Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team gets much-needed road win over Austin Peay

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland had almost nothing but praise for his teammate and senior forward Aaron Adeoye after the Redhawks' game against Austin Peay on Saturday night.

Almost.

Cleveland, along with coach Dickey Nutt, thought a block from Adeoye with a minute and a half left in the first half was just the spark that the team needed to snap a two-game losing streak.

Adeoye had just turned the ball over with his team trailing by a point, but quickly sprinted back, stopping a dunk attempt by APSU's Chris Horton before falling on the ground at the Dunn Center.

The Redhawks' bench erupted after the play, and Cleveland said the momentum propelled them to a 70-64 defeat of the Governors.

"Aaron's block just started everything for us," Cleveland said. "It was a huge play, which is what he does all the time. We're used to that. We all knew that block was coming, so when he did that block the whole team got involved. And it just gave us a big boost.

Southeast Missouri State's Jarekious Bradley drives against Austin Peay during the first half Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 in Clarksville, Tennessee. (Fred Lynch)

"It was just a great momentum thing, something he do all the time, so we pretty used to that, as well as his illegal screens. So he's got to work on that," Cleveland teased as Adeoye walked past.

The teams traded baskets after Adeoye's save, but sophomore guard Jamaal Calvin, who made his first start of the season, knocked down his third trey of the half in the closing seconds to regain the lead and send the Redhawks to the break with a 38-36 lead they never relinquished.

"I'll tell you the defining moment might have been in this game is when Aaron came down and fought down and made that -- they had a wide-open, breakaway dunk and he came out of nowhere and not only blocked it but saved the play," Nutt said. "We did that in the second half as well, when they had a wide-open layup they could have cut it to two. We made that stop. That's effort. That's the passion that I'm looking for. Hopefully we can bottle that and get ready to play the toughest team in the league on Thursday."

The Redhawks extended the gap to 12 points with 12:39 remaining in the game on a 3-pointer by senior guard Jarekious Bradley that made it 56-44. Bradley, who scored a season-low three points on Thursday against SIUE, finished with 15 points on 6 of 12 shooting.

"Welcome back, Jarekious Bradley," Nutt said. "How about that? I thought he had a terrific night tonight. And let me tell you, everything didn't go his way. I thought that they got away with murder against him. I thought they hit him every time he made shots, but I'll tell you he controlled himself. He still continued to play. I thought he did a good job tonight. He was good."

The Govs didn't go away, though, and answered with eight straight points over the next 2:16 to pull within four and eventually trimmed it to one with 7:51 left.

Southeast Missouri State coach Dickey Nutt talks to his players during a break in the second half Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 in Clarksville, Tennessee. (Fred Lynch)

"When they cut it to four, cut it to two, we stayed together," Cleveland said. "I know we all wanted to win, when we were up 10 we wanted to keep the lead, but maybe we needed them to cut it to four and stay together, so going forward, we can build off this."

APSU made just two more field goals the remainder of the game, both to pull within four points, as the Redhawks held on for the much-needed victory.

"Just focusing on defense and knowing personel, and most importantly staying together," Cleveland said. "I know we on a tough little skid, losing games, we can't put three together, two together, but the most important thing to do was to stay together because when we're losing games it's easy to just break apart. We've got to remain a family and hang on to that rope and get out of that storm."

Southeast shot 56.5 percent from the field in the game, after struggling to score for extended periods of time earlier in conference play. Senior forward Nino Johnson finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Calvin and junior guard JJ Thompson had 11 apiece.

"We were moving the ball pretty well," Calvin said. "At first, I think there was maybe a time in the first half when we wasn't moving it, but from then on I remember [Nutt] said, 'Three sides.' We started getting the ball to three sides and making them work, and we got easier shots, easier lanes to the basket."

The Redhawks (10-12, 4-5 OVC) will face the league's top team in the 9-0 Murray State Racers on the road Thursday night.

"We know that it's gut-check time, basically," Cleveland said. "We're a really close family. We do everything together, so when we lose it hurts all of us. We know it's gut-check time and time to put a streak together so we can get in a good standing. We just can't be at the bottom of the pack. We're too good for that, and we know that."