Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team avoids upset

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team was expected to pummel Hannibal-LaGrange from the outset Wednesday night.

But the Trojans, who lost by 49 points at Southeast last season, didn't get the memo.

Hannibal-LaGrange, an NAIA squad from Hannibal, Mo., that won eight games a year ago, came out like it owned the Show Me Center.

The hot-shooting Trojans led for the final 17-plus minutes of the first half -- their biggest margin was eight points -- and entered the break ahead 36-35.

"Give them a lot of credit," Southeast junior guard Nick Niemczyk said. "We didn't come out with near enough intensity and they shot the ball well."

Southeast (2-3) woke up in time to win 82-72, but it was far from an impressive performance against the overmatched Trojans (2-5), who were within eight points with less than two minutes left.

"We're glad to get out of here with a win," said Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, whose team's other victory also was against an NAIA squad, 95-60 over Harris-Stowe. "First of all, I credit Hannibal-LaGrange. They shot the lights out. We've got to find a better passion on defense. Right now we don't have it.

"As much as you warn and prepare your team for a non-Division I opponent, the respect level is just not there."

Nutt hopes the contest serves as a springboard for Niemczyk, who put together his best game of the season.

Niemczyk scored a career-high 22 points off the bench and played a season-high 27 minutes. He hit 8 of 14 field goals and all four of his free throws while adding four rebounds and four steals.

"It felt good to finally hit some shots," said Niemczyk, a Bell City High School graduate who scored 13 points in the second half.

Niemczyk totaled only 12 points in the first four games while seeing limited action. He averaged 13.4 points in five contest last year before missing the rest of the season with a knee injury.

"It was good to see Nick Niemczyk come in and get his stroke back a little bit," Nutt said. "He really shot the ball well."

Sophomore point guard Lucas Nutt had a season-high 15 points, 13 in the second half, and dished out four assists. He hit 2 of 4 3-pointers.

"We didn't play very good, but give them credit, too," he said. "We're just fortunate to get a win. We'll take it any way we can get it."

Senior forward Leon Powell scored 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

Freshman guard Telvin Wilkerson continued to provide solid minutes off the bench with a season-high 10 points.

Wilkerson hit 2 of 3 3-pointers, making him 6 of 10 from beyond the arc this season. He added three rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore guard Arii Meuel was the Trojans' big gun with 29 points. He hit all seven of his 3-pointers and was 10 of 12 from the field overall.

"He's a phenomenal shooter," coach Nutt said. "We had no answer for him."

Meuel scored 16 points in the first half. The Trojans shot 55.6 percent to enter the intermission ahead by a point. They were at 66.7 percent more than midway through the period before cooling off a bit.

Southeast finally went ahead for good less than two minutes into the second half on a 3-pointer by Nutt that made it 38-37.

The Redhawks grabbed their first double-digit lead of the night at 57-46 when Wilkerson nailed a baseline jumper with 10 minutes, 24 seconds left.

That basket began a 45-second span during which the Redhawks used a full-court press to score nine consecutive points and open some breathing room.

Powell's steal and dunk followed Wilkerson's basket. A turnover led to Niemczyk's 3-pointer, then Niemczyk made a great save on a ball headed out of bounds for a steal that resulted in Nutt's layup. All of a sudden it was 64-46.

"It gave us the momentum of the game," Powell said about the quick burst. "If we don't get that, it would have been a dogfight."

Southeast never could knock out the Trojans, who continued to battle and cut the deficit to 75-67 before their upset bid finally died for good.

"It wasn't one of our better performances," Powell said. "But we won. That's all that matters."

The Trojans never really cooled off and finished shooting 55.1 percent, including 62.5 percent from 3-point range (10 of 16).

Southeast shot 53.7 percent, including 59.3 percent in the decisive second half. But the much bigger Redhawks only could manage a 28-28 deadlock on the boards.

"Rebounding was not good, and we've got to get a lot better defensively," coach Nutt said.

Nutt emphasized that needs to happen in a hurry because Saturday's 3 p.m. contest against Miami of Ohio will feature one of the top teams to visit the Show Me Center this season.

Miami (2-1) is a perennially solid program out of the Mid-American Conference. The MAC ranks among the nation's better mid-major leagues.

Miami, which went 15-17 overall and 10-5 in MAC play last season, owns a win over a solid Dayton squad. Its only loss was by six points at nationally ranked Xavier.

"They'll have a quality, quality basketball team," coach Nutt said. "You'll see a big, strong basketball team."

Southeast and Miami have met once before, a 69-53 Miami home win during an ESPN BracketBusters matchup in 2009-10. This is the return game from that contest.