Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team maintains OVC momentum with 82-78 victory

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team "threw the first punch," as Southeast forward Nino Johnson put it, and jumped out to a 25-point lead over Ohio Valley Conference West Division opponent SIU Edwardsville Thursday night at the Show Me Center.

The Redhawks saw that lead slip away but pulled out an 82-78 win against the Cougars.

"I tell you what, that tells you a little about conference basketball," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "You're never safe in the game of college basketball."

Southeast shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and cruised to a 50-25 lead with 1 minute, 58 seconds remaining in the first half, but the Cougars scored 10 unanswered points to end the half and cut its deficit to 15 at the break.

SIUE used a 22-10 run after halftime to cut Southeast's advantage to 60-57 with 8:53 remaining in the game.

"I think we played phenomenal for the first 15 minutes and then the last five minutes I feel like we let off the gas, and you can't give any team life," Lucas Nutt said. "We come out kind of flat and they just keep cutting that deficit, and before we knew it we were in a dogfight. We're just happy we came out with the win."

Southeast started the second half shooting 2 of 10 from the field.

The Redhawks elected to foul while leading 78-75 with 9 seconds remaining in the game. SIUE made both free throws to cut Southeast's lead to one point.

"At the end our philosophy is simple," Dickey Nutt said. "We never give a team the opportunity to tie the ballgame, we always try to foul and put them at the free-throw line. However, that foul at [9] seconds was an accident. That foul was supposed to take place at six seconds or less, and so we had to do it twice."

The next time the Redhawks fouled they were up 80-77 with 3.1 seconds remaining. SIUE made the first and attempted to miss the second on purpose, but it did not hit the rim, turning the ball over to Southeast. Jarekious Bradley hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds left to seal the game.

It nearly turned out differently, though. After cutting it to one point, SIUE fouled Lucas Nutt with 8 seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but came up with a steal, was fouled again and hit both free throws.

"I went all out and he kind of jumped and he threw an ill-advised pass and I just went for it," Lucas Nutt said, admitting he was nervous stepping to the line. "Luckily I got it and redeemed myself at the free-throw line because I was pretty frustrated with myself."

Bradley came up with two of the biggest shots of the game when he traded 3-pointers with the Cougars twice with about three minutes remaining to push the lead to six points. SIUE hit seven 3s in the second half while Bradley's two 3s were Southeast's only of the half.

"I thought we executed well late," Lucas Nutt said. "We had a few possessions where we were only up by about three or four, and we'd come down and call a play and 'bam' we'd get a bucket. JB hit a couple big shots. Nino made some good moves. … I thought we kept our poise."

Nino Johnson finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while Bradley, who has a sprained knee, led Southeast with 18 points and six rebounds.

"Man, he played his position," Dickey Nutt said of Johnson. "He was inside, on that block, and he was big and strong. And he was a shot blocker."

Nutt noted that every player who stepped on the court "played some good minutes," but appeared especially impressed with Johnson's improved play.

"I'm confident because they've been pushing me at practice," Johnson said. "I've just been working and staying humble, basically. Just kept working. And they're behind me 100 percent, so I give this game all to my teammates because they've been pushing me."

Southeast shot 35.5 percent in the second half and finished shooting 47.5 percent for the game.

"I thought we regrouped a little bit in the second half, but I thought we got a little bit tense," Dickey Nutt said. "I thought we played not to lose instead of relaxing and playing like we did in the first half. … I thought it was a gritty, gritty win."

The Redhawks improved to 11-9 and 3-4 in the OVC while SIUE dropped to 6-14 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Southeast faces OVC West opponent Eastern Illinois (6-13, 3-5) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Show Me Center.

"We've just got to come out and throw the first punch like we did tonight," Johnson said. "But we've got to stay with it."

EIU is coming off an 84-77 loss to UT Martin on Thursday.

"I expect a nail-biter again," Dickey Nutt said. "I expect a 40-minute game. I think Eastern Illinois is an improved team. ... What we don't want to do is have what happened to us last week happen to them. We get beat at Morehead and we go to Tennessee Tech, we regroup and we win. They get beat tonight, we can't allow them to come in here and have some fresh air and some confidence. We've got to put it on them."