Opening acts falls short

PEORIA, Ill. -- It would be hard to imagine Southeast Missouri State University's men getting off to a worse start in Friday's season opener.

Southeast missed its first six shots from the field and was two for 13 at one point, as Bradley built a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game.

By halftime, the Braves led by 15 points -- and that was barely enough of a cushion to withstand a furious second-half charge by Southeast, as Bradley posted a 77-73 victory in front of 8,878 fans at Carver Arena.

"I don't think we could have gotten off to a worse start," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "I thought we were getting some good shots early, but they just wouldn't fall. Then we got into a big hole early in the game.

"But give our guys credit for making a heck of a run in the second half in a a really tough place to play. I'm really proud of our team. We very nearly won the basketball game after being down by 20 points.

Trailing by 20 early in the second half, Southeast scored 15 straight points to pull within five midway through the period. Things remained tense until the final whistle, as Southeast drew within two points twice in the closing seconds.

"We got too far behind," said Southeast senior forward Dainmon Gonner, who scored a career-high 36 points. "If we would have played better in the first half, we might have won. We still could have won. Bradley has a good team, but we could have beaten them."

Bradley scored the game's first basket -- a 3-pointer by reigning Missouri Valley Conference newcomer of the year Marcellus Sommerville -- and led the rest of the way.

Before Southeast got its first field goal more than three minutes into the contest, Bradley had already built a 7-1 lead. It was 17-6 with just under 13 minutes to go and 38-23 at halftime.

That margin would have been a lot greater were it not for the hot hand of Gonner. He scored 16 first-half points.

Gonner hit six of 11 first-half shots, including three of five 3-pointers. The rest of the team managed to make just three of 16 field-goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

"We had some good shots early in the game, but nobody except Dainmon could hit," said Southeast senior forward Reggie Golson, who added 15 points.

But Southeast, after shooting just 33 percent in the first half, found its range in the final period and made Bradley sweat out its season-opening victory.

Down 59-39 early in the second half, Southeast used a 15-0 run -- capped by senior guard Brett Hale's 3-pointer with 9:14 left -- to pull within 59-54.

Bradley was never able to pull away, but Southeast -- despite having plenty of chances -- was not able to get as close as five points again until Gonner's basket with 56 seconds remaining made it 69-64.

It was again a five-point game again at 71-66 after two Gonner free throws with 44 seconds left. And Gonner's 3-pointer 10 seconds later made it 73-69.

Southeast kept coming. Golson's follow shot with 12 seconds left pulled Southeast to within 73-71. Gonner made two of three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds to cut the lead to 75-73.

But Bradley hit two of four free throws -- the Braves used a key offensive rebound after one of the misses -- to hold on.

"Give SEMO a lot of credit. Some of it was them and some of it was us," Bradley coach Jim Les said. "Gonner is a great player, and they got him the ball."

Hale added 13 points for Southeast.

For the game, Gonner was 11 of 20 from the floor, and five of nine on 3-pointers. He also hit nine of 13 free throws. His previous Southeast high point total was 24 points against SIU last year during his first season with the team.

"Dainmon had a great game," Garner said.

Southeast heated up in the second half, shooting 64.3 percent (18 of 28) and finished at 49.1 percent (27 of 55).

"We just shot the ball so much better in the second half," Garner said. "We really made a great run, and if we had hit a few more shots, who knows what might have happened. I like this team and I think we're going to keep getting better."

Helping contribute to Southeast's big first-half deficit was a 25-11 rebounding edge for the big, athletic Braves, who wound up with a 41-27 advantage on the boards. Southeast battled them even on the glass in the second half.

Bradley shot 45.2 percent (28 of 62) for the game. Sommerville, a 6-7 forward, led four Braves in double figures with 20 points.