Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team improves to 2-0 in OVC

~ The Southeast men had another fast start in a 74-56 win against Jacksonville State

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team got off to another blazing start Monday night.

This time it took longer to finish off the blowout, but the result was just as sweet for the Redhawks.

Southeast pulled away from visiting Jacksonville State 74-56, giving the Redhawks a 2-0 Ohio Valley Conference start for the first time since the 1999-2000 NCAA tournament squad won its first four league games.

"It feels good, but we still have a lot more games to go," sophomore forward Tyler Stone said.

The Redhawks, 7-7 overall, have a season-high three-game winning streak that ties their longest victory string under third-year coach Dickey Nutt.

"It's a happy locker room." Nutt said. "They're excited about their start."

Southeast's OVC opener Wednesday against Morehead State saw the Redhawks put up the first 15 points and never look back during a 16-point victory that wasn't nearly as close as the score.

The Redhawks had a similar start Monday as an announced Show Me Center crowd of 1,120 saw Southeast blitz JSU (5-11, 0-3) with a game-opening 11-0 run.

"We got off to a great start," Nutt said.

JSU battled back to take its only lead at 16-15. There were two ties, including 20-20, and the Gamecocks found themselves behind just 34-28 at the intermission.

The Gamecocks trailed 43-41 early in the second half when Southeast broke the contest open with a 15-0 run that featured six points by senior point guard Marcus Brister.

"Basketball is a game of runs," Brister said. "It wasn't our best game, but we did a good job."

The second of Brister's consecutive three-point plays put the Redhawks up 49-41.

Stone then hit 1 of 2 free throws and scored inside to make it 52-41.

Junior guard Marland Smith turned in one of the game's highlight plays when he seemingly came out of nowhere to block a 3-point attempt.

Seconds later Smith buried a 3-pointer to put Southeast on top 55-41.

Junior guard Nick Niemczyk capped the 15-point outburst by draining a 3-pointer with a little more than nine minutes left to make it 58-41.

Southeast built a 63-43 advantage and saw JSU cut the deficit to 63-50, but the Redhawks pulled away again.

"We came out with that same intensity, then the intensity dropped," Smith said. "Last game we kind of cruised the whole way. We've got to keep it like that."

Stone paced the Redhawks with 24 points. He hit 10 of 16 field-goal attempts and grabbed six rebounds.

"I can't say enough about Tyler Stone," Nutt said.

Brister had 14 points, a team-high eight rebounds and four assists.

"One of the key players was Marcus Brister," Nutt said. "He really gives us that added strength defensively."

Smith added 11 points and a team-high six assists.

The Redhawks hit 12 of 20 field-goal attempts (60 percent) in the second half and finished the game at 50 percent (25 of 50).

"I was pleased with our 50-percent shooting and holding them to the low 30s," Nutt said.

Southeast had a second consecutive strong defensive outing. JSU shot 31.7 percent (19 of 60) for the game, including 26.5 percent (9 of 34) in the second half.

"It's improved, but we still have a lot to work on," Stone said about Southeast's defense. "I do feel it's getting better. Our objective was to hold them to under 39, 40 percent."

The Redhawks finished the first half strong, getting a 3-pointer by Smith with 54 seconds left and a driving layup by Brister just before the buzzer to go up 34-28.

"I thought for the most part we played very well," Nutt said.

Nutt said he was worried about the game after Southeast had an impressive outing against defending OVC tournament champion Morehead State.

"A lot of times after you play a really special game you always prepare for the worst," Nutt said. "But we didn't have a letdown. It was a really good win for us."

Southeast plays its first OVC road game Thursday, visiting Tennessee-Martin for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

The Redhawks have not fared well on the road so far this season but did win their most recent road contest at Sacramento State.

"Winning is confidence," Nutt said. "Now we hope we can carry that over."