Redhawks' big lead vanishes in loss to Eagles

~ Southeast lost 87-80 in frontof the season's largest crowd.

For the second time in three days, Southeast Missouri State used hot shooting and strong defense to build a big early lead.

This time, however, the Redhawks could not sustain things.

Tennessee Tech, trailing by 18 points late in the first half and by 12 points at halftime Saturday night, rallied to win 87-80 and disappoint a season-high Show Me Center crowd announced at 4,630.

The Redhawks, losing for just the second time in their last six games, fell to 7-13 overall and 5-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

Southeast dipped into eighth place in the 11-team league, although the Redhawks are still just 1 1/2 games out of third place.

Tech (10-9, 6-4) moved into a three-way tie for third.

"It's disappointing," Southeast coach Scott Edgar said. "But Tennessee Tech is a very good team, very talented."

Two days after piling up a 30-point first-half lead against Tennessee State and never really letting the Tigers back in the game, the Redhawks also started strong against Tech.

Southeast hit five of its first six shots from 3-point range for an early 18-7 advantage.

When junior guard David Johnson drilled a 3-pointer with 4:01 left in the first half, the Redhawks led 44-26 and the Show Me Center was rocking.

Tech pulled within 46-34 at halftime and then Southeast went ice cold in the second half, while the Eagles got their running game going as they ripped the Redhawks' defense for countless easy baskets.

The result was a 53-34 Tech advantage in the second half as the Eagles swept the season series from Southeast.

On Dec. 9 in Cookeville, Tenn., Southeast led by three points at halftime before Tech pulled away for a 91-76 win.

"The second half we really didn't step up defensively," Johnson said. "They got a lot of runouts.

"Things just didn't go our way in the second half. We're usually a good second-half team."

Southeast shot 48.5 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes and made seven of 16 3-pointers (43.8 percent).

In the second half, the Redhawks shot 25 percent (eight of 32), and they went one of 11 from beyond the arc. Against Tennessee State, Southeast made 13 3-pointers.

Conversely, Tech's offense did an about-face in the final period.

The Eagles blistered the nets at a 58.6-percent clip in the second half, hitting 17 of 29, with many of those baskets coming from in close.

Tech shot 41.7 percent in the first half.

"It was a tale of two halves," said Edgar, whose squad had been 5-0 when scoring 80 or more points. "We talked at halftime about coming out and establishing ourselves defensively. ...

"We just kind of played on our heels the whole second half. We were the aggressor in the first half and they were the aggressor in the second half."

Added Edgar: "One thing they do really well is offensive transition and runouts. I thought that was the tale of the game."

Johnson had a big game for the Redhawks with career highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds. He hit seven of 12 field goals, including five of eight from 3-point range.

But Johnson, who scored 16 first-half points, was limited to 12 second-half minutes because of foul trouble.

"It's always frustrating," said Johnson of his foul problems.

Junior center Mike Rembert recovered from a foul-plagued first half -- he played just four minutes and scored only three points -- to finish with 16 points and six rebounds.

Junior forward Brandon Foust added 15 points, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Tech's impressive guard tandem of senior Anthony Fisher and junior Belton Rivers sparked the Eagles, along with junior forward Amadi McKenzie.

Fisher led the Eagles with 22 points. He was about the only offense Tech had in the first half, when he scored 12 points.

Rivers added 19 points. He had just two first-half points as he was in foul trouble.

Fisher made 11 of 13 free throws, while Rivers was 10 of 12 from the line. The pair was fouled repeatedly while getting out on the break or penetrating inside the lane.

"Any time you have two guards that good, you have a chance to win a lot of games," Edgar said.

McKenzie hit 10 of 14 shots and scored 20 points.

The Eagles took their first lead of the game on McKenzie's dunk that made it 62-60 with 7:57 remaining. Southeast responded, regaining the lead 63-62 on three free throws.

Tech went back ahead at the 7:19 mark when reserve guard Frank Davis stole the ball and went in for a layup. He was fouled and converted the three-point play for a 65-63 advantage.

The Redhawks continued to trail until Foust dunked off a nice pass from Johnson to pull Southeast into a 77-77 tie with 3:08 remaining.

But the Eagles made the plays they needed down the stretch to pull away.

McKenzie's layup at the 2:38 mark put Tech ahead to stay at 79-77.

After a Southeast miss, Rivers made two free throws with 1:52 remaining for an 81-77 advantage.

Southeast missed again, and two Fisher free throws at the 1:05 mark put the Eagles up 83-77.

The Redhawks got no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Eagles iced the victory from the foul line. They scored their final eight points from the charity stripe without a miss.

"I think you can see the difference of an experienced team," Edgar said. "They have more experience than us and it showed."

For once the Redhawks could not blame a tight OVC loss on poor free-throw shooting.

Southeast made 77.4 percent from the line (17 of 24), after they had been under 60 percent during three conference defeats that came by a total of seven points.