Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team unwraps dramatic win in OT vs. IUPUI

Southeast played 40 minutes of regulation and 15 seconds of overtime before they ever had the lead.

The Redhawks (8-4) held onto that lead and defeated IUPUI (4-11) 83-79 in overtime Monday at the Show Me Center.

With 36 seconds left in regulation Southeast Missouri State sophomore Paul McRoberts hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 72-72 -- the Southeast football player's first and only points since joining the basketball team as a walk-on Friday.

"The ball got swung to me and I didn't think twice about shooting it, but in my head I was just like, 'Aw, dang.' Assist by JB [Jarekious Bradley]. He put a pretty touch on that ball, so I guess he blessed it before he passed it." McRoberts said with a laugh.

The basket capped a comeback from a 13-point deficit in the second half.

Southeast nearly had a chance to win the game on a layup in transition by senior Tyler Stone, but it rimmed out at the buzzer.

The Redhawks took their first lead of the game 15 seconds into overtime on a layup by freshman Jamaal Calvin. Calvin was fouled on the shot and hit the free throw to make it 75-72.

Calvin, who came off the bench and scored 11 points, joked that when he stepped up to the free-throw line he thought about the two free throws he had missed with 1:18 left in regulation when Southeast trailed by three points.

"I knew I had to stay calm and pull through for the rest of the game because them three points, going up three, it could be a little misguided," Calvin said. "I knew we had to pull it out for the remaining four minutes."

IUPUI pulled within one point on a jumper by Ian Chiles with 3:15 left to play, but Chiles fouled senior guard Lucas Nutt, who knocked down both free throws to extend the lead back to three.

IUPUI's Marcellus Barksdale missed a shot on the other end and then was called for a travel. Bradley rebounded a missed jumper by Stone and scored on the next possession to make it 79-74.

The Jaguars cut it to three again on the next possession, but would never come any closer. Junior Josh Langford, who played in his second game for Southeast, was fouled on a fast break and hit both free throws. Bradley was fouled on Southeast's next possession and hit two free throws to make it 83-76 -- the Redhawks' largest lead of the night.

Barksdale hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final score.

Southeast struggled earlier in the game. The Jaguars scored the first eight points of the game before Southeast came back to tie it 13-13 on a 3-pointer by junior guard Darrian Gray with 8:12 left in the first half. Stone knotted the game at 15-15 on a layup before IUPUI went on a 8-0 run over the next two minutes.

The Redhawks trailed 37-29 at halftime and the deficit was at 13 points with 9:53 left in regulation.

"I just told our team at halftime, I said, 'You've got about three minutes to show me that you're going to play as hard as you can defensively or we're going with new people,'" Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "About three minutes went by and I saw the same and so we inserted Paul McRoberts, and along with Josh Langford, but I thought Paul McRoberts was a difference-maker in a lot of ways. ... He gave us energy, he was all over the place. He gave us deflections, he gave us some steals, and not only that, he probably hit the biggest shot all night long."

Southeast went on a 10-2 run to cut it to 57-52 with 8:02 left, but IUPUI, which hit its first 23 free throws and was 25 of 26 from the line for the game, extended its lead to 10 points twice, the last time being with 4:33 left.

Calvin hit a 3-pointer to make it 67-60 with 4:19 to start a 12-5 run that ended with McRoberts' game-tying 3-pointer from the left corner.

Bradley scored 22 of his game-high 27 points over the last 11 minutes of regulation and overtime. He made 11 of 12 free throws and collected 10 rebounds. Stone finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Southeast junior Nino Johnson left the bench prior to the end of the first half. He did not play in the second half and finished with two points.

"I don't think I've ever had a player leave the bench in my career, and we'll address that," Nutt said. "But Nino's response was he was very frustrated and he felt like and his quote was, 'I'm not any good anymore. I'm hurting the team and I don't need to be playing basketball,'" which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of a young man. He has a big heart and a lot weighs on his heart in terms of wanting to be the best he can be, but that's not how you respond."

The Redhawks will play Missouri State at 2:05 p.m. Sunday in Springfield, Mo.