Redhawks stall in overtime

~ The Southeast men struggled to score in the extra session.

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Adam Leonard, one of the Ohio Valley Conference's better 3-point shooters, struggled from beyond the arc for most of Saturday night's men's basketball game.

But Leonard came through when it counted the most to help hand Southeast Missouri State another loss.

Leonard's 3-pointer with seven-tenths of a second left in the second half tied the contest and host Eastern Kentucky dominated the overtime to post an 80-69 victory.

The Redhawks (12-14, 7-9) suffered their ninth defeat in 10 games, while EKU (13-10, 10-5) has won five straight.

"They all hurt, but this one really hurts," said Southeast senior center Mike Rembert, who grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds and posted a double-double by adding 17 points, which tied his season high. "I feel like we had the game won."

Leonard, who did not even play during EKU's 66-55 loss at Southeast on Jan. 2 because of an illness, entered Saturday's contest shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.

The sophomore guard, last season's OVC co-freshman of the year as the Colonels captured the conference tournament, missed seven of his first eight 3-point attempts Saturday.

"Coach [Jeff Neubauer] told me at halftime to keep my head up," Leonard said.

Leonard finally got warmed up as his 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds remaining pulled EKU to within 59-58.

After junior guard Kenard Moore made two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to give Southeast a three-point lead, Leonard's dagger stunned the Redhawks.

Leonard received the inbound pass and dribbled nearly the length of the court before releasing a shot from about 24 feet. It hit nothing but net with less than a second to play for a 61-61 deadlock.

"It looked good from when I released it," Leonard said.

Southeast coach Scott Edgar said he does not like to foul in that situation. Some coaches try to commit a non-shooting foul when their team is ahead by three in the final seconds.

Southeast sophomore point guard Roderick Pearson, a high school rival of Leonard's in suburban Kansas City, Mo., said he thought the Redhawks played good defense on the late play.

Pearson, Moore and junior forward Jaycen Herring all were in the vicinity when Leonard released the shot.

"We played good 'D.' He just split it," Pearson said. "He threw up a prayer and it went in.

"He pulled that stuff all the time in high school."

Leonard also got EKU off to a strong start in the five-minute overtime, hitting a 3-pointer 15 seconds in.

The Colonels never trailed in OT as they outscored Southeast 19-8. The Redhawks hit only 2-of-9 shots in the extra period.

"SEMO played us real tough," Leonard said. "It's a big win for us."

The Redhawks started slowly Saturday with turnovers on their first four possessions.

EKU built a 22-12 lead with just over 8 minutes remaining in the first half, but Southeast held the Colonels to four points the remainder of the period to pull within 26-24 at the intermission.

Southeast grabbed its first lead of the night early in the second half, then went ahead 41-39 on a layup by sophomore guard Marcus Rhodes with 11:30 left.

The Redhawks increased their advantage to 49-42 with just under 9 minutes remaining, and didn't relinquish the lead until just before the buzzer.

Southeast appeared to do what it needed to close things out, including Moore hitting all four of his foul shots in the final 23 seconds.

One of the biggest plays took place after Moore had given Southeast a 59-55 lead on two free throws with 23 seconds remaining.

Leonard missed a 3-pointer, but EKU grabbed the rebound and, given a second chance, this time Leonard drilled a trey with 7.5 seconds left to make it a one-point game.

"We didn't get a key rebound," Edgar said. "If we get that rebound, we would have closed it out."

Pearson added 16 points for Southeast. Herring contributed 12 points while playing with a sprained ankle suffered during Thursday's loss at Morehead State.

Southeast, one of the OVC's worst free-throw shooting teams at less than 65 percent, had its best performance of the season by making 19-of-20 (95 percent). But Southeast struggled from long distance, going 2-of-18 (11 percent) on 3-pointers.

"We did a lot of great things out there tonight," Edgar said. "It was a phenomenal effort. We're a fraction away from pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the conference."

Junior guard Mike Rose led EKU with 25 points. Senior center Darnell Dialls had 18 and Leonard added 16.

Southeast hosts Eastern Illinois on Thursday night.