Redhawks hit final OVC stretch

~ Southeast will close out its conference schedule with three away games.

Southeast Missouri State will have to gain needed momentum for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament away from home.

But the Redhawks figure that's a good thing.

The Show Me Center has not been a friendly place for the Redhawks this season as they wrapped up a 4-6 OVC home record Saturday by losing to Eastern Kentucky.

On the other hand, Southeast is 4-3 in conference road games -- and the Redhawks play their final three OVC contests of the regular season on the road, beginning with today's 6 p.m. matchup with Eastern Illinois.

The game will be televised nationally by ESPNU, marking the Redhawks' second straight appearance on that network. The broadcast also will be picked up locally by WQWQ for the second straight game.

"We've been a good road team," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "It's important for us to bounce back [from Saturday[']s defeat]."

Southeast (10-16, 8-9) is in sixth place in the 11-team OVC. The top eight finishers qualify for the conference tournament.

One more Southeast win, combined with one more Jacksonville State loss -- the Gamecocks (5-11) are the only squad among the bottom three with a chance to catch Southeast -- gets the Redhawks in the tourney field.

"We're not in the tournament yet, so the first thing is to get there," Edgar said.

Southeast will play a team tonight that is clinging to slim hopes of making the league tournament.

EIU (8-18, 4-13) is last in the OVC and would have to pass three teams to reach the tournament, but the Panthers are still mathematically alive.

The Redhawks used a big second half to beat the Panthers in the first meeting between the teams this year.

Trailing 31-30 at halftime at the Show Me Center on Jan. 4, Southeast outscored EIU 50-34 to pull away for an 80-65 triumph.

Southeast shot 56 percent from the field in the final period, including hitting eight of 13 3-pointers. The Redhawks finished the game 12-for-25 from beyond the arc.

Junior center Mike Rembert had a double-double against the Panthers with 19 points and 12 rebounds, but Rembert will miss his second straight game tonight due to a knee injury.

Rembert, who went down late during Thursday's home win over Morehead State, has strained ligaments and his status for the remainder of the season is indefinite.

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Rembert is Southeast's third-leading scorer at 10.3 points per game and leading rebounder with six a contest.

"Mike was playing well," Edgar said. "It certainly hurts not having him in the lineup."

EIU is led by freshman guard Romain Martin, who is probably the leading candidate for OVC freshman of the year honors.

Martin, who had 18 points in the first meeting with Southeast, ranks seventh in the conference with an average of 14.8 points per game.

Sophomore guard Mike Robinson, last season's OVC freshman of the year, is averaging 10.8 points per game after scoring a career-high 25 points during Saturday's 74-59 win over Tennessee-Martin.

"They have two very good guards in Martin and Robinson," Edgar said.

But as a team, the Panthers are 10th in the league in scoring offense at only 61.5 points per game.