Western Illinois holds off Redhawks men 71-66

As expected, Wednesday night's game between Southeast Missouri State and Western Illinois went down to the wire.

But the Redhawks could not quite find a way to pick up their third win of the season.

Host WIU held off Southeast 71-66 in the back-and-forth contest played in Macomb, Ill.

The Redhawks fell to 2-7 as they suffered their fourth straight loss, including two Ohio Valley Conference defeats.

The Leathernecks improved to 4-5 with their third consecutive victory, including a triumph in their Summit League opener.

"It's a disappointing loss because I felt like this is one we should have left with," Southeast acting coach Zac Roman said. "We battled all the way, but we couldn't get a rebound when we needed one late and we couldn't get a stop when we needed one late.

"They just made the plays at the end of the game."

The game was tight the entire way, with 11 lead changes and eight ties.

WIU's biggest lead was seven points, while Southeast's largest advantage was five points.

The Leathernecks went ahead 42-40 on a 3-point basket by Ceola Clark with 13 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second half.

Southeast never caught up, falling behind by seven points twice, but the Redhawks were right in the game during the final moments.

Down 66-60 with 90 seconds left, Southeast closed within 67-64 on two free throws by senior guard Kenard Moore with 13 seconds remaining.

But WIU hit four free throws to hold off Southeast, including two by David Nurse to ice the victory after Moore's basket with 6 seconds left made it 69-66.

"We fought hard, but we just couldn't get it done," Roman said.

Although Moore continued to struggle with his 3-point shooting, he had a strong game with 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals against just one turnover.

Moore made 6 of 13 field goals, although he missed all three of his 3-point attempts.

"Kenard did a lot of good things offensively, and defensively I thought he was our best defender tonight," Roman said. "He was solid all the way around."

Senior forward Jaycen Herring scored 19 points for Southeast, while junior center Calvin Williams added 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Senior wing David DuBois, WIU's only player averaging in double figures, paced the Leathernecks with 25 points. He entered averaging 17 points per game.

Southeast held advantages in several areas, including from the free-throw line and on the boards.

The Redhawks made 22 of 29 foul shots (75.9 percent) compared to 12 of 19 for WIU (63.2 percent).

Southeast outrebounded WIU 36 to 30.

"We did a lot of good things," Roman said.

But two areas that the Leathernecks dominated stood out.

WIU had only five turnovers compared to 13 for Southeast.

Particularly decisive was WIU's advantage from beyond the 3-point arc. The Leathernecks made 7 of 16 from long range, while the Redhawks misfired on all six of their 3-point attempts.

Southeast has made only 33 3-pointers all season, compared to 66 for the opposition.

"In college basketball, the 3-pointer is big," Roman said. "We'd like to get some makes there."

The Redhawks continued to be hampered by the absence of junior guard Jimmy Drew, who has not played this season because of a foot problem.

Without Drew, Moore is Southeast's only legitimate 3-point threat, but he is shooting just 26.3 percent from beyond the arc.

"Having Jimmy would help a lot," Roman said.

Southeast will get another shot at WIU when the Leathernecks visit the Show Me Center on Dec. 21.

In the meantime, the Redhawks will get ready for another nonconference game Sunday, when they travel to Peoria, Ill., to face Bradley.