Salukis slap Redhawks in men's hoops

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team remained winless Wednesday, thanks in large part to Jack Crowder's hot hand off the bench and Leon Powell spending too much time on the bench.

Crowder, Southern Illinois University's senior reserve guard, had a career night in the first half alone to help the host Salukis open a 13-point lead at the intermission.

Powell, Southeast's junior forward who leads the Redhawks in scoring and rebounding, missed a good portion of the game with foul trouble.

That was a bad combination for the Redhawks, who hung close for a while but wound up being routed 83-68 in a misleading final score. SIU built a 30-point lead with less than nine minutes left.

"I congratulate them on the win," said Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, whose banged-up squad played its fourth game in a seven-day span. "We're certainly disappointed in our play in a lot of ways."

Southeast Missouri State's Anthony Allison drives away from Southern Illinois defender Carlton Fay during the first half Wednesday in Carbondale, Ill. (Fred Lynch)

SIU improved to 5-4 and dropped the Redhawks to 0-10 as they continued the program's worst start since moving up to the Division I level for the 1991-92 season.

Southeast has lost 18 straight games dating back to last season.

Although the Redhawks never led after falling behind 9-0, they pulled into a pair of ties at 13-13 and 20-20.

Southeast was down just 24-23 with 5 minutes, 40 seconds left in the half when Powell picked up his third foul, getting called for an offensive clear-out away from the ball. Powell had scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.

"To pick up that third foul was certainly disappointing because he is our guy," Nutt said. "We just have to be smarter than that."

Southeast Missouri State's Leon Powell shoots over Southern Illinois defender Marmadou Seck during the first half Wednesday. Powell finished with 12 points before fouling out.

Powell spent the rest of the half on the bench and Southeast was outscored 19-7 over the remainder of the period to trail 43-30 at the intermission.

Crowder had 11 of SIU's points during that 19-7 flurry, nine coming on 3-point baskets, including a trey with 53 seconds left that made it 41-28.

"I had a lot of confidence when I came off the bench," Crowder said.

The 6-foot-4 Crowder, who entered the contest averaging 5.8 points, scored 16 first-half points. He was 4 of 4 on 3-pointers against Southeast's zone after making 3 of 7 from beyond the arc in SIU's first eight games.

"I thought Crowder was the difference in the game in the first half," Nutt said.

SIU entered play shooting just 26.7 percent from 3-point range, so Nutt mixed in some zone to try and slow down the Salukis inside.

"They're a big, strong basketball team," Nutt said. "The biggest difference from us studying them, they hit some shots tonight."

Crowder didn't score in the second half as he attempted just one shot but he still easily surpassed his previous career high of nine points.

"Jack was special today," said SIU coach Chris Lowery, a former Southeast assistant.

Powell was called for his fourth foul just 1:20 into the second half as he went for a pump fake by senior forward Carlton Fay.

Although Powell didn't stay on the bench long, Southeast quickly fell behind 50-30 as SIU scored the first seven points of the period.

"We talked about Powell being one of their leading scorers. We were able to take him out of the game," Fay said.

Powell fouled out with just more than 10 minutes left, but by then the outcome long had been decided. Southeast's biggest deficit was 74-44, and the Redhawks didn't get closer than 20 points until the final three minutes.

Powell finished with 12 points in 20 minutes. He was perfect on all six of his field-goal attempts. He has reached double figures in nine of Southeast's 10 games.

"I can only remember having one legit foul, the others were silly fouls," Powell said. "I need to stay in the game for us to compete."

Junior college transfer guard/forward Nate Schulte had a strong performance for the Redhawks with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Schulte, whose previous high point total of his young Southeast career was 11 points, hit 6 of 8 from the floor and 7 of 8 free throws.

"Just getting more comfortable playing," said Schulte, who did not see much action in Southeast's first several games due to an injury.

Southeast shot a solid 47.9 percent but had 20 turnovers and was outscored by 16 from the free-throw line.

SIU hit 35 of 45 foul shots compared to 19 of 29 for Southeast. Lowery said the Salukis made it a point to try to get to the line.

"We really wanted to go at them," said Lowery, whose squad shot 43.8 percent and had 11 turnovers. "I thought Carlton did a good job of going at their best player [Powell] in the post."

Fay, a 6-8, 225-pounder, hit 11 of 12 free throws and scored 15 points.

Gene Teague, a 6-9, 290-pound sophomore center, had 13 points and 10 rebounds although Southeast won the battle of the boards 33-31.

"I thought our guys played as hard as they could," said Nutt, whose club hosts NAIA Hannibal-LaGrange (4-8) at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Butler plays

Southeast senior forward Cameron Butler, who had missed the last seven games with foot problems, was expected to have surgery and be out several more weeks. But he played seven minutes late in Wednesday's contest.

"He's got some serious foot problems, major, major turf toe. We thought it would require surgery. Now doctors think surgery might not fix it," Nutt said. "I don't know what the future might hold. He's not nearly the player he was."