Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team drops OVC game to Eastern Illinois

Forty minutes of basketball wasn't enough for Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt, who was eager to get back on the Show Me Center court with his team after its Ohio Valley Conference game Saturday night.

"We need to get back to the practice floor," Nutt said. "If the NCAA allowed, we would be practicing tonight, I will tell you that."

Nutt and the Redhawks will have to wait until today to work toward making improvements on issues that were evident in their 77-74 loss to Eastern Illinois (7-13, 4-5 OVC).

Southeast (11-10, 3-5) frequently seems to find itself in a close game in the final minutes, and Saturday's game against the Panthers was no different.

The Redhawks faced a double-figure deficit with less than three minutes remaining before clawing their way back.

"We've just got to put two halves together," Southeast senior forward Tyler Stone said. "We get comfortable. We've just got to keep that pep in our step, just find some energy from somewhere. We can't rely on the crowd, we can't rely on our coaches, I mean, we've just got to do it ourselves. The coaches can't play for us. We've got to do it between us, between our team."

Southeast trailed by 12 points with 2 minutes, 41 seconds remaining in the game when Lucas Nutt and Jarekious Bradley combined for eight unanswered Redhawks' points to make it 70-66 with 1:20 left, and a 3-pointer by Bradley with 16 seconds left pulled it to 75-72.

The Panthers hit two of four free throws after that and a layup by Nutt as time expired sealed EIU's victory.

Southeast trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half. The Redhawks took a 19-18 lead with 10:24 left in the half, but did not score another field goal for nearly seven and a half minutes.

Nutt was upset that the Redhawks' defense, which has been an area of concern for Southeast all season, allowed EIU to shoot 50 percent from the field. The Panthers shot 53.8 percent from 3-point range, and guard Dylan Chatman was a perfect 4 for 4 from behind the arc.

"We fell into a trap, honestly," Nutt said. "We fell into a trap that we feel like we can score the basketball and our guys have fun in scoring points. We don't have fun in stopping people, and we've got to change that. We've got to help our defense with our offense. As good as we executed on Thursday night, tonight is as poor as we've executed."

Southeast shot 42.6 percent in the game but made just 4 of 21 (19 percent) attempts from behind the arc. Three of those 3s came in the final 1:47 of the game.

"We got open looks sometimes. We just didn't knock them down like we're used to," said Bradley, who went 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. "I'll give credit to their defense, too."

Southeast's shooting struggles continued at the free-throw line, where the Redhawks went 18 of 29 (62 percent).

"We had 11 turnovers for the night, but the guys that missed 11 free throws, that's a turnover," Nutt said. "When you're not shooting the basketball very well and then you compound that with free throws, you've got a real problem."

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak and put Southeast's conference record at 3-5.

"I told our players that you've just got to be tough," Nutt said. "You've got to be tough. You've got to get through these tough times. We have not arrived, and as much as everybody wants to predict where we are and what we have talent-wise, this and that, great. We've got great talent. But the bottom line is talent doesn't always win."

Stone led Southeast with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Bradley added 18 points and was 6 of 7 from the free-throw line.

Nutt noted that Bradley was held out of practice yesterday to receive treatment on his sprained knee.

"He's no surprise anymore," Nutt said of Bradley. "Everybody understands what kind of good player he is. They're going to shut him down. He's got to work for what he gets. First things first, he's got to get well. I think he's bothered by that knee, but I'm confident he will [get healthy]."

Lucas Nutt finished with 17 points and five assists. He made all six of his field goal attempts, including two 3s.

Southeast has a break from conference games with a matchup against UMKC on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Show Me Center.