Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team qualifies for OVC tournament with 83-80 win vs. Govs

A few weeks ago, the reality that it might not make it into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament set in for the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team.

When that clicked, the Redhawks rattled off four of five wins, including their last three. With an 83-80 win against Austin Peay Thursday night at the Show Me Center, Southeast clinched a berth in the OVC tournament for the fourth straight year.

"The entire locker room was thrilled and jumping for joy and talking about Nashville and this and that, and I let them know real quick, 'Hey, listen. Our goal every year is not to be at this point, fighting for our lives to get into that tournament. That's not our goal,'" Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "However, we dug a hole and I'm really proud the way our guys have fought through adversity and hung on through some tough times and we got that goal accomplished. Now, I told them immediately, 'Get that out of your mind. We don't go to Nashville today or tomorrow. Our next game is Murray State and that's our focus.' And I immediately poured cold water on that a little bit."

Southeast appeared to try its hardest to let Austin Peay (11-18, 5-10 OVC) have a chance at the end of the game. The Redhawks held a 79-69 lead with 1 minute, 16 seconds left following a dunk from senior Tyler Stone, but fouls, missed free throws and turnovers allowed the Govs to have a chance at the end.

The Redhawks had the ball and a two-point lead with 12 seconds left, but a long inbound pass from Lucas Nutt was stolen at mid-court by Austin Peay's Ed Dyson. The Govs had a shot from behind the arc following a timeout but missed. Jarekious Bradley hit one of two free throws, and an Austin Peay turnover in the final seconds sealed the victory.

"I thought, defensively, we did just enough to hang on," Nutt said. "We were just glad the clock hurried up and ran out."

The Redhawks missed four free throws in the final minute, including the front end of two one-and-ones, while Southeast fouls led to five Gov points at the free-throw line.

Johnson and Stone both noted after the game that their experience in close situations throughout the season has prepared them and changed their approach to finishing.

"Just by not ducking our heads," Stone said. "We get closer. If things get bad for us we just come together. That's what it is. Instead of guys separating, we just come together and everybody keeps encouraging each other down to the last second. It just plays a big difference."

Southeast held a 40-34 lead at halftime after shooting 61.5 percent (16 of 26) -- even though they were 0 of 5 from behind the arc. Austin Peay shot 36.7 percent (11 of 30) and was 2 of 8 from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes.

The Redhawks extended their lead to 10 points early in the second half with some easy baskets in transition before Austin Peay got hot from behind the arc.

The Govs hit their first four 3-point attempts to cut Southeast's lead to 57-56 with 11:32 remaining, and tied it at 59-59.

Southeast regained the lead on a Bradley 3-pointer with 9:40 left and stayed ahead the rest of the way.

Stone led five Southeast players in double figures with 20 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Bradley finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Cleveland had 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting, including a 3-pointer with 2:16 left to put the Redhawks up by nine. points. Josh Langford finished with 11 points.

Johnson, who started his third consecutive game, had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals.

"I thought Nino Johnson once again was a force. I thought in the first half he showed out," Nutt said. "He absolutely played well, handled the basketball ... I still believe that he was the difference in our team because defensively he gives us such a big body. I told him after the game, I said, 'I apologize. I'm not taking you out of the game again at the end of the game for free-throw shooting reasons because you're the only one making our free throws.'"

Johnson hit four of five free throws, including two with 46 seconds left.

Southeast shot 60 percent (33 of 55) in the game, but were 3 of 12 from behind the arc and 14 of 23 at the free-throw line.

Travis Betran finished with 28 points to lead Austin Peay, while Ed Dyson finished with 20 and Will Triggs had 15.

The Redhawks (16-13, 7-8 OVC) finish the regular season against OVC West Division winner Murray State (18-9, 13-2 OVC) on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Show Me Center.

"They're going to come in tough. It's going to be a battle," Johnson said. "But like I said, we've been climbing uphill and we're just as hungry as they are, so we're just going to stay humble and fight. We're not going to give up and duck our heads. That's basically been our statement of the week. Not ducking our heads, staying together, holding on tight to that rope. We're picking each other up everyday. If somebody's down, if somebody's not doing what they're supposed to, we're picking them up. That's our duty. Doing the same thing come Saturday night. Just got to finish strong."