Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team encounters more late heartbreak

~ SIU Edwardsville tied the game with less than a second left and won 93-88 in overtime

Edwardsville, Ill. -- The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team gave up a basket with less than a second remaining for the second consecutive game Thursday night.

This time the layup by SIU Edwardsville's Keaton Jackson with .6 seconds remaining only tied the game, but Southeast fell short in overtime and suffered a 93-88 loss to the Cougars at the Vadalabene Center.

"I thought our guys laid it all out on the floor," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "Sooner or later we're going to get a break -- sooner or later."

SIUE broke the 79-79 tie with a 5-0 run in the first 1 minute, 37 seconds of overtime.

The Redhawks cut it to 91-88 with 48 seconds remaining on a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Tyler Stone and nearly tied it with 7 seconds left in the game, but Jarekious Bradley's 3-point attempt rimmed out.

SIUE's Donivine Stewart hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory for the Cougars (9-15, 5-5).

The Redhawks have lost their last three Ohio Valley Conference games, including a 79-78 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday when Glenn Cosey banked in a shot from well beyond the 3-point arc with less than a second remaining. Thursday's loss dropped Southeast's record to 12-12 overall and 3-7 in the OVC.

"The thing that I told our team is there's a lot of basketball to be played," Nutt said. "Granted, the window is getting smaller, there's no question about that, but I'm still a big believer in our team. ... We are playing better. We're playing with swagger. We've just got to make our own breaks. We've got to try to find a way to win a game, and that's something we're struggling with right now."

Neither team led by more than eight points in the game, with Southeast taking a 55-47 lead with 11:50 remaining in regulation.

"We knew that there was no comfort zone against them because they can score baskets and they shoot the ball well," Nutt said.

The Cougars shot 52 percent from behind the arc (13 of 25) and hit three of their five second-half 3-pointers in the final 9:39 of regulation before Jackson's shot sent it to overtime.

"I knew once the shot fell that was our chance," Jackson said. "They should've never let us back in it."

Southeast shot 55.4 percent in the game, but only 37.5 percent (3 of 8) in overtime.

Stone scored a career-high 37 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Southeast. He shot 15 of 19 from the field and hit his only 3-point attempt to cut the deficit to three points late in overtime.

"He can do it all, and this year I think he's so much more dangerous than he was last year just because last year I thought he relied on the perimeter shooting," SIUE coach Lennox Forrester said. "This year he's all around the basket and he's tough to guard because he's strong. He has quick post moves. We were trying to double-team him to get the basketball out of his hands and he was making such a quick move that we couldn't even get there to double-team him, to eliminate him getting 37 points tonight."

Josh Langford finished with 13 points and six rebounds while Bradley had 12 points. Bradley's shooting hand was heavily taped due to his jammed thumb, and Nutt said Bradley was bothered by it.

Southeast remains in fifth place in the OVC West Division standings with six regular-season games remaining.

"Like I told our guys, 'The fat lady hasn't sung yet. Don't let go of the rope just yet. We've got everything in front of us,'" Nutt said. "You know, all we have to do is just gain a little bit and maybe just get a little bit of luck, and things very well may turn. We're just as capable as anybody. We're just as talented and capable as anybody. Our guys work extremely hard, but we haven't had our share of luck. Obviously that falls back on me, and I take full responsibility of that. My job is to get them ready for tomorrow's practice at noon in Charleston (Ill.) and get ready for the next game."

Southeast's next game is against OVC West Division opponent Eastern Illinois. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Lantz Arena.

The Panthers sit in second place in the OVC West standings and are 9-14 overall and 6-5 in the OVC. The Redhawks lost to EIU 77-74 on Jan. 25.