Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team ends skid, posts first win of Ray era

Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray laughed before describing the atmosphere of his team's locker room at JQH Arena in Springfield, Missouri, as an "array of emotions."

Ray and the Redhawks defeated Missouri State 78-74 on Tuesday night for their first win of the season and of the Ray era.

It marked the first time Southeast had won a game against the Bears in Springfield since 1981.

"Some guys were relieved, some guys were happy, some guys were exhausted from it," Ray said. "But for the most part it was obviously upbeat, guys were excited. But guys didn't treat it like we won the Super Bowl either, though, which is good."

The Redhawks, who were in danger of becoming the first men's basketball team in school history to open a season 0-11, snapped an 11-game losing streak dating back to last season and improved to 1-10 with the victory while MSU dropped to 4-8.

The Redhawks only trailed once 2 minutes, 52 seconds into the contest. There were three ties in the first half, but Southeast took the lead for good when junior forward Joel Angus III knocked down a pair of free throws that made it 29-27 Southeast with 5:13 left before halftime.

Southeast, which shot 42.5 percent from the field in the first half, held a 40-33 advantage at the break.

"I never thought that anybody would run a triangle-and-2 against us, but they ended up running a triangle-and-2 and put one person on Hoopy [Isiah Jones] and one person on Antonius [Cleveland] and zoning up everybody else," Ray said. "And we struggled with that at the beginning because who would ever think somebody would run a triangle-and-2 against us, but our guys persevered through that and just kept moving and cutting and trying to take advantage of it."

The Redhawks pushed their lead to 50-38 with senior guard Isiah Jones' third 3-pointer of the game with 15:44 remaining.

Southeast's lead dwindled to two points 7:55 later as the Redhawks were held to eight points and turned it over five times in that stretch. They only committed 11 turnovers the entire game.

Southeast led by as many as seven -- with 5:17 left after a 3 by Jones and with 3:58 left at 68-61 on Jones' career-high tying fifth 3 -- after that.

Ryan Kreklow got the Bears within 74-73 with 1:20 left when his 3-pointer bounced high off the rim and in, but they never got any closer.

Junior guards Jamaal Calvin, in his first game back from a hamstring injury, and Antonius Cleveland combined to go 4 for 8 from the free-throw line to close out the game. Southeast finished 14 of 29 (48.3 percent) on free throws.

"For the most part they kept their composure," Ray said. "There were some times there that they started fouling us on purpose because we're not a good free-throw-shooting team and our guys didn't run away from the ball."

Southeast shot 60 percent in the second half (48.3 percent in the game). Cleveland led with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds. He dove after a loose ball with 33 seconds remaining that gave the Redhawks another offensive possession in a two-point game.

"I thought he chased down rebounds and loose balls the whole game and, because of his athleticism and length, he's a guy that's got to get in double-digit rebounds for us," Ray said. "I thought he was much more active, not just rebounding the basketball but there was a lot of loose balls, a lot of 50-50 balls that he went and got his hands on."

Jones finished with 17 points, Angus had 14 points and six rebounds, and junior forward Trey Kellum and freshman guard Eric McGill finished with 10 apiece.

The Redhawks host NAIA Harris-Stowe at 2 p.m. Sunday before beginning Ohio Valley Conference action at home on Dec. 31 vs. Belmont.

"I'm proud and happy for our guys because they persevered," Ray said.

"I thought we had a great practice here at Missouri State [Monday] getting ready for this game. I thought our shootaround [Tuesday] was energetic and enthusiastic. Our guys have had a great disposition through all of this, and I'm just happy for it to pay off for them and they get a chance to go on Christmas break with a positive attitude and get to be around their family and feel good about themselves."