Brendan Terry’s 17 points leads SEMO to win over SMWC in OVC tuneup

On Sunday, the SEMO men’s basketball team defeated NAIA opponent the Saint Mary of the Woods College Pomeroys (SMWC) 93-56 at the Show Me Center.

Led by Brendan Terry’s 17 points the Redhawks' offense rolled with five players scoring in double figures. Despite being an NAIA school the Pomeroys put up a good fight for the first ten minutes of the game before the Redhawks extended the lead.

Terry said it was a good team win and a good way to end the non-conference schedule before starting the Ohio Valley Conference slate.

“It was pretty good for us as a team coming in and doing what we were supposed to do, especially at home. We got two conference games off-rip, playing at home. So it was pretty good for a lot of us to get ready for those,” Terry said. “They're a good NAIA team. I know last year they went to their postseason, and they had a little run, so it wasn't just walk in and play basketball. Especially now with the transfer portal and stuff like that, NAIA basketball is continuing to get better, so it's is a good one for us as a team.”

Sunday’s game was the third out of the last four games Terry scored in double figures with this one being his season high. SEMO head coach Brad Korn said Terry does a lot of things well both on and off the court.

“The beautiful thing with Brendan is we can play him at the five, we can play with the four and we can put him in the middle. The mid-post, high post or it could be at the top of the key, initiating some offense. There are a lot of things that we can do with him because he is a skilled and smart player. He's got a high IQ, so we're able to move him around and use him in a lot of different ways, which helps our offense,” Korn said. “He helps everybody on the floor, on both sides of the ball. I give him credit because even after the Murray game, he was the first guy in the office to watch film. He yearns for coaching, he allows us to coach him. He looks you in the eye and he responds the correct way. So players like that are going to continue to get better.”

Korn said the biggest challenge during the conference schedule is going to be can the Redhawks remain mentally tough through all 40 minutes of the games.

“The Murray State game is a good microcosm for what's to come. We played the first 25 game minutes of that game extremely well, and then there was that moment where we didn't do so well offensively, and then that led to them scoring a lot of points in transition. Then we lost ourselves a little bit mentally. So we're going to be in those same situations come Thursday and Saturday and the rest of the season,” Korn said. “So now, have we learned? Do we have enough resolve, do we have enough mental toughness to get through those moments? Who's going to step up and rise in that moment when that happens? From an offensive standpoint, we’re not just going to make a bunch of shots. It's not going to be that easy for us. Who's going to command that time and that moment when we need it? To me, that's going to be the biggest key.”

SEMO opens up OVC play on Thursday at the Show Me Center against Eastern Illinois at 7:30 p.m.