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Redhawks fall into ninthFriday, February 15, 2008
But the Panthers looked like the league's best men's basketball squad against reeling Southeast Missouri State. For the second straight home game, an opponent blistered the Redhawks for 90 points at the Show Me Center. Both contests turned out lopsided, including EIU's 90-70 rout Thursday. "They just outplayed us. I really don't know what's going on right now," sophomore point guard Roderick Pearson said. "They just came out here and outplayed us, outscrapped us."
The Redhawks fell into ninth place in the OVC. They have three league games remaining. Only the top eight teams make the conference tournament. Southeast still is just one game out of the final tournament spot, and the Redhawks have a home game left against Samford, which is one of the two squads tied for seventh place. So Southeast still has time to make a tournament push, but the Redhawks realize they're running out of time. "We can [turn things around]," junior guard Kenard Moore said. "It depends if everybody is dedicated to it."
The Redhawks have lost four of their last five games at the Show Me Center. In addition to Thursday's beat down, Tennessee-Martin put a 90-71 whipping on Southeast less than two weeks ago. "I'm disappointed that we're not playing to the level of our fans," Edgar said. "There's not many programs in the country that could have lost nine out of 10 and have the arena hall full. "When I see that, I'm committed more than ever to give them a championship program." The only team playing to anything near a championship level on this night was EIU (5-20, 4-13), which is assured of missing the OVC tournament for the third straight season under third-year coach Mike Miller. Like Southeast, the Panthers have been hit by a rash of key injuries. But they took out some of their season-long frustration on the Redhawks. "We've had some rough stretches, but all we can control is our attitude and effort," said Miller, whose squad lost to Southeast 82-71 on Jan. 5 in Charleston, Ill. "I'm very proud of them." EIU entered the contest last in the OVC in field-goal shooting at 42.4 percent, and next-to-last in scoring at 62 points per game. The Panthers had no trouble blistering the nets against Southeast, which was allowing an OVC-worst 81.6 points per game. EIU shot 61.5 percent (32-of-52), including 57.1 percent from 3-point range (8-of-14). The Panthers, getting good looks all night, held a 34-18 advantage on points in the paint. "They were making shots, and we weren't playing defense," Pearson said. Southeast, already missing senior forward Brandon Foust since he suffered a season-ending knee injury 10 games ago, received only three points in 12 minutes from junior forward Jaycen Herring. Herring, Southeast's top scorer with a 13.3 average before Thursday, suffered an injured finger during practice earlier in the week and did not start. Edgar said Herring tried to play as much as he could, but was severely limited. "It's a big factor," Moore said. "But we still have a lot of pieces on the team. They just outplayed us." Moore led the Redhawks with 18 points as he hit 6-of-14 from 3-point range. Pearson added 10 points, five assists and three steals. But Southeast shot just 32.8 percent (20-of-61), including 32.1 percent on 3-pointers (9-of-28). Moore drained two early 3-pointers and Southeast bolted to a 9-4 lead. But it was EIU the rest of the way. The Panthers took the lead for good midway through the first half, and led 43-32 at the intermission. Moore again hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half and Southeast climbed within 45-40. But the Panthers again gained control and steadily pulled away, leading by double figures for the final 11 minutes and by at least 15 points for the last seven minutes. Pearson said the Redhawks still can get their act together. "If we come out and play hard, do what we're supposed to do, we should be all right," he said. Fans who witnessed Thursday's performance might have their doubts. Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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How about instead of the run and gun basketball we have been seeing that we see some high pressure defense which will help us push it on the offensive end after turnovers. The defense right now is sag back and give the other team open looks
I think it's time to hire a high school coach to help Scott teach the basics. This team has NO CLUE of how to play defense. It was pathetic! No effort is the thing hardest to swallow. What is going on here? You got BLOWN OUT AT HOME BY 20 to a school with only four wins. (It wasn't that close.) Don't blame the P.A. guy, the building, funding, the crowd and don't tell me to give it time, the effort level was not there, the prep and scouting wasn't used and I am very upset at a Div. I team playing like that in mid Feb. No excuses. That was the worst SEMO team effort I have ever witnessed in over 20 years of SEMO basketball. I have defended Scott in the past, but it is hard to back up what I saw last night.
I was there last night...sad.
I too have said we need to be patient but last night was awful. The team played no defense had no idea how to run a half court offense. There was no spark at all and the bench looked morbid. It looks to me like he may have lost the team.
Lets hire a high school coach that knows a thing or two about discpline and defense. did i hear somebody say LENNIES MCFERREN!!!!!!!!!!! its time for scott to go play west coast or something this is defense country no way we should allow people to score 90 and 100 points on us this makes me SICK boosters quit going to the game and wasting you money.............