Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team drops season opener at Dayton

A slow start doomed the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team in its season opener at Dayton on Friday night.

The Redhawks were held without a point for the first 6 minutes, 9 seconds of the contest, and turned the ball over eight times during that stretch as the Flyers pulled away.

Dayton picked up its 23rd straight win at UD Arena with an 84-53 victory.

"Before we started the game I said the things you've got to do when you're playing a team as good as Dayton is you have to give yourself a chance to win, and the way you give yourself a chance to win is being disciplined on the offensive end," first-year Southeast coach Rick Ray said. "Obviously that involves us taking care of the basketball and good decision-making with our shot selection, and I didn't think we did a very good job of that at all in that first half."

The Redhawks got on the board with 13:51 left in the first half on a free throw by sophomore guard Marcus Wallace that cut it to 11-1.

Southeast pulled within double figures at 16-7 on a jumper by freshman forward Tony Anderson that capped a 6-0 run with 11:48 left in the first, but it was as close as the Redhawks would get.

Southeast was 7 of 27 from the field, 1 of 10 from 3-point range and 1 of 7 from the free-throw line in the first half. The Redhawks had 13 turnovers and trailed 46-16 at half.

"I think first of all they were tougher than us, and not just physically tougher," Ray said. "We've got a lot of newcomers, a lot of freshmen on the team, so them being physically tougher is something that you'd expect with a veteran team, but they were mentally tougher than us, too. We've got to do a better job of matching [the opponent's] toughness. I think one of the things that transpires from that toughness is decision-making and I just didn't think we did a good job with that."

Southeast was outscored 38-37 in the second half.

The Redhawks scored the first five points after halftime as part of an 11-2 run that pulled them within 21 points.

Dayton pushed its lead to as many as 36 in the second half.

The Redhawks only committed three turnovers after half. They shot 35.1 percent after the break.

"I was pleased with the way we played the second half and I said if we would've played the way we played the second half the first half it gives you a chance to win the game," Ray said. "Now, do you win the game? You don't know that. It comes down to making plays down the stretch. But we didn't give ourselves a chance to win that game the way we played the first half."

Wallace led Southeast with 12 points and seven rebounds. Freshman forward Kyle Gullett added nine on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

Anderson had four points and six rebounds.

Southeast was just 5 of 25 (20 percent) on 3s and 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) from the charity stripe in the loss.

"We've got to do a much better job at the free-throw line, our whole team, because 8 of 23 at the free-throw line, that's not acceptable," Ray said. "I can understand us missing 3-point shots at times, but we've got to make our free throws and take advantage when we get to the free-throw line."

Dayton freshman Ryan Mikesell led the Flyers with 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He was 5 of 7 on 3s and had eight rebounds.

Sophomore Darrell Davis had 15 points while junior forward Kendall Pollard had eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Redhawks (0-1) face Evansville on the road Sunday at 2 p.m.

"We've got to take what we did in the second half and realize what we're capable of doing if we do the right things," Ray said. "That's the message we've got to get sent to our guys."