Redhawks fall to 0-17 in OVC

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team put up a strong effort, but could not avoid its 18th straight defeat Thursday.

Host Tennessee State extended the nation's longest current losing streak with an 87-82 win in Nashville, Tenn.

Southeast fell to 3-26 overall and 0-17 in Ohio Valley Conference play entering Saturday's final game of the season at Austin Peay.

TSU (11-17, 8-9) moved into a tie for sixth place in the 10-team OVC.

The Tigers have won five straight after dropping their opener under interim coach Mark Pittman, who replaced the fired Cy Alexander.

Southeast bolted to an early 12-3 lead before falling behind 43-41 at halftime.

Things remained tight the entire second half. The Redhawks rallied from a 65-57 deficit to go ahead 77-76 with just over three minutes left.

TSU went back in front for good with 2:27 remaining and held a four-point edge, but Southeast senior guard Kenard Moore made it 83-82 on a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left.

The Tigers made two free throws a few seconds later and Moore misfired on a 3-point attempt that would have tied the contest. TSU iced the victory with two more foul shots.

For just the second time all season Southeast had five players score in double figures. The only other time that happened was Nov. 21 in the third game of the campaign against NAIA Culver-Stockton.

Moore led the Redhawks with 22 points.

Sophomore forward Jajuan Maxwell scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Senior forward Jaycen Herring had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Junior forward Johnny Hill hit all seven of his field-goal attempts and scored 15 points.

Junior forward LaMont Russell added 10 points.

TSU was paced by sophomore guard Gerald Robinson with 25 points. Senior forward Jerrell Houston had 19 points and 16 rebounds.

Southeast shot 48.5 percent from the floor to 45.9 percent for TSU, but the Tigers held a huge advantage at the free-throw line.

The Tigers made 27 of 36 foul shots (75 percent) compared to 11 of 14 (73.3 percent) by the Redhawks.

There were 15 lead changes and 14 ties in the contest.

Southeast has a final chance to avoid becoming just the seventh squad in the 61-year history of OVC men's basketball to go through the conference season winless.

Two-time defending OVC regular-season champion Austin Peay (16-12, 12-5) routed the Redhawks 91-67 on Dec. 4 in Cape Girardeau.