Southeast men's basketball team wins exhibition debut

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team could not separate itself from Ouachita Baptist for much of Tuesday night's exhibition opener.

Junior forward Tyler Stone's dunk with just under 13 minutes left in the second half seemed to ignite the Redhawks and the announced Show Me Center crowd of 1,227.

"I guess you could say it gave everybody energy," Stone said.

The dunk was part of a 19-3 run by the Redhawks that broke things open as they eased past the Division II Tigers from Arkadelphia, Ark., 71-60.

Stone's baseline drive and jam gave the Redhawks a 45-41 lead, their biggest advantage to that point.

"I knew our team was going to get our energy back up," he added.

Stone, an all-Ohio Valley Conference performer last year when he led Southeast in scoring and rebounding, had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, including 14 points and eight rebounds in the second half. He added two blocks.

Stone acknowledged the Redhawks weren't all that sharp, which he said was not surprising considering it was their opening test against outside competition.

"First game," he said.

For junior guard A.J. Jones, it was literally his first game in about a year-and-a-half. But he didn't display much rust.

Jones, who attended Southeast last year but could not even practice with the Redhawks because he did not graduate from his junior college, led all scorers with 18 points. He also had a game-high four assists although he committed four turnovers.

"Nervous," said Jones, who hit 7 of 11 field goals, most on drives to the basket. "But I just remained poised, thought like it was practice or the red and black [intrasquad scrimmage]."

Also scoring in double figures for Southeast was senior guard Marland Smith with 14 points, 10 in the second half. He hit 2 of 4 from 3-point range.

Sophomore forward Nino Johnson added eight points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.

Johnson saw limited action last year but joined Stone, Smith, Jones and junior point guard Lucas Nutt in Tuesday's starting lineup.

"I thought he did well, his presence," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said of Johnson. "I thought A.J. Jones was good. He got to the basket. He's going to do some good things for us."

Lucas Nutt had seven points, seven rebounds and three assists although he also lamented his five turnovers, along with the Redhawks' total of 18.

"We had a bunch of unforced turnovers," he said. "Pretty ugly. ... it doesn't matter as long as you get the win."

That was especially important to the Redhawks after they lost to Division II Harding in their only exhibition last season.

"We're glad to win. We're supposed to win. We did that," Dickey Nutt said. "We beat a good team. I give them a lot of credit."

A solid Ouachita Baptist squad coming off a 16-12 season gave Southeast fits much of the night. A strong second-half defensive performance by the Redhawks helped turn the tide.

The Tigers, after shooting 44.4 percent in the first half, shot just 23.5 percent in the final period and finished at 32.8 percent.

Southeast outrebounded the Tigers 48-35 and shot 54.2 percent in the second half to wind up at 46.3 percent.

"We did a much better job in the second half of defending. We rebounded good," Dickey Nutt said. "We didn't shoot quite as well as I wanted us to."

Lucas Nutt praised the defensive job Southeast did on Tigers' senior sharpshooter Austin Mitchell, who averaged 15.8 points per game last year and shot an impressive 45.3 percent from 3-point range.

Mitchell poured in 32 points as he hit 9 of 13 3-pointers in the Tigers' 114-101 exhibition win over Philander-Smith College, an NAIA team. He made just 2 of 9 from beyond the arc Tuesday and scored eight points while primarily being guarded by Jones and Smith.

"He was our main focus point before the game," Lucas Nutt said of Mitchell. "I thought A.J. and Marland did real good on him."

There were six ties and nine lead changes in the first half. The Tigers held the biggest advantage by either side -- five points -- but trailed 34-32 at the break.

The Tigers were ahead 41-38 with about 15 minutes left when the Redhawks began to take control.

Smith's two free throws with 13 minutes, 16 seconds to play put Southeast up for good at 43-41. Stone followed with his energizing dunk, the Redhawks' only slam of the night.

Smith's 3-pointer with 9:27 remaining capped Southeast's 19-3 burst and made it 57-44.

The Tigers got no closer than nine points and Southeast's biggest lead was 14 points.

"We did very well in the second half," Jones said. "The first half, it's all about defense. We just have to push harder on defense."

Southeast used just nine players. The Redhawks' 10th healthy scholarship player, senior guard Corey Wilford, was in uniform and went through warmups but Dickey Nutt said he was held out because of strep throat.

The Redhawks play their second and final exhibition Monday night against Division II Truman State before tipping off the season Nov. 9 at seventh-ranked Kansas, last year's NCAA Tournament runner-up.

Noteworthy

* Southeast has added walkon freshman guard Matt Floyd from the St. Charles, Mo., area to its roster. He was in uniform Tuesday but did not see action.