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SportsJanuary 27, 2012

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team down Austin Peay 65-60 on Thursday.

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The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team had not defeated a squad expected to be a serious OVC title contender while roaring to the program's best Ohio Valley Conference start in 12 years.

That changed Thursday night when the Redhawks overcame the absence of a key player to knock off an old nemesis.

An enthusiastic season-high crowd of 2,950 on Greek Night at the Show Me Center saw Southeast lose a 17-point lead in the first half but make all the key plays down the stretch to knock off OVC preseason favorite Austin Peay 65-60.

Southeast Missouri State players celebrate a basket during a time-out in the first half of a game against Austin Peay on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Southeast won 65-60. (Kristin Eberts)
Southeast Missouri State players celebrate a basket during a time-out in the first half of a game against Austin Peay on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Southeast won 65-60. (Kristin Eberts)

"The crowd, they pumped me up," Southeast senior point guard Marcus Brister said. "Seeing the student section ... that's college basketball."

Perennial OVC power Austin Peay had won 23 of the previous 25 meetings against Southeast, including seven straight. The Governors ended the Redhawks' season with a 76-60 win in the quarterfinals of the OVC tournament last year.

"That was a big win," Southeast senior forward Leon Powell said. "I felt we played so hard."

Southeast improved to 11-9 overall and 6-2 in OVC play. The Redhawks remained second in the 11-team league at the halfway point of the 16-game conference schedule.

The Redhawks already surpassed their overall win total from last season while matching their OVC victory count from a year ago. They are 5-0 in OVC home games and 9-2 overall at home.

"It was really a quality win for us. I told them you're doing something when you beat a team like this," said Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, whose squad played without starting junior guard Nick Niemczyk.

Austin Peay (8-14, 5-4), which had a five-game winning streak snapped, fell behind by 17 points twice in the first half before pulling within 37-28 at the intermission.

The Govs opened the second half with a 15-5 run to go ahead for the first time at 43-42.

Nine lead changes ensued in a rugged, back-and-forth finish that saw Southeast score the game's final six points after Austin Peay went up 60-59 with just less than three minutes left.

"I thought we really showed some mental toughness late to finish out the game," Nutt said.

Powell, who had 12 points and 18 rebounds, which was one off his career rebounding high, was involved with two of the biggest plays late.

Austin Peay had a chance to pad its 60-59 lead, but Powell blocked a driving layup attempt by junior guard Jerome Clyburn with just less than two minutes left.

"That was big," Powell said. "I just got over there and was able to get a hand on it."

Powell's defensive gem led to a Brister layup with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining that put the Redhawks back on top 61-60.

Southeast sophomore forward Tyler Stone blocked another driving layup attempt by Clyburn with 1:20 left.

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Stone missed two shots at the other end before Powell's offensive rebound and put-back made it 63-60 with 46 seconds to go.

Then it was Brister's turn to make a key defensive play after he admittedly had a rough night with six turnovers.

Austin Peay had trouble getting into its offense when senior guard Josh Terry was called for pushing off while trying to set up a step-back 3-pointer and being hounded by Brister.

"It was probably one of my worst games as a point guard," Brister said. "When I saw Terry with the ball ... I had to do something."

Two free throws by sophomore guard Lucas Nutt with 21 seconds left iced the win.

"Games like that, we let slip away last year," Brister said.

Powell led a Southeast rebounding effort that saw the Redhawks outrebound the Govs 50-26. Powell's nine offensive rebounds matched the entire Austin Peay squad.

"Twelve points and 18 rebounds, that's a day's work," coach Nutt said. "Leon had a big game."

Stone also had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds despite missing much of the second half due to foul trouble.

Brister and junior guard Marland Smith both added 11 points. Brister grabbed eight rebounds, while Smith dished out four assists.

Junior college transfer guard Corey Wilford and Lucas Nutt picked up the slack left by the absence of Niemczyk, the squad's second-best 3-point shooter who suffered a concussion during practice last week and has missed the past two games.

Wilford scored 12 points to tie Powell for team-high honors. He hit 3 of 4 3-pointers in the first half.

"I didn't play too good against Tennessee Tech," Wilford said about Saturday's 15-point road loss. "I had to step up."

Lucas Nutt added eight points.

Southeast also got a lift from freshman forward Nino Johnson, who saw his most action in the past 13 games. He played 10 minutes, primarily while Stone was on the bench in foul trouble. He had two blocks to match Stone's total.

"Nino deserves a lot of credit. He was big in there," coach Nutt said.

Southeast overcame a season-high 23 turnovers in large part through its rebounding and limiting Austin Peay to 34.6 percent shooting.

Terry led the Govs with 18 points.

Southeast returns to action Monday night at Eastern Illinois.

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