Redhawks try to avenge loss to 2-12 Eagles

~ Southeast tries to hold off cellar-dweller Morehead State in the OVC standings.

It has basically been a basketball season to forget for Southeast Missouri State.

But perhaps one dubious performance by the Redhawks stands out a bit more than others.

That would be the Jan. 26 contest at the Show Me Center against Morehead State, as the Eagles entered play with a 15-game losing streak and had not beaten a Division I team all season.

Not for long, however, as the Eagles stunned the Redhawks 60-55 in what stands as defeat No. 5 in Southeast's current eight-game losing streak that ties for the program's longest since moving up to Division I in 1991-92.

"Every year there are one or two games that stick in your craw. Every team in the country has that," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "That was one for us."

Although the Redhawks are virtually assured of their fourth losing season in the past five years and retain only slim hopes of qualifying for the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, they at least have the chance to pay back the Eagles.

Southeast (6-15, 3-12 OVC) receives that opportunity tonight when they face MSU (3-17, 2-12) in a 6:45 p.m. tipoff in Morehead, Ky.

Since beating Southeast, the Eagles have picked up another Division I victory, Monday's 78-66 upset at Eastern Kentucky. MSU is last in the 11-team OVC, but just one-half game behind 10th-place Southeast.

"We felt like we should have won the game when we played them the last time, and it would be nice to at least get this one," said Southeast senior guard Roy Booker, the OVC's leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, which ranks 12th nationally.

Southeast, which closes out its two-game road trip with a Saturday contest at Eastern Kentucky (10-12, 7-7), is holding on to slim hopes of making the OVC tournament.

Only the top eight finishers qualify. Eighth-place Tennessee-Martin and seventh-place Tennessee State both have seven conference wins, while the teams above them all have at least eight league victories.

With five OVC contests left for Southeast, the Redhawks virtually would have to win the rest of their games while the teams they are chasing lose most of theirs.

Still, the Redhawks vow not to concede until they are mathematically eliminated.

"It will be real tough, but we still have a shot," senior forward Ketshner Guerrier said.

Added Booker: "We need to win out. That's all we can do, and hope some of those other teams lose. We're going to keep fighting. We're not going to give up."

Garner appreciates that attitude, but he is realistic. He knows it would take something of a minor miracle for the Redhawks to make the tournament, especially given their current depleted situation.

"Mathematically, we're not out of the tournament, but it will be very difficult to make it," Garner said. "But one thing I'm proud of is the guys have not folded their tent. They have stayed in there and kept fighting.

"It would be so easy for a group to throw in the towel, the way the season has gone. Most teams in the country probably would have. This group hasn't, and I don't expect them to."

The Redhawks continue to be down to seven available scholarship players after junior forward Andrais Thornton was indefinitely suspended from the team prior to Saturday's home game against Tennessee-Martin, which Southeast lost 66-55.

Thornton, Southeast's leading rebounder, was suspended after being arrested last week on felony charges of rape and sexual battery for an alleged incident that took place more than two years ago in Colby, Kan., where he was attending Colby Community College.

The suspension came on the heels of junior guard Eric Burtin being sidelined for the season due to a broken leg suffered Jan. 19 at Tennessee State, while junior guard David Johnson played in just three games before being lost for the season due to hernia surgery.

"It's tough playing with so few people," Guerrier said.

MSU junior forward Shaun Williams, the Eagles' leading scorer at 17.4 points per game, missed Monday's win over Eastern Kentucky due to a disciplinary suspension.

Eagles coach Kyle Macy said he is not sure if Williams -- who had 17 points in the earlier victory over Southeast -- will play tonight.