Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team lets one slip away at Bradley

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team had a golden opportunity to notch a nonconference road win Wednesday night.

But Bradley scored a conventional three-point play with 4.6 seconds left to stun the Redhawks 66-65 in Peoria, Ill.

Southeast fell to 1-2, while Bradley, picked to finish last in the Missouri Valley Conference, improved to 2-0.

"We're just sick about it. We feel like we gave one away," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "We came here to win. We had our chances."

An extremely tight, back-and-forth contest featured 12 lead changes and nine ties.

The Redhawks led by six points midway through the second half for the game's biggest advantage. The Braves' largest lead was four points early in the final period.

Southeast trailed 63-60 with less than three minutes left.

Senior guard Marcus Brister scored to pull the Redhawks within a point, and senior forward Leon Powell's basket at the 1:30 mark gave Southeast a 64-63 lead.

The squads exchanged empty possessions before Bradley was called for an offensive foul with 22 seconds left. Powell took the charge.

Junior guard Marland Smith was fouled with 19 seconds left. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 65-63.

Bradley senior forward Taylor Brown scored on a short bank shot over sophomore forward Michael Porter with 4.6 seconds left. Porter was whistled for a foul, although there did not appear to be much if any contact, and Brown hit the free throw to put the Braves up 66-65.

"Everybody was banging hard the entire game," Nutt said. "You hate for the game to be decided by something like that, but I'm not complaining."

Brister, a poor outside shooter, dribbled most of the length of the court and was forced to take a 3-pointer. It bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

"In that situation, we try to get three dribbles and find an open shooter," Nutt said. "They had our shooters covered up. He [Brister] had no choice but to let it fly."

Southeast likely could have avoided that late situation if it had shot better from the free-throw line.

The Redhawks, who struggled in that area last season, made just 7 of 17 (41.2 percent). They attempted two more foul shots than Bradley, which was 9 of 15 (60 percent).

"You have to step up to the free-throw line and get the job done," Nutt said.

Although Southeast's inside offense again was strong, the Redhawks continued to struggle with their outside shooting. They hit 4 of 16 3-pointers (25 percent).

"We're struggling right now shooting the ball from the perimeter," Nutt said.

Nutt also didn't like Southeast's defense. Bradley shot 55.3 percent.

"We're just not very good defensively right now," Nutt said. "The post defense was not where it needed to be. I think we played tentatively because of foul problems."

Brister continued his strong early season play with a career-high 19 points. He hit 9 of 14 shots while adding five rebounds, four assists and two steals. But Brister made only 1 of 5 free throws.

Powell, who played just 23 minutes due to foul problems, scored 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting although he made only 1 of 3 free throws.

Powell, the nation's field-goal percentage leader from last year, is 15 of 16 this season.

Sophomore forward Tyler Stone added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Porter tied Stone for team-high rebounding honors with seven. He added four points, three assists and two steals.

Freshman guard Telvin Wilkerson continued to provide solid minutes off the bench. He hit 2 of 4 from beyond the arc for six points.

Southeast shot 48.2 percent and had only 11 turnovers.

"At the end of the day, you've just got to make a play," Nutt said. "We do have some inexperience. I think it showed up tonight."

Sophomore center Jordan Prosser scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Braves.

Wednesday's matchup at one-year-old Renaissance Coliseum marked Bradley's first on-campus regular-season game in 30 years. A sellout crowd of 4,340 attended.

Southeast plays at Oregon on Sunday to conclude a stretch of three road games in the first four contests.