Morehead State takes down SEMO men’s 67-56 in OVC clash

Morehead State did what very few teams have been able to do this season — beat Southeast Missouri State on its home court.

Despite junior Rob Martin’s big game, the road Eagles used a huge second half to outlast SEMO 67-56 on Saturday at the Show Me Center in a pivotal Ohio Valley Conference showdown.

It was SEMO’s first home loss since Chattanooga defeated the Redhawks on Nov. 17, snapping a six-game home winning streak.

“We didn't meet the challenge physically for the duration of the game,” head coach Brad Korn said. “I thought we played hard for the most part, but we just didn't seem like we were connected like we had been, especially at home, offensively or defensively. I give Morehead credit for controlling tempo the way that they did. We knew that coming in we wanted to create a couple more possessions and get the game going a little bit more up and down, but because they rebounded the ball so well and really were physical defensively, they were able to control and dictate the tempo that they wanted.”

Martin was the star of the show for SEMO (9-8, 4-2 OVC), finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and eight assists. Junior forward Brendan Terry chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds.

Aside from those two, no other Redhawk finished with more than six points.

“I feel like we didn't play like the SEMO basketball that we've been playing,” Martin said. “We just weren’t connected tonight and I feel like that’s the main thing.”

Anouar Mellouck posted a team-high 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting to lead Morehead State (10-7, 5-1), which captured a conference title and marched to the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Eagles' bigs took it to SEMO’s frontcourt early and often with their physicality, outrebounding the home team 23 to 11 in the first half. However, Martin and the Redhawks kept their poise by staying aggressive to make it a 27-26 game at the break. Both teams went 11 for 27 (41%) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

Morehead State didn’t let SEMO get any closer, though, as the Redhawks had a hard time finding their footing the rest of the way.

The game shifted when the Eagles came out on fire in the second half behind a 16-0 run that was highlighted by a straight-away 3 from Kenny White Jr. and Dieonte Miles’ loud slam dunk.

“It just seemed like every time we would get a little bit more momentum from a defensive standpoint, we'd have a really weird turnover or we missed a shot at the rim, and now they come down and execute,” Korn said. “So, just every time you feel like you might be turning the corner, something else bad happens.”

Trailing as much as 16 with 8:47 remaining, Martin tried to revive SEMO’s scoring slump with seven individual points in a three-minute span, including a beautiful pullup 3-pointer, to cut it to 56-46.

But the deficit was too much to overcome, as Morehead State continued to put pressure on the Redhawk backline while dialing up smooth plays in the paint on the offensive end.

“It didn’t go as planned,” Martin said, “but if we just keep going, I feel like we can get this next one and not look down on today.”

The opportunities were few and far between for SEMO to score in the second half considering Morehead State dominated the rebounding battle by a staggering plus-23 margin. The Eagles also outshot the Redhawks from the floor 48% to 42%.

“We've not been this poor of a rebounding team all season long,” Korn said. “I think we were a +1 and they were a +5 coming into the game, so not a 21 or 23 rebound differential. But again, going back to not being connected offensively or defensively, I think mentally we were just a little bit slow to the fight, if you will, which made us slow to block outs, which made us slow offensively. We just kind of fed into everything that they wanted to do.”

Big Picture

The Redhawks ran into a hot team that has now won seven of its last eight, but this is a squad whose OVC title hopes are still very much alive. After having a balanced scoring effort in previous games, nobody answered the bell for SEMO outside of Martin and Terry.

While Saturday’s loss isn’t a complete indictment on SEMO to this point, who stood atop the conference standings before this loss, it highlights how much more work Korn’s program has to do moving forward.

“I told the guys after the game that this is great as far as accountability,” Korn said. “We’ve got to look in the mirror. We can sit here and whine and cry and moan, or we can look in the mirror and come back on Tuesday, because basketball doesn't care about what you did yesterday.

“Four games in seven days is kind of a crazy task, but again, I think the physicality and the rebounding of Morehead is going to prepare us for Little Rock because the same kind of fight is coming.”

Consider Saturday both an eye-opener and an opportunity. Now, how will the Redhawks respond?

What’s next?

SEMO’s difficult conference stretch continues on Tuesday, Jan. 14, when the Redhawks welcome Little Rock (8-7, 2-2) to the Show Me Center. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.