SEMO MBB sneaks by Central Arkansas in 77-73 overtime thriller

The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks men’s basketball team entered the Farris Center in Conway, Arkansas, on Thursday night, Nov. 21, with a lot of swagger.

And left with a win.

In a game that featured 15 lead changes and saw neither team go in front by more than six points, BJ Ward’s deep 3-pointer with 26 seconds remaining iced SEMO’s 77-73 overtime victory over Central Arkansas.

It was the Redhawks’ first road win of the season and just their second true road win since Jan. 28, 2023.

"Anytime you go on the road in college basketball, road wins are like gold," head coach Brad Korn said. "It wasn’t pretty. That’s never going to be pretty. And I thought our kids just kind of hung in there, hung in there, hung in there, and then made as many plays as they could towards the end. So, I just think it speaks to what we can become. Because if we clean up some free throws and clean up some late-game situational things with some execution, who knows what can happen."

Every time it looked like SEMO would go on a run, the Bears answered.

Teddy Washington Jr. put the Redhawks ahead 64-60 by sinking a 3-pointer with 3:10 left in the second half before Central Arkansas responded with two straight baskets to tie things up. Deadlocked at 66-all with 10 seconds to go, Washington Jr. fired a jump shot from the foul line that went in and out of the basket to send things to overtime.

After trailing 68-66 early in overtime, SEMO rallied to take a pair of two-point leads — its last one coming on a driving jumper from Rob Martin with 1:56 remaining.

Ward provided the exclamation point by sinking a 3-pointer from near halfcourt that gave the Redhawks a 75-71 edge with 26 seconds remaining. The sophomore scored a game-high 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting and has now scored in double digits each game this season.

Washington Jr., who entered the game with a double-double in each of his last two starts, also clocked out with a game-high 19 points to go along with eight rebounds. It was the exact homecoming performance the Arkansas native wanted.

"Teddy’s always going to play hard just because that’s how he plays," Korn said. "But being back in Arkansas is a big deal to him, so he wanted to play well. He has a lot of people here, so he knew he was going to get going, and still had a good game despite some foul trouble. He had to sit for a long time. So, BJ stepped up and made some plays early, had some good open looks that he missed and then he really found his rhythm in the middle part of that game. Then he hit that huge 3 at the end to kind of put it away."

Martin, who is fresh off a career-high 29 points against Chattanooga, continued to make an impact with 11 points and three rebounds. Transfer guard Damarion Walkup also cashed in 11 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in the first half.

Big picture

The Redhawks passed a test by overcoming some adversity Thursday, proving they can rebound from a narrow loss and get it done on the road. SEMO came in having started out 1-3, but entered the night as the OVC’s third-highest scoring team, averaging 77.8 points per game, and showcased its slick offensive attack against Central Arkansas.

As Washington Jr. pointed out in the postgame news conference this past Sunday, Nov. 17, this team is “just scratching the surface” and has a ton of potential moving forward, especially when centerpieces such as Braxton Stacker get healthy and the fairly new-look starting five continues to mesh.

"Everybody has been able to open up and have more to their game," Washington Jr. said. "I feel that’s really what it’s based off and keeps us going."

What’s next?

SEMO returns to the Farris Center at 6:30 p.m. Friday night, Nov. 22, when Korn’s squad takes on Big South Conference foe UNC Asheville (1-2).

"That’s why we took a game like this," Korn said of the quick turnaround. "We could have put a day in between, but I kind of wanted to go back to mimic the OVC Tournament. So, we’ll rest up tonight, get something to eat, go to sleep and then come back and prep in the hotel and walk-through tomorrow. That’s kind of the cool thing about us. You get to just go play games."