Road proves unkind for Southeast men's basketball

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt considered defense to be the Redhawks' downfall Tuesday night.

Florida Gulf Coast University shot 55.9 percent from the field and pulled away in the second half for an 89-78 victory in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Redhawks fell to 0-2 with their second road loss in four nights. Southeast opened the season with Saturday's 22-point setback at Alabama-Birmingham.

FGCU, a fourth-year Division I program that went 8-21 last year, improved to 1-1. The Eagles fell by 28 points at Indiana in their opener.

"Defensively we're disappointed with the way we played," said Nutt, whose first Southeast squad went 7-23 last year. "When somebody shoots 56 percent on you, it bothers you.

Florida Gulf Coast's Christophe Varidel, left, celebrates with Anthony Banks after Banks scored and was fouled during the second half Tuesday. (JOHN DAVID EMMETT ~ news-press.com)

"Scoring 78 points should be enough to beat somebody. We've got to get that defensive mentality."

Southeast also was hurt by a poor performance from the free-throw line, making just 11 of 23 (47.8 percent). The Redhawks shot better than that from the field at 49.2 percent.

"I was very disappointed in our free-throw shooting," Nutt said.

For much of the game it looked like things would go down to the wire before the Eagles began to pull away midway through the second half.

FGCU opened a 73-59 lead with less than six minutes left, and the closest the Redhawks got after that was eight points.

"We battled hard all night, but there was a stretch there where we couldn't stop them," Nutt said.

Junior forward Leon Powell, who missed all of last year with a knee injury after transferring from junior college, led Southeast with 26 points and 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the young season.

Powell scored 17 points and was perfect on eight field-goal attempts in the first half. He finished 12 of 16, although he made just 2 of 7 foul shots. He added two blocks.

Powell opened the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds at UAB.

"Leon is playing really good, but we've got to get him some help," Nutt said. "Going 2 of 7 from the line, that's very uncharacteristic for a guy like him."

Junior guard Nick Niemczyk was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer with 13 points. The Bell City High School product who transferred from Three Rivers Community College had 19 points at UAB.

"Nick had another good performance," Nutt said.

Senior guard Reed Baker poured in a career-high 28 points to lead the Eagles. Baker, who averaged 11.4 points a year ago, hit 10 of 12 from the floor.

"He was a really good player," Nutt said.

Southeast fell behind 11-3 but later led 22-13 and 29-20 for its biggest advantages of the night.

The Redhawks led 37-36 at halftime.

The Redhawks opened a four-point lead early in the second half and were ahead 55-52 with about 12 minutes left.

That's when the Eagles began to take control. They went ahead for good at 57-55 and never looked back, using a 21-4 run to break open things at 73-59 with just more than five minutes to play.

"We're disappointed, but it's a long year. It's a work in progress for us," Nutt said. "Losing is no good for anybody, but we're just getting started."

The Redhawks will fly back to Missouri today, then head back out on the road for a Saturday matchup at Missouri-Kansas City before opening their home schedule Monday against Grambling State.