Southeast hits road to look for lost 'mo'

~ The Redhawks will try to bounce back from a home loss when they visit Morehead State.

There can be some debate as to just who is the most surprising team at this point of the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball season.

But it's hard to argue against Morehead State, which was picked last in the OVC preseason poll but is tied for third place at the midway point of the race.

Southeast Missouri State coach Scott Edgar said a case also can be made for Austin Peay, which was No. 6 in the preseason poll but leads the league with just one OVC loss.

"I think those are the two surprise teams in the conference," Edgar said. "Morehead State has to be right up there. They've been a big surprise."

Edgar's Redhawks will get their first look at the Eagles tonight with a 6:30 p.m. tipoff in Morehead, Ky.

Although the Eagles (10-8, 6-4 OVC) have faded a bit lately, they have performed considerably better than most people expected after last season's disaster.

MSU went 4-23 overall a year ago, including a last-place 3-17 in the OVC, with two of those wins coming against Southeast.

Donnie Tyndall, a former MSU player who most recently had been an assistant at Middle Tennessee State, was brought in to turn around the program.

The Eagles have had quite a turnaround so far under Tyndall.

Despite losing its last two games -- both on the road -- MSU has already doubled its OVC victory total from a year ago, while already posting more than twice as many overall wins.

"He [Tyndall] is doing a great job," said Edgar, also in his first season at Southeast after the Redhawks won just four conference games last year to finish in 10th place -- just ahead of the Eagles.

Southeast (7-13, 5-6) fell into eighth place in the OVC with Saturday's home loss to Tennessee Tech, but the Redhawks are still just 1 1/2 games out of third place in the scrambled league standings.

"There is still so much of the season left to play," said Edgar, whose squad has nine conference games remaining. "I think we're right in the thick of trying to get in the top four."

Despite losing to Tennessee Tech, the Redhawks have won four of their past six games to at least climb into contention for an upper-division OVC finish.

Southeast has won two of its past three OVC road games, while MSU has won four of its five league home games, including victories over Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech.

"They have some great home wins, but we've played well on the road," Edgar said.

Said Southeast junior guard David Johnson: "We know it's going to be tough on the road, but we've been playing pretty well on the road. We're looking forward to the challenge."

The Eagles are averaging just 66.3 points per game, but they are allowing only 63.3 points per contest to rank second in the OVC in scoring defense.

MSU features a balanced offensive attack, led by two of its four returning starters from last season.

Shaun Williams, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, is averaging 12.7 points per game, which is down considerably from his 16.4 mark of a year ago that made him the OVC's top returning scorer.

In conference play, Williams ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage at 58.3.

Quentin Pryor, a 6-4 senior forward, is the Eagles' only other double-figure scorer at 11.9 points per game.

The Eagles have two of the league's top 3-point shooters in Pryor (third, 41.6 percent) and 6-4 freshman guard Maze Stallworth (second, 45.1 percent).

As a team, the Eagles rank second in the OVC in field-goal percentage in league games at 47.6. MSU is the conference's top rebounding team at plus 4.1 per game.

"We know they pretty well have the same team as last year, but they're playing a lot better," Southeast junior center Mike Rembert said. "We know they play hard."

Edgar, in fact, said what especially stands out about the Eagles is how hard they play game in and game out.

"In my opinion they're the hardest playing team in the league. They're going to play you all 40 minutes," he said. "They're quick, fast, athletic.

"They are a little undersized [MSU[']s tallest starter is 6-6], but they use that to their advantage. They have a couple of good 3-point shooters, and they are really outscoring teams in the second half."

The Eagles have outscored their opponents by 94 points in the second half of games, including 61 points in the second half of OVC contests.