Redhawks fail to rebound in loss at Tennessee Tech

~ Southeast was outrebounded 46-29 and suffered its fourth straight defeat.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee Tech is in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference -- and Southeast Missouri State can certainly see why.

The Eagles have displayed their explosive talents to the Redhawks twice already this season, the latest being Saturday night's 87-76 home victory.

On Dec. 10 in Cape Girardeau, the Eagles rolled past the Redhawks 79-65.

Tech (14-5, 9-2) has won six straight games, while Southeast (6-11, 3-8) has lost four in a row.

"I don't know if they played one of their better games tonight, but hopefully we played them a little smarter than we did last time," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "They've got a heck of a basketball team, really talented and deep. It sure wouldn't surprise me if they ended up winning our league."

While Tech is rolling, Southeast is floundering with its longest losing streak of the season. The Redhawks have played seven of their first 11 OVC games on the road, meaning they'll have six of their final nine conference contests at home. Garner hopes that will provide a lift.

"Hopefully, we can get something going during this stretch of home games we've got coming up," he said.

Tech was not quite as impressive Saturday night as it had been during the earlier meeting with Southeast -- but one particularly dominant area gave the Eagles all the boost they needed.

Southeast has been a solid rebounding team most of the season, ranking second in the OVC with an average rebounding margin of plus-two per game.

Tech entered play fourth in rebounding margin at plus-0.2 -- but the Eagles hammered the Redhawks 46-29 on the boards, including 23-6 on the offensive glass.

The Eagles built much of that rebounding advantage in the first half, when they had a 25-10 edge. Tech grabbed 13 offensive boards to just one for the Redhawks over the opening 20 minutes.

"We just could not keep them off the boards," Garner said. "They just killed us on the boards. Turnovers [Southeast had 20] also hurt, but rebounding was the big thing."

Senior guard Roy Booker, the OVC's leading scorer, paced Southeast with 30 points, but he hit just five of 17 field-goal attempts, including four of 14 3-pointers. Booker made 16 of 18 free throws.

Sophomore point guard Paul Paradoski had the second-highest scoring game of his Southeast career with 14 points. He hit five of six shots, including two of three 3-pointers.

Freshman guard Eric Jones added 11 points off the bench, making three of four shots. Senior center Waylon Francis had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Tech, which scorched the Redhawks' for the most points they have allowed to an OVC opponent this season, was led by sophomore guard Anthony Fisher with 21 points. Four other Eagles reached double figures.

"Tennessee Tech is really good," Paradoski said. "We knew we were going to have to play a really good game to have a chance. They really killed us on the boards. That was a big thing. And they're so explosive."

The Redhawks held a few early leads, including 21-20 on junior guard Terrick Willoughby's 3-pointer with 9:35 left in the first half.

Tech then used an 11-2 run to take control, as the Eagles went ahead 31-23. It was 39-30 at halftime.

Southeast hung tough for much of the second half, trailing just 61-55 after Jones scored with 10:03 remaining.

Tech appeared to put the game away with an 11-0 run in less than two minutes, as the Eagles built the night's biggest lead of 72-55.

But the Redhawks did not let Tech run away and hide. They scored 11 straight points of their own, closing to within 72-66 on Paradoski's two free throws with 5:19 remaining.

The Eagles scored the next five points to go back ahead 77-66, but the Redhawks had one more surge left, pulling to within 77-73 on a pair of Jones free throws at the 3:20 mark.

Fisher answered with a 3-pointer 13 seconds later to build Tech's lead back to 80-73 and the Eagles were not threatened again.

"We hung in there, but they're a very talented team," Booker said. "They've got a lot of really good players."

After losing junior guard Eric Burtin to a season-ending fractured leg during Thursday's loss at Tennessee Tech, the Redhawks grew even thinner Saturday as junior forward Andrais Thornton played only two second-half minutes because of back spasms.

In addition, two other starters -- Paradoski and Willoughby -- wound up fouling out late.

Tech shot just 39.4 percent, but made 30 of 45 free throws. Southeast shot 43.8 percent and was 24 of 27 from the line.