Southeast holds off Tech for big OVC win

When Southeast Missouri State University saw Tennessee Tech trim what had been an 18-point deficit to just three in the late going Saturday night, the Indians didn't panic.

They simply drew strength from a similar situation against Murray State on Jan. 18, when the Racers cut a 19-point deficit to two before the Indians finished strong and prevailed.

"It was the same thing in the Murray game, so having been there before really helped us tonight," sophomore guard Derek Winans said.

The lesson learned helped the Indians hold on for a thrilling 75-71 victory in front of 4,482 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast, which lost all three meetings last year against two-time defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champion Tech, improved to 9-11 overall and 4-4 in the OVC with its second straight win.

The Eagles fell to 12-9 and 5-3 as they had a five-game winning streak snapped.

"This is an awesome feeling," Winans said. "Them coming in here on our home floor, we knew we had to play one of our best games of the season to beat them. They're a great team."

Said Southeast coach Gary Garner, "I thought it was our best performance for 40 minutes. Our intensity was there the whole time, and we had big games from a lot of players."

The Indians' five starters all played at least 32 minutes -- and every one of them came up big.

Winans had his usual relentless performance as he scored 23 points, including hitting four of eight 3-pointers and seven of eight free throws. He also had six steals and four assists while playing 39 of a possible 40 minutes.

"Derek Winans was just awesome," Garner said. "He is a warrior."

Sophomore guard Brett Hale scored 20 points as he hit seven of 13 field-goal attempts, including three of six 3-pointers, in 35 minutes.

"This is a really big win for us," Hale said. "We played hard for 40 minutes. We executed our game plan well."

Senior forward Tim Scheer scored 12 points while playing 34 minutes before fouling out late.

Junior center Brandon Griffin, who played 32 minutes, was a monster underneath the basket as he almost single-handedly battled Tech's several rugged inside players. Griffin pulled down 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points and four assists.

"We don't win without Brandon," Garner said. "He was so strong inside."

Sophomore point guard Kevin Roberts turned in a rock-solid performance running the team as he dished out eight assists while playing 36 minutes.

Junior forward Damarcus Hence played just 14 minutes but made his only 3-point attempt and scored five points. True freshman forward Cole Grapperhaus contributed eight vital minutes to give the Indians' depleted bench a needed boost.

Tech junior guard Cameron Crisp scored a career-high 26 points while senior center Damien Kinloch added 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Eagles won the battle of the boards 37 to 25.

"I've been hearing about Kinloch ever since I arrived at SEMO," Griffin, a junior-college transfer, said. "He was strong."

After falling behind 7-3 in the early going, Southeast took control. Hale's layup just four minutes into the game gave the Indians an 8-7 lead, and they never fell behind or were tied again.

Southeast was ahead 32-24 at halftime and used a 10-0 run to go up 48-30 with a little more than 13 minutes remaining. Hale's 3-pointer started the spurt, then Griffin wowed the Show Me Center crowd with a between-the-legs dribble that led to his inside basket. Hence buried a 3-pointer, and Winans hit two free throws after a steal to put Southeast up by 18 points.

But the Indians knew the Eagles would come storming back.

"Good teams will always make a run, and we had to play our best to hold them off," Winans said.

Tech used a quick 8-0 run to pull within 10 points and, with their offense purring, the Eagles kept charging back. They made it 66-63 with 1:50 left, 69-66 with 1:04 remaining and 71-68 with 50 seconds left.

But Southeast answered every charge as Winans, Roberts and Hale all made two free throws in the final 50 seconds.

"We couldn't stop them in the second half. We had to keep scoring," Garner said. "Then we hit our free throws at the end."

The Indians made 19 of 23 foul shots in the game, including 13 of 15 in the second half. They shot 46 percent from the field overall (23 of 50), but 56.5 percent in the second half (13 of 23). Southeast made 10 of 20 3-pointers in the contest. The Indians had only 10 turnovers.

Tech shot 48.1 percent for the game (26 of 54), including 53.3 percent in the final period (16 of 30). The Eagles had 15 turnovers.

"We didn't have very good defensive intensity in the first half, and they got a lot of open looks," Tech coach Mike Sutton said. "We showed a lot of character by coming back."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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