SEMO hoops shows growth in competitive road L

FORT WAYNE - Fourth-year Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn has said, at times, this season that his team was improving, even as the losses piled up. On Saturday, that growth was very evident, even though the final outcome was another Redhawk defeat.

SEMO played very solid basketball against one of the top mid-major teams in the Midwest, but ultimately fell 89-80 at Purdue Fort Wayne.

“We were ready to play,” Korn said. “Our guys had great focus. We had great practices and we got off to a great start.”

The Redhawks (3-7) were efficient offensively throughout the opening half (52 percent shooting) and when junior forward TJ Biel hit a jumper at the 5:57 mark of the opening period, they led by nine points (33-24).

“This was a hungry SEMO group,” Purdue Fort Wayne coach Jon Coffman said. “That is a team that is super aggressive. They haven’t shot the ball well, but Brad Korn is a good coach. He is letting them play and letting them make aggressive mistakes.”

SEMO played with purpose on Saturday and shot the ball better (50 percent from the floor) than it had all season (by far) against NCAA Division I defenders.

The Redhawks still led 49-46 early in the second half before a poor stretch of four-plus minutes – at both ends of the floor – doomed them.

The Mastodons (10-1) sank a tying 3-pointer, which was followed by a SEMO turnover. That miscue led to a Purdue Fort Wayne drive-and-dish, which resulted in a dunk and a 51-49 Mastodon lead that SEMO would never regain.

That play encapsulated the Redhawks’ dilemma for most of the night.

SEMO’s defensive strategy was to switch Purdue Fort Wayne’s screening action, which resulted in mismatches in trying to contain the Mastodon drivers.

Those speedy guards (three Mastodons combined for 26 free throw attempts) would either finish the drive, draw fouls, or dish for open dunks.

“We played a good game,” Korn said. “We just didn’t finish.”

In all, Purdue Fort Wayne outshot SEMO 41-18 at the free throw line.

Following that Mastodon dunk, a Redhawk fouled a Purdue Fort Wayne 3-point shooter, which stretched the margin to 54-49, followed by a pair of missed shots by the Redhawks, another Mastodon dish-and-dunk off of a drive, and another fouling of the shooter by a SEMO defender that put the hosts up 58-49.

Offensively, SEMO got a pair of really nice performances from Biel (23 points) and sophomore guard Rob Martin (22 points).

“Everything that TJ did tonight,” Korn said, “is what he does in practices. I see the trajectory of our team and I feel good about our guys.”

Biel paced SEMO with nine rebounds while Adam Larson (five rebounds, six points), Aquan Smart (12 points, five assists, just two turnovers), and Martin (five assists) were also productive.

SEMO is off until Dec. 17 when it hosts NAIA program Lindsey Wilson College at the Show Me Center at 3 p.m.