Southeast men's basketball already full of surprises

To say it was an interesting few days for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team would be a major understatement.

First came Wednesday's announcement that senior forward Tyler Stone, the Ohio Valley Conference preseason player of the year, and junior forward Nino Johnson -- like Stone an all-OVC preseason selection -- would be suspended for the first two games of the season due to a violation of unspecified team rules.

Added to that body blow was a roundhouse to the jaw that came just a short time before Friday's season opener at Saint Louis University.

Southeast released a brief statement saying that senior guard A.J. Jones -- the Redhawks' top returning 3-point shooter in accuracy and volume, having hit 30 of 70 for 42.9 percent a year ago -- had withdrawn from school and is no longer part of the basketball program.

Southeast officials said there would be no further comment regarding Jones from anybody associated with the university, including coach Dickey Nutt, so we may never know the real story about what happened with Jones.

The good news for Southeast is that losing Jones, although he is a solid player who added plenty to the squad, should not cripple the Redhawks' hopes of challenging for the OVC championship.

Now, if either the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Stone or 6-9, 245-pound Johnson was the one no longer around, then I'm not sure the Redhawks would have a chance to overcome that loss.

Without that dynamic duo inside, Southeast's tallest available player Friday was 6-5.

Despite all that adversity, Southeast gave SLU -- which posted a school-record 28 victories and earned its second straight NCAA tournament berth last year -- quite a first-half battle as the Redhawks led 35-34 at halftime before losing 87-64.

The Redhawks, even without Stone and Johnson, should be able to pick up their first win of the season today when they open their home schedule at 8 p.m. against NAIA Central Baptist.

But after that the Redhawks certainly need Stone and Johnson back on the floor, although they'll have to make do without Jones.

Only time will tell how much of a loss that turns out to be.

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I wasn't really surprised that the Southeast football team lost its final home game of the season Saturday, although I did think the Redhawks would prevail.

Things figured to be close between the Redhawks and Tennessee Tech since nine of the previous 10 meetings had been decided by seven points or less.

But Tech's 41-16 romp -- things weren't even that close because Southeast scored the game's final touchdown with just over two minutes left -- totally floored me, as I'm sure it did the sparse Houck Stadium crowd.

The Redhawks were favored to beat the reeling Eagles, who had suffered seven consecutive OVC losses dating back to last year and had dropped 13 of their last 14 conference games.

Instead, the Redhawks had a dismal performance as they missed out on an opportunity for their first two-game winning streak since 2010.

Now the Redhawks, who fell to 2-8 overall and 1-5 in OVC play, figure to have only one more strong shot at a victory as they end the year with two road games -- against hapless Austin Peay Saturday and perennial power Jacksonville State on Nov. 23.

I can't imagine the Redhawks losing to Austin Peay (0-10, 0-6), the OVC's lone winless squad. The Govs' average score has been 40.6-5.6; their closest loss all year is by 24 points. They have scored only five touchdowns -- five! -- all season.

But after what transpired Saturday at Houck Stadium, I'm not counting on anything.

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The second-ranked Eastern Illinois football team kept rolling Saturday with a 37-17 win at Murray State that wasn't as close as the score indicates.

EIU (9-1, 6-0) clinched at least a share of its second straight OVC championship because Eastern Kentucky was hammered 68-10 at Jacksonville State in its worst-ever OVC loss.

That means all other OVC squads have at least two conference losses.

Tennessee State (8-3, 5-2) moved into sole possession of second place, tied on the loss side with Jacksonville State (8-2, 4-2), Eastern Kentucky (6-4, 4-2) and Tennessee-Martin (6-4, 4-2).

There is a solid chance the OVC will receive a second FCS playoff bid -- Eastern Illinois is a lock -- which will come from one of the four squads mentioned above.

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The high school football season has reached its district championship round tonight, and the two Cape Girardeau County teams are still alive.

If Central and Jackson are going to keep their seasons going, they'll have to do it on the road.

Central -- riding a six-game winning streak during which the Tigers' offense has simply exploded -- visits Hillsboro for the Class 4 District 1 title. It will be a rematch of last year's championship battle that went to the host Hawks 28-20 in a thriller.

Jackson travels to Vianney for the Class 5 District 1 crown. The Indians were hammered by Vianney 52-27 at home in Week 2 this year, but that's when they were banged up. Tonight's rematch figures to be much more competitive, although the Indians will have to figure out some way to at least slow down Vianney star running back Markel Smith -- among the state's top college recruits -- at least a little bit.

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The NCAA's weeklong early signing period for several sports, including basketball, begins Wednesday.

While Southeast women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler is expected to announce two signings, Southeast men's coach Dickey Nutt told me it's not likely he will sign any players early.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.