Skyhawks' second-half run adds to Southeast's misery

~ The Redhawks dropped their fifth straight game Saturday.

MARTIN, Tenn. -- The Tennessee-Martin men's basketball team continued its dreamlike season.

At the same time, Southeast Missouri State's nightmare of a finish just kept getting worse.

UT-Martin, picked to repeat its last-place Ohio Valley Conference showing from a year ago, notched its fifth straight win Saturday night, 98-85 over visiting Southeast.

The Skyhawks, who already have clinched a spot in the OVC tournament, solidified their hold on fifth place in the 11-team league, and they are still very much alive for a first-round tournament home game.

"That was our whole focus coming into the OVC, to prove everybody wrong," UT-Martin junior guard Lester Hudson said.

Meanwhile, Southeast remains in a big-time funk. Saturday's defeat was the Redhawks' fifth straight loss and their 11th in the past 12 games.

The Redhawks (12-16, 7-11) remained ninth in the OVC with two league games left. Only the top eight finishers make the tournament.

"It's past frustrating," senior guard David Johnson said. "But it is what it is. We just have to keep playing hard."

UT-Martin (15-14, 11-8) followed up its 90-71 win at Southeast on Feb. 2 by breaking open a close game midway through the second half.

"We'll be in the game, we just can't complete it," said Johnson, whose tip-in with 12 minutes left tied the contest at 60-60, before UT-Martin took control with an 8-0 run.

Hudson, a junior college transfer who is the nation's third-leading scorer, had a big hand in the victory.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Hudson averages nearly 26 points per game, but he was held under 10 points for the first time all season during Thursday's win at Tennessee Tech.

Hudson bounced back from the nine-point performance with his second triple-double of the season as he had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

"It was a rough night [at Tech]," acknowledged Hudson, who earlier this season had the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I men's history. "But as long as we win, it doesn't matter."

UT-Martin's big three of Hudson, 6-9 senior forward Gerald Robinson and freshman guard Marquis Weddle again damaged the Redhawks.

The trio, which averages more than 56 points, combined for 66 points, the same as in the earlier meeting.

Robinson had a double-double with 26 points and 15 rebounds, while Weddle scored all 14 of his points in the second half.

Freshman guard Benzor Simmons, averaging less than five points, chipped in a career-high 20 points.

"What makes Tennessee-Martin so good is they have three players who can make a variety of shots," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "They're the hottest team in the league, and they have the best player [Hudson] in the league."

While Edgar questioned the Redhawks' effort following Thursday's 90-70 home loss to Eastern Illinois, he had no reservations Saturday.

"I told the guys after the game I was proud of our effort," said Edgar, whose team has lost four of its last five home games. "If we would have this kind of effort at home, we wouldn't be in this position."

Southeast matched UT-Martin point for point until the Skyhawks steadily pulled away over the final 10 minutes.

"They're a good team and they were making shots," sophomore forward Calvin Williams said.

Junior forward Jaycen Herring led Southeast with 18 points.

Williams and junior guard Kenard Moore both scored 14 points, although Moore shot just 2-of-10 on 3-pointers.

Junior point guard Roderick Pearson had 13 points, although he played just 22 minutes because of foul trouble and eventually fouled out.

Senior center Mike Rembert added 11 points, while Johnson contributed eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

"We didn't play a bad game," said Edgar, whose squad had only seven turnovers, which is 11 below its OVC-leading average. "Unfortunately we missed some easy shots around the basket, and in the second half, we missed our free throws."

Southeast went 7-of-17 from the line (41 percent) in the final period, after hitting 13-of-15 in the first half (87 percent).

The Redhawks also continued to struggle with their 3-point shooting (5-of-20, compared to 11-of-27 for UT-Martin) and allowed the Skyhawks to make 51.6 percent of their field-goal attempts.

And now the Redhawks' backs are against the wall as they play their final two OVC games at home.

Southeast needs to win both and also get some help in order to squeeze into the conference tournament.

"We just have to get these last two and see what happens," Johnson said.