Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team reverses role, wins at buzzer

MARTIN, Tenn. -- For the first time this season, Southeast Missouri State freshman guard Antonius Cleveland was on the right end of a game-winning buzzer beater.

"The last two buzzer beaters this season, all the heartbreak losses, all the shots were hit on me," Cleveland said, recalling losses to Missouri State and Eastern Kentucky. "It feels real good to be on the opposite end for once."

Cleveland caught the inbounds pass in the final seconds of a tie game against UT Martin Saturday, took a few dribbles and banked in a shot just past half court to give Southeast a 77-74 victory at the Elam Center in Martin, Tenn.

"I knew when I got the ball with 4 seconds left -- I knew that I had to go. I knew that if you pass the ball a couple times we weren't going to get a good shot off. I wanted to keep it and get myself in a good position to knock the shot down, and, man, it just went in. When it released I kind of knew it was going in."

Cleveland was tackled onto the floor by his teammates, and although .2 seconds were put back on the clock, UTM didn't get a shot off to seal the Southeast win.

The shot came after the Redhawks relinquished a 35-28 halftime lead early in the second half and found themselves fighting to regain it.

UTM started the half on a 19-4 run that included five shots from behind the arc to take a 47-39 with 13 minutes, 18 seconds to play. The Skyhawks still held a 51-43 lead with 11:29 remaining.

"I thought we did a good job switching, a good job hedging the ball screens, but every once in awhile they would take us all the way in," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said.

"But for the most part we did a good job understanding their personnel -- who could shoot, who couldn't shoot. We still let them get loose a couple times, but still toughness, we hung in there. We didn't break. We bent today, but we didn't break."

Nutt explained that the difference between the first half and the start of the second half was the play of a couple of players.

"Nino started the game and set that presence for us," Nutt said. "Second half he either didn't get the warm up very good, he came out of that locker room sluggish, whatever it was we were not playing with that same fire -- Lucas either. I told those guys, 'Pressure's on. … Pressure's on me, pressure's on you.' And we haven't played too well with pressure on us, but we're growing up and we're getting better.

"We're starting to understand that, 'Hey, if you want something, you've got to take it.' I thought Nino just kind of fooled around, got himself in foul trouble and I thought that was the difference. Then all of a sudden they start hitting 3s, they start feeling good about themselves, we still couldn't hit a shot and we dug ourselves a hole, but we hung around."

The Redhawks were 0 for 6 from behind the arc in the first half and were 1 for 14 when they were down 72-69 and took a timeout with 54.1 seconds to play.

Nutt drew up a play for Jarekious Bradley during the timeout and Bradley knocked down his only 3 of the game from the left wing to tie it at 72 with 38.5 seconds to go.

"I thought the play of the day -- there were a lot of good plays -- but coming out of that timeout we really executed for JB -- the elevator door, double-screen and we surprised them with that. I told them that 'If he didn't have the shot, let's throw it inside, but you're going to have the shot, you're going to make the shot.'"

Bradley secured a rebound on the Skyhawks' next possession and was fouled. He hit both free throws to give Southeast a two-point lead.

Bradley was whistled for a foul on the other end with 4.3 seconds left. Marshun Newell, who was fouled, left the game with an injury and Dee Oldham knocked down both free throws before Cleveland's game-winner.

Bradley, who did not start for a second consecutive game after injuring his knee, led Southeast with 22 points and eight rebounds. Cleveland had 14 points and Tyler Stone had 12 rebounds and 11 points. Johnson had 13 points and eight rebounds.

"It just feels so good that something good happened to our team, and it couldn't have happened at a better time because obviously our backs are against the wall, every game means everything to us," Nutt said. "To be honest, I don't really -- I know a little bit about where we stand, but I just know that every game is critical."

The Redhawks improved to 15-13 and 6-8 in the OVC to move into seventh place in the standings, a half game ahead of eighth-place Eastern Illinois and one game ahead of Austin Peay.

"I just hope we can get in," Bradley said. "All we need is a chance."