Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team drops to 0-2 with loss to Evansville

For the second straight game, the Southeast Missouri State men had the unenviable chore of being the season-opening guests for a respected basketball program, and again the Redhawks did not spoil the occasion Sunday in Evansville, Indiana.

The Redhawks gave the University of Evansville, picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches poll, a strong opening test but ultimately fell 80-65 and dropped to 0-2 under first-year coach Rick Ray.

Southeast had opened its regular season Friday night with a 29-point loss at Dayton, a game in which the Redhawks got off to a slow start and trailed by 30 points by halftime.

On Sunday, the Redhawks held a lead midway through the first quarter and trailed by just two points early in the second half before the Purple Aces (1-0) pulled away.

"They're both NCAA tournament-caliber teams," Ray said. "Dayton was picked to win their conference, and Evansville was picked to finish second, so two quality ballclubs."

Joel Angus recorded team-high totals of 18 points and seven rebounds for Southeast, while Antonius Cleveland added 14 points and six assists.

"I thought we did a much better job tonight of sharing the basketball and making them guard us," Ray said. "I thought the first game, we took too many contested jump shots."

Southeast connected on 5 of 14 3-point shots (35.7 percent after hitting) after making 5 of 25 attempts (20 percent) against Dayton, cut its turnover total down to 10 after committing 15 against the Flyers and boosted its assist total to from 11 to 15. However, the Redhawks again struggled in free-throw shooting and rebounding.

The Redhawks committed 27 fouls and were outscored 28-10 from the line. The Redhawks made just 10 of 22 attempts from the line (46 percent) after making 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) against Dayton. Southeast also was outrebounded 47-30 by the Aces after getting outrebounded 39-20 in the opener.

"I think we gave ourselves a chance to win the ballgame," Ray said. "We only turned the ball over 10 times, so that was much better, but we've still got to do a much better job of finishing at the rim, and we've got to make our rebounds. But the biggest thing from these two games is we've got to find a way to guard without fouling."

Southeast trailed 8-4 after a 3-pointer by Evansville's Harris Brown at 15:33 mark of the first half but went on a 7-0 run over the next 85 seconds, which featured a pair of layups by Angus around a 3-pointer by Jaylin Stewart for an 11-8 lead.

After Evansville pulled even at 13-13, Isiah Jones re-established the three-point lead -- Southeast's biggest of the game -- when he connected on a 3-point attempt for a 16-13 advantage with 11:04 left in the half.

D.J. Balentine gave the Aces a 17-16 lead with 9:16 left. Southeast pulled even on a free throw by Cleveland 16 seconds later, but it was the only point for the Redhawks in a span of more than three minutes.

The Aces went ahead for good on a pair of free throws by Balentine with 8:51 left in the half, which sparked a 6-0 run. The lead hit 11 points on a jumper by Valentine with 1:35 left, but Southeast reduced the deficit to 44-36 by halftime.

The Redhawks opened the second half with an 8-2 spurt, with a 3-pointer by Jones cutting the Aces' lead to 46-44 with 17:51 left.

Southeast had a couple of chances to pull even or move ahead but wasn't able to do so.

"I thought we had some opportunities to finish at the rim, in the paint, and we didn't do that, and I thought we had some chances at the free-throw line and didn't knock down our free throws," Ray said. "... I thought on the other end we had some stops, but they weren't really stops because we didn't get the rebound."

The Redhawks trailed by five points, 57-52, with 10:34 left after a jumper by Cleveland, but Evansville went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes.

A 3-pointer by Mislav Brzoja capped the decisive spurt, started by a pair of free throws by Egidiju Mockevicius and followed by a layin and a jumper by Blake Simmons, with a 3-pointer with 8:48 left for a 66-52 advantage. The lead grew to 18 points two minutes later.

Balentine led the Aces with 20 points, while Mockevicius finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.

"They got two really good pieces, and any time you got two guys on the first-team all-MVC, you're going to have a good team," Ray said. "They're really disciplined and a well-coached ballclub. I would imagine that they're an NCAA tournament team."

Brzoja also had a double-double for Evansville with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Sikeston graduate J.T. Jones added 10 points for Southeast and grabbed six rebounds.

Southeast returns to action at Alabama A&M in Huntsville, Alabama, at 7 p.m. Thursday.