Redhawks MBB prevails, seals OVC regular-season title in high-flying rout over SIU Edwardsville

Rob Martin, on the biggest regular-season stage for Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball in two decades, didn’t let the moment pass him.

Scoring an absurd 31 points, doing the tango with SIU-Edwardsville star Ray’Sean Taylor, the Redhawks rallied past the No. 2 Cougars to storm to an 83-68 victory to claim the 2024-25 Ohio Valley Conference title outright.

For the first time since Y2K, the Redhawks are conference regular season champions, and they sure played like it on Thursday night. Giving on of their best all-around efforts of the season, the stars came out in Edwardsville, Illinois.

“These guys are so competitive,” Redhawks coach Brad Korn said. “For them to be able to close it out. The thing I love about is that we won at Edwardsville, because they're such a good team.

“It wasn't some fluke, they didn't need help, they went out and got it.”

With the win, it makes 10 consecutive for Southeast Missouri, a streak that’s unmatched dating back to the 1989-90 team that racked up 11 straight victories (hat tip to the Southeast archive divers) heading into the final game of the league year.

Martin took the spotlight, but Teddy Washington Jr. pulled some serious weight himself. The two combined for 59 points to lead Southeast in marvelous fashion to a double-digit dub in hostile territory, and it was popcorn-devastating basketball.

“They're alpha dogs,” Korn said. “They’re dogs, they're competitive, man. They just play, so I'm not I'm not shocked by any of it.”

Martin did the dance with the odds-on favorite for Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors, Taylor, and Martin looked every bit his equal. With Taylor’s 30, the two combined for a ridiculous 61 points as they both smashed the 30-point mark.

But Korn, even knowing how high the stakes were for the individuals, stresses that his guys aren’t concerned about themselves but the bigger picture.

“I don't think that was the thing,” Korn said. “I thought for our guys, it wasn't Rob versus Ray’Sean or Teddy versus Ray’Sean.

“It was SEMO trying to win a championship. They did that.”

Going into Thursday night, it appeared as if the OVC Player of the Year conversation centered around Taylor, but Martin’s night may have just given him a chance at upending that conversation and putting his name right there at the forefront.

That being said, Taylor did everything in his power to hold off Martin, and a 1-point loss individually certainly isn’t going to hurt him. The two played like the two best players in the Ohio Valley, and there’s certainly not going to be anyone taking away from either.

Nobody else cracked double figures for the Redhawks, but Braxton Stacker sure got close. If there were an Ohio Valley Conference Sixth Man Award, he’d win it, because his 8 points and 9 rebounds on Thursday played a big factor in the win.

Going 2-for-4 from long distance, his night surrounded a 38-percent night for the Redhawks from distance, holding the Cougars to just 24 percent at the other end.

Here’s a cliché stat for the readers at home: SEMO won the turnover margin by 7 on Thursday. When you get outrebounded by 9, that’s a great way to get the edge back.

David Idada came off the bench to grab a nice hook bucket to start the second half, and his 8 rebounds in relief for Brendan Terry (who played just 11 minutes Thursday) were surgically important in the post.

Even better than a regular season title, for some, is the fact that the win Thursday also guaranteed that the Redhawks will earn a top-two seed (now first, of course) in next week’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Evansville, Indiana.

But they can’t look too far ahead too soon, because the regular season ends on a Saturday matinee matchup with Eastern Illinois on the road that, normally, wouldn’t carry much weight.

In most cases, you might ask that Southeast plays the load management game in Game 20 of a 20-game league that it’s already wrapped up – but there are some pretty strong implications with this winning streak.

Going into the conference championship week on a high note would be ideal, with an 11-game winning streak possible going into a Friday semifinal against the No. 4 seed at best and No. 8 seed at worst.

Southeast took a 7-point victory over the Panthers at the Show Me Center in the first game of the conference season, and it’ll look to repeat that in as gentle a way as possible Saturday with aspirations ramping up toward a second OVC Tournament championship in three years.

"Our guys are competitive, man,” Korn began. “They're gonna go play, you know, and I want them to play. They don't put in all the practices and the work to not play, so they're gonna want to play.

“I'm gonna let them play, and we'll go compete."