Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team beats Miami of Ohio

Southeast Missouri State's plan for an early season signature basketball win wasn't looking good.

A talented Miami of Ohio team had its way with Southeast for most of Saturday's first half, leading 25-12 at one point and 30-22 at the break.

"I thought we played nervous in the first half," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said.

But Southeast displayed nerves of steel in the second half, taking control to post an impressive 64-57 victory at the Show Me Center.

"This is definitely a big win for us," junior guard Nick Niemczyk said.

Southeast, whose two previous victories were over NAIA programs Harris-Stowe and Hannibal-LaGrange, improved to 3-3.

Miami, a perennially strong squad out of the Mid-American Conference that recently lost by six points to nationally ranked Xavier, fell to 2-2.

"I couldn't be more proud of our team today," Nutt said. "Miami is an outstanding basketball team and this was a big win for our program. We won a game of significance. We bowed up and won a game."

Southeast prevailed despite having no answer for 6-foot-8, 239-pound all-MAC senior forward Julian Mavunga, who poured in 27 points.

"We did our best, but we didn't stop him," Southeast senior guard Marcus Brister said. "He's a pro."

Nutt said Southeast basically conceded Mavunga his points but wanted to limit Miami's other players.

"They've got a pro. Our game plan was to let him have his and let nobody else get theirs," Nutt said.

Southeast had its best defensive performance of the season, especially in the second half, and cranked up its offense in the final period to surge ahead.

Southeast shot a sizzling 65 percent (13 of 20) in the second half, led by Niemczyk.

Niemczyk, who was coming off Wednesday's career-high 22-point performance against Hannibal-LaGrange, made his first career start Saturday.

Niemczyk, a Bell City High School graduate, recorded 14 of his game-high 18 points in the second half to help Southeast outscore Miami 42-27. He also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

"When Nick gets going like that, it's hard to stop him," Southeast sophomore point guard Lucas Nutt said. "We were running good sets for him."

Niemczyk hit all three of his 3-point attempts and 4 of 6 shots overall after the intermission.

"It felt a lot better whenever I let go of that one," Niemczyk said about his first 3-pointer early in the final period. "I figured the next few would go in."

Niemczyk scored nine points over the first seven minutes of the second half. His 17-footer with about 13 minutes left put Southeast up 37-36 for its first lead of the day.

Miami briefly tied things at 37-37, but Southeast scored 10 of the next 11 points.

Senior forward Leon Powell's follow shot with 11 minutes left put Southeast ahead for good at 39-37.

It was 40-38 when Niemczyk drilled a 3-pointer, Brister got a layup after a steal and sophomore forward Tyler Stone scored on a put-back after a turnover.

All of a sudden Southeast led 47-38.

"I thought our defense stepped up in the second half," Lucas Nutt said. "It was huge."

Southeast matched its biggest lead at 52-43. Miami made a run, cutting the deficit to 55-53 with just less than three minutes left, but Southeast held strong.

Brister turned in one of the biggest plays with 58 seconds left when he drove for a reverse layup at the end of the shot clock to put up Southeast 57-53.

"I guess that's my role on the team as far as being a slasher," Brister said. "I just had to make a play."

Southeast then iced the victory from the free-throw line by making 7 of 8 in the final 38 seconds. Nutt hit 5 of 6 and Niemczyk canned both of his attempts.

"Marcus had a huge basket, and we were able to hit our free throws at the end," coach Nutt said.

Brister added 10 points, four assists and two steals. He hit all four of his free throws despite struggling from the charity stripe. He's only hit 56 percent (9 of 16) of his attempts this season.

Powell, who played only 19 minutes due to foul trouble, had nine points and five rebounds.

Nutt contributed eight points and three assists against no turnovers.

Southeast won despite most of its key front-line players -- Powell, Stone and sophomore Michael Porter -- being in foul trouble.

"I thought our depth was a factor," said coach Nutt, who used 11 players. "Zach House really had some good moments for us."

House, Southeast's 7-foot senior center who had played just 14 minutes in the first five games, provided seven minutes, including five in the first half. He even scored a basket.

Southeast, which shot 30 percent in the first half, finished at 44 percent. Miami shot just 37.7 percent, only 32.3 percent in the final period.

Southeast visits Arkansas State on Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m. tipoff.