Southeast to face team it hung with last time

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team is coming off one of its better performances of the Ohio Valley Conference season.

Southeast acting coach Zac Roman hopes that carries over into tonight's game at Eastern Kentucky.

The Redhawks, still looking for their first OVC win, square off with the Colonels at 8 p.m. in Richmond, Ky. The contest will be televised nationally by ESPNU.

Southeast (3-21, 0-13) has the nation's longest current losing streak at 13. The Redhawks virtually have been eliminated from contention for a spot in the eight-team conference tournament.

But for just the sixth time this season -- and only the second time in an OVC game -- Southeast held a halftime lead Saturday.

The Redhawks were ahead by two points at the break before host Eastern Illinois rallied for a 70-62 win.

"I thought the way we came out, we jumped on them early, we had good chemistry, we moved the ball," said Roman, whose squad led by 10 points late in the first half. "I was encouraged. I thought we came together as a team."

Saturday marked Southeast's first game without junior center Calvin Williams, one of the OVC's top big men who on Friday was dismissed from the squad due to a violation of athletic department policy.

"We miss Calvin's numbers," Roman said. "But we had other guys pick up the slack."

That includes sophomore forward Jajuan Maxwell.

Maxwell started in place of Williams and finished with his second career double-double, recording 15 points and 10 rebounds.

"That was very, very nice to see," Roman said. "I know Jajuan has that in him."

Senior guard Kenard Moore, Southeast's top scorer on the season with a 17.4 average, hit six 3-pointers and pumped in 24 points.

"Kenard played well," Roman said. "He never quits. He's going to give you everything he has."

Southeast gave EKU (14-10, 7-6) -- sixth in the 10-team OVC, but just a game out of fourth -- quite a battle Jan. 17 in Cape Girardeau.

The squads were tied 71-71 before senior guard Mike Rose hit a 3-pointer with less than a second left to lift the Colonels to a 74-71 win.

"They beat us on a tough 3-point shot, but we feel we can compete with them, like we did with Eastern Illinois," Roman said.

Rose is among the OVC's elite players. He ranks third in the conference in scoring at 20.3 points per game, while leading the league in 3-point shooting (48.8 percent) and 3-pointers made (79).

"He's a gamer, one of the top three, four players in the league," Roman said.

EKU has won five of its past seven games, the hot stretch beginning with that earlier victory at Southeast.

Following tonight's game, the Redhawks continue on the road for Saturday's 3:15 p.m. contest against Morehead State in Morehead, Ky.

The Eagles (14-11, 10-3) lead the OVC, but they also struggled with Southeast on Jan. 15 at the Show Me Center, winning 73-67.

Roman said the Redhawks -- who have only seven scholarship players available following Williams' dismissal -- remain positive amid the turmoil and losing that have surrounded them.

"The losses, it's tough to take for anybody," Roman said. "But they have an opportunity to come out and participate every night on a big stage."