Redhawks post notable win in preparing for OVC

Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball is off to a solid start, with several notable wins by league teams.

That includes Southeast Missouri State's 64-57 home victory over Miami of Ohio on Saturday. The Redhawks turned in their best all-around performance of the year against the Mid-American Conference team.

Miami ranks among the better squads the Redhawks will face. Miami is probably not quite the caliber of Missouri or Oregon, but it is every bit as talented as any OVC squad and more talented than most.

The Redhawks displayed the type of defense it will take to have a shot at cracking the upper part of the conference.

Southeast has enough offensive weapons to make some serious noise in the OVC, but it remains to be seen if the Redhawks can consistently play the defense required for that to happen.

Saturday's performance certainly was a step in the right direction.

Other notable wins turned in by OVC teams have included Tennessee State's victory at South Carolina of the Southeastern Conference, Murray State's decision at Conference USA's Alabama-Birmingham and Tennessee-Martin's upset at Alabama-Birmingham.

The defending OVC regular-season champion Racers have the league's best overall record at 7-0 after their impressive showing at the Great Alaska Shootout over the weekend.

Murray State beat another Conference USA foe, Southern Mississippi, 90-81 in double overtime to capture the title in Alaska.

Preseason OVC favorite Austin Peay is reeling at 0-7, although the Governors probably have faced the league's toughest schedule so far. The Govs, unlike most other conference teams, only have played Division I opponents.

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It hasn't taken former Scott County Central High School basketball star Otto Porter long to fit in well at Georgetown.

Porter, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward, has been among the top players for the 4-1 Hoyas.

Although Porter has not started, he's averaging 27.2 minutes per game, third-most on the team. His 10.4 scoring average is fourth on the squad and he leads the Hoyas with 6.4 rebounds per game.

Porter, who is shooting 51.4 percent from the field, also has 10 assists, nine steals and seven blocks. He is third on the team in assists, tied for first in steals and second in blocks.

All three of Georgetown's games in last week's Maui Invitational were televised nationally. I caught some of the action, and Porter looks really good.

Porter appears to have put on some weight and appears stronger than his rail-thin high school days. I'm sure that trend will continue, which only will make him better.

Georgetown appears on national TV quite a bit so area fans should be able to watch plenty of Porter's games.

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The region came away with one state high school football champion over the weekend. Valle Catholic routed South Shelby 49-7 for its second consecutive Class 1 title.

That completed quite a three-year run for the Warriors, who lost in the 2009 final. They now have a state-record 11 championships.

St. Vincent graduate Scott Pingel nearly captured his first state title as a coach, but his top-ranked CBC team from St. Louis fell to Blue Springs South 40-37 in the Class 6 final. CBC finished 14-1.

Pingel, a former All-American record-setting wide receiver at Division III Westminster College who later played professionally in various arena leagues, is in his fourth season in charge of the CBC program.

CBC's loss was part of an 0-4 showing by St. Louis-area schools at the state championships after they went 0-5 last year.

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It was another lost weekend for the OVC in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Both OVC playoff teams were beaten at home. Tennessee Tech got blasted by Central Arkansas 34-14, while Eastern Kentucky fell 20-17 to James Madison on a field goal with no time left.

The conference now has suffered 18 consecutive playoff losses. The last win was posted by former league member Western Kentucky in 2000.

No current OVC squad has won a playoff game since Murray State in 1996.

Not a good track record to say the least.

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The Jackson Senior Babe Ruth baseball team is looking for a new coach after Paul Sander decided to step down. Whoever takes over the program certainly will have huge shoes to fill.

Sander led Jackson to a 166-44 record the past six years, including a state title and a Midwest Plains Regional runner-up finish.

Anybody who believes he's qualified and is interested in the position should call Jackson Baseball League president Mark Winder at 225-6066.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.