Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team drops OVC opener to Belmont

It wasn't a question of if the run would come, but when.

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team kept pace with high-scoring Belmont for much of Thursday's Ohio Valley Conference opener, but the defending conference champion and preseason favorite Bruins scored 10 unanswered points to break a tie partway through the second half -- an insurmountable swing for the Redhawks -- and left the Show Me Center with a 92-82 victory.

"I told them they're really good and I said at some point in time they're going to have a spurt like that. We talked to them before the game about that," Southeast coach Rick Ray said. "Them going on a 10-0 run is something that's going to happen for them every single game because of their ability to shoot the basketball. What we've got to do is not lose our composure and continue to fight, compete and stay the course."

Southeast scored the first six points of the game, which was the largest lead the Redhawks had at any point in the game.

They'd maintain the advantage until the Bruins knocked down three consecutive 3s in a stretch of 1 minute, 21 seconds that put Belmont up for the first time at 19-17 with 13:41 left in the opening half.

There were four more lead changes and a tie in the first 20 minutes of the game. Southeast shot 50 percent from the field and was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc, but the Bruins knocked down 10 of their season-high 17 3s in the first half and held a 47-44 advantage at the break.

"I challenged our guys before the game and said, 'The most important thing going out here is that you guys go out and match their confidence that they have on the offensive end, because if you don't go out there with confidence on the offensive end and your own individual abilities then we won't have a chance to win this game because they're going to score,'" Ray said. "There's no way you can just totally shut those guys down."

The Redhawks tied it at 49-all on a layup by freshman forward Tony Anderson with 17:13 to go. Mack Mercer scored 1:13 later to spark the 10-0 run for Belmont, which included back-to-back 3s from Nick Smith that extended it to 59-49 with 13:34 left.

Southeast Missouri State's Tony Anderson puts up a shot the second half against Belmont Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

"I think Belmont is one of the most difficult teams to prepare against in the country because the things that they do are simple, but it's the fact that they spread you out so much with all their 3-point shooters," Ray said, "so at some point in time you're going to have one of your so-called bigs guarding a guy that's a proficient 3-point shooter."

Belmont led by as much as 14 and held a 12-point lead with 1:21 left, but junior guard Jamaal Calvin and senior guard Isiah Jones hit consecutive 3s to pull within 86-80 with 37 seconds left.

A pair of Taylor Barnette free throws pushed the deficit back to eight. The Redhawks' got within six once more with two free throws from redshirt junior forward Trey Kellum with 11 seconds left for their final points of the game.

Belmont, which finished 21 of 26 from the free-throw line, knocked down four more from the charity stripe to seal the win and improve to 9-6 and 1-0 in the OVC.

The Bruins shot 45.8 percent from the floor and 43.6 percent from beyond the arc, with four players combining to make 17 of 39 attempts. They finished with 23 assists.

"It feels like they've been playing with each other since they was in second grade, all of them, because they've just got so much chemistry and they're all unselfish and they [make] one more [pass]," junior guard Antonius Cleveland said. "It's hard to guard stuff like that and that's what makes them really good."

Preseason OVC Player of the Year Craig Bradshaw scored a game-high 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting. He was 7 of 13 from 3-point range, had seven rebounds and six assists.

Southeast Missouri State's Joel Angus shoots around Belmont's Nick Smith the second half Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Glenn Landberg)

"I know a lot of fans probably don't like Craig Bradshaw, but boy, if you're coaching him you love to have him on your team because he plays with so much moxie and confidence," Ray said.

Barnette added 20 points and six assists. He made 5 of 13 from beyond the arc.

The Redhawks played zone defense against the Bruins on Thursday, and Ray does not anticipate his 10-player team playing man-to-man much, if at all, the remainder of the season.

"First of all, we have limited bodies. We can't put ourselves in foul trouble," Ray said. "But more importantly our offense has improved leaps and bounds since we've concentrated on the offensive end and played the zone. I think some of the guys that are playing right now probably couldn't play if we were playing man to man because now you're chasing guys like Craig Bradshaw and Barnette all over the place."

Southeast shot 42.2 percent from the field and made a season-high 10 of 19 3s. Jones led the Redhawks with 20 points to go along with four assists and six rebounds. He made 5 of 9 3-point attempts.

Freshman guard Eric McGill added 15 points (5 of 11, 3 of 6 from 3) and Cleveland had 13 points, 11 rebounds and was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe.

"I think the most important thing is that guys are sharing the basketball and not trying to force the issue right away," Ray said. "We've got to make people defend us by moving the ball side to side, so our guys' willingness to share the basketball, I think, is the biggest improvement."

Kellum had 10 points and six rebounds, but was limited to 17 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

"I felt I could've had a real good advantage if I could've stayed on the court, but it's what happens within the game," Kellum said.

Ray added of Kellum: "He's got to learn that he's fouling. We call fouls on him in practice and they call the same fouls on him in the games."

Southeast dropped to 2-11 and 0-1 in the OVC with the loss. The Redhawks host Tennessee State at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

"I think the most important thing for our guys now is to do everything we can to put ourself in the best recovery situation to play on Saturday, so that means us taking ice baths tomorrow, shooting free throws," Ray said. "We're not going to practice; we're going to walk through, we're going to watch film. We've got to make sure we're putting ourself in the best situation to be successful on Saturday, so I'm not going to pound these guys tomorrow because we lost, but they've got to handle it in a mature fashion. They can't think that I'm pleased with the fact that we lost; no, we're doing the best thing we can to get ready for our game on Saturday."