Southeast men to hit road for pair

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team will try to break a two-game losing streak tonight when it faces a rejuvenated Tennessee-Martin squad. The tipoff in Martin, Tenn., is at 7 p.m.

Southeast is 5-13 overall and 4-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Redhawks are tied for sixth in the 10-team league following last week's home setbacks to Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

UTM (5-14, 1-7) broke a 12-game OVC losing streak and an overall seven-game losing streak Saturday with a 63-60 win at Jacksonville State. The Skyhawks have surpassed their victory total from last season, when they went 4-25.

The ninth-place Skyhawks had dropped 25 of their past 26 conference games before Saturday's triumph. Their lone win during that stretch was over visiting Southeast last year, marking their only OVC victory of the season.

The Skyhawks already had been playing teams tough before breaking through at Jacksonville State.

UTM recently suffered a 109-105 triple-overtime loss at Tennessee Tech, which came after the Skyhawks led first-place Austin Peay by nine points at halftime before falling.

Southeast and UTM already have played once this season -- Jan. 3 in Cape Girardeau. The Redhawks won 82-75 behind a career-high 36 points from junior forward Leon Powell and a career-high 22 points from redshirt freshman point guard Lucas Nutt.

The victory was far from easy even though Southeast led most of the way.

UTM cut a 13-point first-half deficit to 41-39 at halftime and tied the contest 49-49 early in the second half before the Redhawks took control again by building a 12-point advantage.

The Skyhawks, last in the OVC in scoring defense (76.6 points per game) and field-goal percentage defense (47.9), feature a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging between 9.7 and 12.1 points.

Senior guard Reuben Clayton paces UTM with a 12.1 average. Senior forward Benzor Simmons follows closely with an 11.8 mark. Simmons leads the Skyhawks during OVC play at 12.5.

Southeast will look to keep its OVC road record perfect tonight. The Redhawks are 2-0 in conference road games while being 2-4 at home.

Following tonight's contest, the Redhawks have another league road game Saturday against defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Murray State.