Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team falls to Austin Peay in season finale

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray called a timeout with 59.1 seconds left in Saturday night's contest at Austin Peay, immediately after a 3-pointer by junior guard Antonius Cleveland cut the deficit to six points.

It was a familiar moment for Cleveland and the rest of the Redhawks.

"When coach started to draw the press up it just felt like, 'Here we go again,'" Cleveland said.

Southeast's final game of the season went much the same as the last few of its games, with a late comeback effort.

But as had happened in the Redhawks' previous seven games, they were unable to pull out a victory, dropping an 83-75 decision to the Govs.

'We're right there," Southeast junior forward Joel Angus III said. "Just kind of put the pieces together."

There were 10 lead changes and nine ties in the contest, which had Ohio Valley Conference tournament implications for the Govs (14-17, 7-9 OVC). With a win and an Eastern Kentucky loss, APSU clinched its first OVC tournament berth since 2012.

Southeast's largest lead of the night came with 1 minute, 16 seconds remaining on a basket by Angus, who finished with a career-high 19 points and eight boards. It put the Redhawks up 42-33, but the Govs scored five points in the final 44 seconds to cut it to 42-38 at halftime.

An APSU steal and two offensive rebounds led to a Kenny Jones layup out of the break. A Jones dunk 52 seconds into the half tied it at 44.

"When we're up nine with almost a minute left you've got to go into halftime [up more]," Cleveland said. "We let them cut it to four and they started the half with a steal and they tied it up and we just let them back in the game real early in the second half and gave them momentum. A team like that, that's playing for something, it kind of gives you a burden because they're actually trying to get something and they're going to have momentum to use. I think we let them come out in the second half stronger than us."

Southeast went back up six, but by the 10:21 mark, APSU regained the lead.

Senior Isiah Jones, who played his last game as a Redhawk, got a steal and fed Cleveland for a dunk that pushed Cleveland over 1,000 points in his three-year career.

"Antonius is a young man that's got a chance to be a really good basketball player," Southeast coach Rick Ray said. "Right now he's a good basketball player. What we want him to do, and we've talked to everybody about this, is like our offseason has already begun and there's only two things that we need to focus on -- two words: get better."

That lead was short-lived as Chris Bunton-Porter answered with a 3-pointer to put the Govs back on top, but the Redhawks answered with an 8-0 spurt that gave them a 63-58 advantage with 6:26 remaining.

APSU put together a 9-2 run over the next 2:14, capped by a Khalil Davis triple, and the Govs never trailed the rest of the way.

"I think we just kept trading baskets and getting empty possessions and not getting the stops, and next thing you know, we looked up and we're down four and trying to climb back in like we've been doing all season," said Cleveland, who finished with 24 points.

A pair of free throws by Trey Kellum tied it at 67 with 3:49 left. The Govs made 10 of 14 free throws over the final 3:34 en route to the win.

"At halftime I told our team I thought this would boil down to who defended well in the second half, and although I still thought we got some quality looks at times I thought we rushed some things," Ray said. "But we just didn't defend well in the second half as we didn't in the first half, and I thought that was the difference in the game."

APSU shot 53.4 percent on the night. Southeast shot 56.7 percent in the first half but just 39.3 in the second. The Redhawks were outrebounded 35-27, and the Govs scored 16 second-chance points off 11 offensive boards and 27 points off 16 Southeast turnovers.

Five Govs scored in double figures -- Josh Robinson (18), Chris Horton (17), Porter-Bunton (14), Jones (10) and Davis (10).

"I think like the biggest thing is being able to guard your own man without help," Ray said. "We're a really good help team, but we're in help all the time because we're not doing a very good job of being individual defenders, whether that's in the post or on the perimeter, but the perimeter penetration and guys making individual plays really hurt us."

The Redhawks finished Ray's first season at the helm with a record of 5-24 and 2-14 in the OVC and missed the OVC tournament after securing a spot the last five years.

"It's disappointing. But I think the most important thing is our guys learned a lot about themselves," Ray said. "Everybody wants to have that playing time, that 35 minutes a game, that 30 minutes a game, that 25 minutes a game, but you better make sure that you're prepared for it. We've got to work on getting better."