Southeast men's basketball team defeated by unbeaten Bowling Green

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team suffered a similar fate in its other two losses on the road this season as it did Tuesday against Bowling Green.

The Redhawks' (2-3) defeats have all featured small deficits late in the game, and their 62-54 loss to the Falcons in Bowling Green, Ohio, was no exception.

Southeast trailed by just two points with 1 minute, 53 seconds remaining after senior forward Nino Johnson knocked down a shot in the paint to make it 54-52.

The Falcons answered before Southeast took a timeout.

After a BGSU foul, Southeast senior guard JJ Thompson tried to get a pass in to senior guard Jarekious Bradley posting up on the block.

BGSU's Zack Denny reached around Bradley and stole the ball. The Redhawks had to foul to try to stop the clock from then on, and the Falcons made six free throws in the final 39 seconds to seal the win.

"We had a lot of good things happen to us," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We've just got to get where we put together a full 40 minutes. We haven't done that yet."

BGSU jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game. The Redhawks responded with a 10-2 run of their own, knotting it at 12-12 on a 3-pointer by Bradley with 8:46 remaining in the first half.

Southeast broke a tie with a 5-0 burst to take its largest lead of the game at 21-16 four minutes later.

The Falcons finished the half on a 10-2 run for a 26-23 lead at the break.

BGSU extended its lead to five to start the second half, but the Redhawks rattled off seven unanswered points that featured a Bradley 3-pointer and a transition basket by sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland for a 30-28 advantage with 15:38 remaining. It was the last time Southeast led.

The Falcons tied the score on a layup by Richaun Holmes, and Zack Denny gave BGSU the lead for good on a 3-pointer at the 14:08 mark.

The Falcons never led by more than eight points in the second half until the final 13 seconds of the game when they took a 62-52 lead. A pair of free throws by Bradley in the closing seconds put the final deficit at eight.

Southeast shot 41.3 percent (19 of 46) in the game and was 40 percent (6 of 15) from behind the arc. The Redhawks were 10 of 14 from the charity stripe, which was an improvement since they'd been shooting just 62.7 percent on free throws in their first four games.

BGSU shot 40.4 percent from the field and was just 2 of 13 (15.4 percent) from 3-point range.

"Defensively covering the 3-point shot was much better tonight," Nutt said. "I thought the 2-3 matchup zone was something that they just couldn't crack, and the only way they cracked it was the offensive rebounding. That's just what happens sometimes when you do play zone, your responsibilities are not in black and white, and they're not in stone."

The Falcons had 15 offensive rebounds in the game and 17 second-chance points. They outrebounded Southeast 38-30 and outscored the Redhawks 36-30 in the paint.

"I just thought it was a matter of just a little bit of toughness, on several plays, and I thought the difference in the game was rebounding the basketball," Nutt said. "They just towered over us, and I thought we did a good job of blocking out and they still came over us with their body, and that's where the toughness came in because we didn't get a call. They just used their length for rebounding, and I thought that was the difference in the game. They had eight rebounds more than we did, and it gave them just a few more opportunities to beat us. But I was encouraged. I was encouraged with our play."

Southeast was led by Bradley with 18 points and 10 rebounds. He was 4 of 8 on 3s and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Senior forward Aaron Adeoye finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Johnson added 10 points and four blocks.

BGSU, which improved to 3-0 with the win, was led by Holmes with 14 points and seven rebounds. Spencer Parker added 10 points and four rebounds and Denny had nine points and five rebounds.

The Redhawks return to the Show Me Center on Saturday for a 6 p.m. game against Alabama A&M.