Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team may lose Niemczyk for two games

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt said senior guard Nick Niemczyk is questionable for this week's two home games after suffering a foot injury during practice early in the week.

Nutt said it was feared that Niemczyk broke the foot, but X-rays were negative.

"We got good news on that," Nutt said.

Southeast (11-13, 3-7 Ohio Valley Conference) hosts SIU Edwardsvillle (8-11, 4-5) at 7 p.m. Thursday and Eastern Illinois (6-17, 3-7) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in a pair of crucial OVC games.

The Redhawks are in a three-way tie for eighth place in the 12-team league, but for conference tournament purposes they are tied for seventh since Jacksonville State is ineligible due to academic sanctions. The top eight finishers qualify for the tournament.

SIUE is in sixth place, 1 1/2 games ahead of Southeast. EIU is one of the squads tied with the Redhawks for seventh place, along with Tennessee-Martin.

Women's basketball

The Southeast women's basketball program is inviting students from area schools to take an educational field trip to the Show Me Center for Monday's 11 a.m. game against SIU Edwardsville.

The contest is part of the program's "Classroom on Court" initiative. The classrooms in attendance have worksheets that will highlight the educational skills utilized in the game and throughout life. The students will relate what they learned from the worksheets to real-life situations during the basketball game.

"This is a great opportunity to get the kids involved with our program," Southeast coach Ty Margenthaler said in a release. "Our kids went out to classrooms and stressed the importance of academics being first and athletics being second. I'm proud of our effort that got over 1,400 people signed up. Hopefully this will continue growing from here."

Track and field

Southeast junior Courtney Gapelu was named OVC women's field athlete of the week Tuesday for the second straight week. Sophomore Reggie Miller Jr. garnered men's co-field athlete of the week honors.

Gapelu set a school record in the shot put with a winning distance of 51 feet, 9 inches during Friday's home dual meet with SIUE. She was also second in the weight throw.

Miller won a pair of titles against SIUE, in the high jump and triple jump. Earlier this indoor season he broke the school record in the high jump.

Southeast returns to action this weekend at the Samford Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.

-- From staff reports