Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team opens season with pair of losses

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team will return home from California without a win.

The Redhawks were handed a 67-56 loss by San Diego Saturday to conclude the LMU Classic in Los Angeles.

Southeast pulled within a point with 8 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game on a 3-pointer by junior Isiah Jones.

The Redhawks, who were 1 of 14 from behind the arc, had missed 12 3s before Jones' shot made it 49-48.

"We're not shooting the ball very well," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We've got to step up to hit some shots, and I think that'll come."

San Diego's Johnny Dee answered with a 3-pointer following a timeout 10 seconds later that sparked an 18-8 run to close out the game.

Southeast trailed 31-28 at halftime after Dee sank a half-court shot at the buzzer. The Redhawks had trailed by as many as 11 with 4:35 left in the first half, but scored 11 unanswered to tie it before Dee's 3.

Dee led all scorers with 22 points. He was 6 of 12 from behind the arc.

"He's a phenomenal player, and rightfully so he's a senior and he's earned that billing," Nutt said. "He really is a special player because he's very smart, but on top of that he can shoot the basketball, so when he's open he can score."

Chris Anderson was the only other Torero in double figures with 11 points. He also had 11 assists.

San Diego shot 46.4 percent in the game and had 16 turnovers.

"We were much better on the ball," Nutt said. "Team defense was very good tonight. We did a lot better today, and again, every day out we want to improve and get better and better, and I think we learned some things. We learned how to control the ball, and we were better defensively."

Southeast finished with 19 turnovers in the game after having just three against Loyola-Marymount Friday night.

"We played a better team today than we did yesterday, and that certainly made a difference with their size and length and quickness," Nutt said.

Senior Aaron Adeoye led the Redhawks with 12 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Jones had 11 points and six rebounds while sophomore Antonius Cleveland had 10 points and four rebounds.

Southeast (0-2) returns home to face NAIA Hannibal-LaGrange at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Show Me Center.

"I think the biggest thing is that we stick together," Nutt said. "When times are tough -- there are going to be a lot of tough times in your life -- that's when your true character really comes to the forefront. I thought we handled it very, very well. We handled adversity well. ... I think we learned and I just told them, 'The thing that we do is we stick together.' It's a long season and there are a lot of people who don't win on the road or at a neutral site for that matter. But I think we're getting better."

Redhawks fall to LMU in season opener

Southeast trailed by two points with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in its season opener against Loyola-Marymount on Friday night.

The Redhawks missed a 3-pointer and then missed the front end of a 1-and-1 within a minute and the host LMU Lions pulled away for a 76-66 victory on the first day of the LMU Classic.

"I do think this is the best we've looked in many years -- to open up on the road and play in a hostile situation like we are," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "And I think Loyola-Marymount's probably a little bit better than their prediction. But it was good for us. It certainly woke us up. ... We didn't have our way like in exhibition games. Exhibition games we kind of had our way. These guys right here kind of put it to our nose and opened us up pretty good, but I was glad that we competed."

The Lions led 40-36 at halftime, which was the largest lead by either team at that point.

LMU scored the first five points of the second half to open up an 11-point lead 1:19 into the half before Southeast answered with eight unanswered points to pull within 45-42 and force an LMU timeout with 15:19 remaining.

The Redhawks tied it 49-all on a 3-pointer by junior transfer Isiah Jones just under three minutes later.

The teams were tied three more times at 51, 53 and 56-all with 7:10 left.

The Lions, who shot 52.8 percent from the field, scored the next nine points after that before Southeast cut it to 65-63 after a steal by Nino Johnson and an Aaron Adeoye dunk.

Jones missed a 3-pointer and then Adeoye missed the front end of a 1-and-1 before LMU was able to pull away.

The Redhawks were 6 of 12 from the charity stripe.

"We're not naturally good free throw shooters, and so we're going to have to put a lot of emphasis on that and work on that, and see if we can't be better from the free throw line," Nutt said.

Southeast fouled to stop the clock late and LMU hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute.

"I thought we had some good moments, but we just couldn't get the stop necessary when we had to," Nutt said.

LMU sophomore guard Evan Payne led all scorers with 23 points off the bench.

"He's a pro. He lives up to his billing," Nutt said. "He's certainly a good player, and we really didn't have an answer for him. I thought we did a good job of trying to keep the ball out of his hands, but then he went to get it. He's a very accurate scorer and very athletic. We had a hard time with him."

Johnson finished with a career-high 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He had three blocks, three steals and six rebounds.

"I thought he was really an outstanding player tonight," Nutt said of Johnson. "I thought he played on both ends of the floor, rebounded, scored. He was a leader tonight. He played with a lot of passion tonight, and I love that about him."

Southeast, which was without senior forwards Jarekious Bradley and Josh Langford, was outrebounded 41-28 in the loss. Bradley and Langford did not travel with the team because Bradley is recovering from a severe thigh bruise and Langford is serving a two-game suspension for a violation of team rules from last semester.

"I think the difference in the game was rebounding the basketball," Nutt said. "I just didn't think we rebounded the ball very well, and we've got to do a better job of going after the basketball."

The Redhawks only committed three turnovers in the game.

-- Erin Unerstall