SEMO MBB coach sees progress despite another road L

Fourth-year Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn wasn’t thrilled with his team’s opening half performance in a 19-point loss to Evansville on Saturday, but despite numbers contrary to what most would think, he was fairly pleased with the Redhawk's performance in a 72-56 loss to Chattanooga in the finale of the Coke Zero Sugar Classic in Chattanooga on Sunday.

“I’m encouraged by the effort today,” Korn said following the loss to the Mocs (5-1). “I’m encouraged by the defensive effort today.”

That last statement was interesting due to the fact that Chattanooga connected on 52.3 percent of its shots, including nearly 60 percent in the second half. As well, the Mocs outrebounded the Redhawks 43-29 and outshot SEMO at the free throw line 30-19.

“We’re getting looks (offensively),” Korn said. “We’re getting the ball to places where it needs to go. We’re just not cashing in right now and that makes the game hard when you have to play perfect defensively.”

As it has been all season, the Redhawks (1-5) got off to a slow start, from which they never recovered. Chattanooga scored the game’s initial 12 points and led by as many as 15 before halftime.

In five of SEMO’s six games this season, it has trailed by double digits before the intermission and has trailed by that margin, at some point, in every game.

“We’ve got to get more production at the offensive end, rather than just one guy or one guy in spurts,” Korn said.

At the 13:33 mark of the second half, sophomore guard Rob Martin hit a jumper to pull the Redhawks to within 47-40, but the Mocs responded with a 5-0 run and eventually led in the second half by as many as 19.

Martin had the best game of his young SEMO career after transferring from Indiana State this off-season.

He scored a career-high 10 points and dished out a career-best five assists with just two turnovers in playing a career-high 34 minutes.

“Rob, (freshman guard BJ Ward and sophomore forward Braxton Stacker), haven’t played a ton of minutes (in college),” Korn said, “and now they are getting all of the minutes. To see (Martin) produce like that, and get downhill (on drives), he is really starting to understand the game a little bit.”

Redshirt sophomore forward Adam Larson paced SEMO for the fourth time this season with 13 points after scoring a career-high 22 points against Evansville.

Senior center Josh Earley left the game on Sunday after playing 12 minutes, but that opened an opportunity for redshirt freshman post David Idada, who grabbed 12 rebounds and scored six points in 15 minutes.

“(Earley) was in some serious pain,” Korn said. “I thought David did a great job. He had 12 rebounds and was physical and active, he played with heart and passion.”

Stacker finished with eight points while no other Redhawk managed more than five points.

SEMO will travel to Kansas City (2-5) on Thursday at 7 p.m. (Summit League Network).