Southeast men snap losing streak

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team got off to a strong start Saturday night and never let up.

That allowed the Redhawks to break a six-game losing streak with their 70-64 win over host Eastern Illinois.

The victory in Charleston, Ill., completed a sweep of the season series with EIU for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign.

Southeast's previous win came over the Panthers 78-75 on Jan. 8 in Cape Girardeau when the Redhawks erased a 17-point second-half deficit.

"What a fantastic win for us. We needed to get out of that rut," said Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, whose squad is down to just eight players and only used seven Saturday. "We had a good week of practice. We prepared well. I'm proud of the guys."

Southeast improved to 6-17 overall and 5-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks are 3-2 in OVC road games.

The Redhawks moved ahead of EIU (8-14, 4-8) into seventh place in the 10-team OVC. The top eight finishers qualify for the conference tournament.

"This team does a really good job of preparing to play on the road," Nutt said.

Southeast hit its first five field-goal attempts to build a quick 11-5 lead. The Redhawks made 11 of their first 15 shots to build their biggest advantage of 28-14.

With Southeast short-handed and struggling defensively, Nutt said the focus was to use plenty of the shot clock to limit the time the Redhawks had to play defense.

"We tried to get the shot clock down to about 10 seconds to help our defense because we don't guard very well," Nutt said. "Our guys really bought into that."

Nutt said the Redhawks also changed their normal defensive strategy by almost exclusively using zone.

"That's the first game all year we've played zone every possession but one," Nutt said. "I thought we did a good job."

EIU, which has lost four straight, made several runs at Southeast but the Redhawks never wilted.

The Panthers pulled within 36-32 at halftime and cut the deficit to three points early in the second half.

Southeast went back ahead by 10 points seven times, including with 45 seconds left on two free throws by redshirt freshman point guard Lucas Nutt.

The Redhawks then missed three straight free throws, and the Panthers closed within 68-64 with 14 seconds left. Nutt nailed a pair of foul shots with 11 seconds remaining for the final margin.

"I thought everybody that played really played good," coach Nutt said.

Several Redhawks stood out, led by junior forward Leon Powell and Lucas Nutt.

Powell, Southeast's leading scorer and rebounder, had 28 points to go with seven boards, three blocks and two assists. He hit 9 of 10 from the floor.

Powell made 10 of 12 free throws. He entered the night connecting on just 51 percent from the charity stripe.

"Game ball for Leon hitting those free throws," coach Nutt said. "He was fantastic. He really came out aggressively."

Lucas Nutt, the coach's son, continued his strong play directing Southeast's offense while also continuing to establish himself as a solid scorer.

Nutt had 15 points while hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers. He recorded two assists and committed no turnovers in 35 minutes.

"Lucas continues to run our show, and he hit some big free throws," coach Nutt said. "He did it on a sore ankle. He turned his ankle in practice [Friday] and we didn't know if he'd be able to go."

Sophomore guard Marland Smith added 12 points, while senior forward Cameron Butler had nine points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.

Senior guard Anthony Allison recorded six points, five assists and a block. Junior guard Marcus Brister contributed three assists, two steals and a block.

"Marland played well, and I thought Cameron and Marcus really gave us some leadership," Nutt said.

Southeast shot 52.2 percent, a season high against a Division I opponent. The Redhawks held EIU to 41.3 percent.

The Redhawks also were solid from the free-throw line, a sore spot all season. They made 18 of 25 (72 percent). And they had just nine turnovers.

"I thought we really executed both offensively and defensively," Nutt said.

Junior guard Jeremy Granger paced EIU with 29 points.

"He's a very good player," Nutt said. "Eastern Illinois has a good team and I thought they played well. They won at Murray State, which tells you something about the kind of team they have."

Southeast has a game Monday night at future OVC member SIU-Edwardsville before resuming conference play Thursday at Eastern Kentucky.