the Bears over the final stages of the game, even though, on the surface, it had a multitude of reasons to do so.

The Redhawks missed 18 of their initial 3-point shots and were outshot at the free throw line in the opening half 11-0 by Central Arkansas.

To compound matters, SEMO turned the ball over 10 times in the first half. Yet somehow the Redhawks were tied at 27 at the break.

The Bears then dominated the opening portion of the second half, as they built a 46-34 margin with just over 12 minutes remaining.

“We haven’t been playing well,” Korn said of this season, “to be down (12 points), it wasn’t looking great.”

But the Redhawk players kept working and their diligence paid off in the final seconds.

Redshirt sophomore guard Gavyn Elkamil came off of the bench to hit three 3-pointers in the second half, which got his team back in the game, while sophomore guard Evan Eursher scored eight of his career-best 10 points following halftime.

“We can’t make a shot,” Korn said, “and then guys like Evan Eursher step up, guys like Gavyn Elkamil step up and make a shot. That, to me, is what our team is going to be moving forward.”

Elkamil finished with a career-high 11 points while senior center Josh Earley was spectacular throughout the night in scoring a career-best 19 points on 8 of 9 shooting.

“There is a reason that he went to Tulsa (for three years),” Korn said of Earley. “When he sticks to what he can do and comes out and dominates the way that he did, that just sets the tone.”

No Redhawk player demonstrated more perseverance than junior guard Aquan Smart.

Smart has had a statistically poor season to this point. Entering Monday’s game, he was shooting 26 percent overall and had missed 7 of 8 3-pointers. He even was struggling at the free throw line (57 percent) and had committed 11 turnovers to passing for six assists.

That trajectory didn’t change much on Monday, as he still missed 8 of his 11 shots and threw the ball away five times. However, he buried a critical 3-pointer late in the game, before nailing the game-winning shot with seven seconds left from the right short-corner.

“It was a huge character comeback for Aquan,” Korn said. “He had five turnovers and didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. But his approach to practice after the Evansville game was what a kid with character, and who cares about the team, should be.”

Smart finished with nine points and five rebounds while Eursher added six rebounds and Earley had seven.

Redshirt freshman center David Idada had six rebounds in nine minutes of playing time while freshman guard BJ Ward passed out seven assists, scored six points, and turned the ball over just once.

“It feels good to win,” Korn said, “and it should feel good because winning college basketball games is hard.”

The Redhawks will travel to Chattanooga to face Evansville (Saturday at 1 p.m.) and the host Moccasins (Sunday at 1 p.m.) in the Coke Zero Sugar Classic Tournament.