Rob Martin's confidence "sky high" in first year with Redhawks

The first weekend of the Ohio Valley Conference portion of the season could be best described by the famous line from “A Tale of Two Cities.”

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

After defeating Southern Indiana on a buzzer-beater in overtime on Friday, Dec. 29, Southeast Missouri State was overwhelmed by Morehead State 83-64 on Sunday, Dec. 31 at the Show Me Center. If the first weekend has shown anything, it’s that the Redhawks will likely go where their backcourt takes them.

“I think everybody in the OVC is a guard dominant oriented team, especially from the lead guards,” SEMO head coach Brad Korn said. “They don’t have to play perfect or be exceptional but we do have to be able to count on them every single game.”

Like most recent transfers who come to SEMO, they proved in high school their worthiness of a D1 scholarship and after spending a year on the bench, arrive at Cape Girardeau looking for on-court opportunities.

“I think everybody that transfers is always looking for opportunity,” Korn said. “When you lose Israel Barnes, Chis Harris and Phil Russell, there’s a huge gap there. So that’s attractive as a player.”

Southeast Missouri State guard Aquan Smart puts up a jumper against Morehead State on Sunday. Dec. 31 at the Show Me Center.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Aquan Smart and Rob Martin are no different.

Smart, who transferred from Florida International, led the Redhawks with 17 points. Martin added 14 after scoring 29 points and hitting the game-winner in overtime against USI on Friday. Martin, Smart, and Larson, who scored 11 points, lead the Redhawks this season as the only players averaging double-digit points on the season.

“Aquan is a great player on the court and a great person off the court,” Martin said. “We just got to be better leaders and lead the team because if we don’t have energy the whole team won’t have energy.”

Like Smart, Martin came to SEMO looking for the chance to be a starter. Like Phillip Russell, who left for UT Arlington after leading the Redhawks to their first OVC tournament championship and March Madness appearance since 2000, Martin is a St. Louis native who is following a similar path.

“I just feel like it was the best fit,” Martin said. “Once I got here it felt like home and like it was the place for me.”

After leading Christian Brothers College to the 6A state championship in 2022, Martin was recruited to play at Indiana State. He transferred to SEMO after playing in only 11 games and only being on the court for more than 10 minutes in just one of them.

It has taken some time. Martin has started every game so far this season but only scored 10 points once in November while trying to come back from a foot injury he sustained from a car accident.

“I would just fight injuries and get my confidence back,” Martin said. “I know I can play basketball at a high level.”

It wasn’t until December that he started finding his confidence. Martin went from scoring 10 points in a game one time in November to scoring under 10 only once in December. Martin scored over 20 points for the first time on Dec. 9 at Purdue Fort Wayne.

“Coach just tell me to keep my confidence at a sky-high level,” Martin said. “You have good practices that carry over to the game, and I’ve been having that so that’s helped me a lot.”

Southeast Missouri State forward Adam Larson drives toward the basket against Morehead State on Sunday. Dec. 31 at the Show Me Center.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

__Overwhelmed by Morehead__

The Redhawks took a 14-13 lead with 13:35 remaining in the first half after a four-point play by Martin.

The Redhawks last held a lead at 30-29 with 4:22 remaining until halftime after a pair of free throws by Smart. The Eagles went on an 11-3 run to close out the first half with a 40-33 lead.

“It didn’t look like the same team, and all that said, it was a five-point game in the second half,” Korn said.

SEMO struck first in the second half on a mid-range jumper by Martin to make it 40-35 but it instantly turned into a 10-point Morehead State lead after a 7-2 run by the Eagles.

The Redhawks could never close the gap in the second half fully, and it only got worse as the time ran out. A three-point basket by Larson staved off the shame of losing by 20 points.

“I just thought we played a little bit too much isolation-type basketball,” Brad Korn said. “You can’t do that against a team like Morehead.”

The Eagles (.491) had a full nine percentage-point advantage over the Redhawks (.396) in field goal shooting. SEMO was out-rebounded 35-20 and made five fewer three-pointers than the Eagles with 12 fewer attempts. Both teams made 18 free throws.

SEMO will travel to newly-minted OVC member Western Illinois on Thursday, Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m., before returning home on Saturday for a 3 p.m. matinee against Bethel of the NAIA ranks.

“It’s a long season with 16 more conference games to go,” Korn said.