Southeast men's basketball team tries to build on thrilling victory

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team learned what it was like to lose a game on a buzzer-beater when it faced in-state foe Missouri State on the road last season.

Coach Dickey Nutt now hopes his Redhawks squad can learn how to move on from being on the other end of a wild win after defeating rival Southern Illinois on a fadeaway jumper by star senior guard Jarekious Bradley with .8 seconds on the clock Wednesday night.

He'll get the chance to see how his team responds when they take on the Bears (4-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday night at the Show Me Center.

The Redhawks (5-4) have won seven consecutive regular-season games on their home court dating back to their final three games of last season.

"Missouri State's going to be just as good, if not better [than SIU], and obviously coming in here and expecting a win," Nutt said. "We've got to play for 40 minutes. This is going to be good. It's a good test for us because we had a good win on Wednesday, but we've got to put it behind us and we've got to get ready for what I think's another heavyweight fight for us."

Southeast was sent home from Springfield, Missouri, with an 81-78 loss a year ago. Guard Dorrian Williams, who's averaging 9.4 ppg this season, banked in a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to hand the Redhawks the loss.

The Bears are coming off a 73-68 defeat of Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 4. Their other wins this season have come against Eastern Illinois of the Ohio Valley Conference, Avila University and Alaska Anchorage.

They've lost to Texas Tech, Colorado State and Washington State in overtime.

Six-foot-three junior guard Marcus Marshall leads MSU and the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring and 3-pointers per game. He's averaging 22.8 points and 3.8 3s per game. He's also second in the MVC in free-throw percentage at 91.3 percent.

Marshall has connected on 19 of 31 attempts from behind the arc (61.3 percent) and is shooting 59.7 percent from the field.

Nutt likened Marshall, who had 19 points against Southeast last season, to some of the talented guards the Redhawks have faced this season, including SIU's Anthony Beane, who finished with 22 points Wednesday night.

"Marcus Marshall is more of the same of what we've faced the last couple of games," Nutt said. "Like Anthony Beane, he's one of those guys that can really score the basketball. What's most impressive about him is that he's very accurate. He's shooting nearly 60 percent from the 3-point line. *... We've got to do another good job defensively. We've got our hands full. We're trying to ensure we get this victory and get ready for the next one, and I think our guys have done a good job with that."

Sophomore guard Austin Ruder is the only other Bear averaging double-figure scoring at 11.6 ppg.

Ruder had a career-high 23 points against UALR and was 7 of 10 from 3-point range.

"The three starters [guards] are very, very good, and then they have two inside players that kind of have old-school game," Nutt said. "They're big and strong and thick, and it doesn't look great, but they get a lot done."

Camyn Boone a 6-6 junior forward has started six games for the Bears and averages 8.0 points and 5.4 rebounds. Loomis Gerring, a 6-5 junior forward, has started four games, including the last two, and averages 6.7 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Saturday's meeting will be the 143rd meeting between Southeast and Missouri State, with the Bears leading the series 89-54.

Women's basketball

The Southeast women's basketball team has won its last three road games and will try to pick up a couple more in the Glass City Classic in Toledo, Ohio.

The Redhawks improved to 4-5 on the season with a 65-50 defeat of Missouri-Kansas City on Wednesday night.

After arriving back in Cape Girardeau in the early hours Thursday morning, the players were given Thursday off because the team was scheduled to leave at 4:15 a.m. today to catch a flight to Detroit before completing the trip to Toledo by bus for their weekend games.

Southeast faces Detroit (3-4) on Saturday and Idaho (4-4) on Sunday. Both games are set for 11 a.m. at Savage Arena.

Detroit is led in scoring by 5-10 redshirt-sophomore guard Rosanna Reynolds, who is averaging 15.1 ppg. She is shooting 47.8 percent from behind the arc, connecting on 22 of 46 attempts.

The Titans start two other 5-10 guards in sophomore Haleigh Ristovski and senior Ellisha Crosby.

Ristovski averages 10.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and has made 11 3-pointers on the season. Crosby averages 9.4 points

Freshman guards Darianne Seward and Nicole Urbanick average 11.6 and 7.4 ppg, respectively. Urbanick has hit 11 of 30 3-pointers off the bench.

Idaho, which will open the tournament against host Toledo on Saturday, is led in scoring by 5-8 senior guard Stacey Barr with 21.9 ppg. She's shooting 32.8 percent from behind the arc and has knocked down 21 of 64 3-pointers. She also leads the Vandals with 8.3 rebounds per game.

Junior guard Christina Salvatore averages 12.6 points and 7.0 rebounds and has made 23 of 61 (37.7 percent) of her 3-point attempts.

The Glass City Classic closes out a four-game road swing for Southeast, which returns to the Show Me Center on Dec. 21 against Illinois-Springfield.