Southeast men's basketball team picks up road win over Central Arkansas

The Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team took a lead early in its game against Central Arkansas on Saturday and held on to improve to 2-2 on the season.

The Redhawks won 74-68 to leave the Bears (0-4) winless on the season.

"I thought the guys played good, played hard," Southeast coach Dickey Nutt said. "I thought that we were defensively in sync pretty good, not too bad there. It's always tough at somebody else's home. Anytime you can get a road win it's really good."

Southeast scored the first seven points of the game as part of a 14-4 run over the first 3 minutes, 36 seconds.

The Redhawks led by as many as 13 with 5:44 remaining in the first half. Central Arkansas closed out the half on a 17-10 run and trailed 39-33 at the break.

The Bears cut it to 54-52 on a 3-pointer by Thatch Unruh with 12:09 remaining in the contest, which was as close as they'd get in a game where Southeast always had the lead.

"I thought we got a little careless with the ball, and that's what I told them in a timeout," Nutt said. "That's what happens on the road. You start out a game with a 10-point deficit on the road. That's just the way it is. The calls are not going to go your way and we were careless with the ball, dribbled it off our foot, bad passing and then poor free-throw shooting. I think the biggest sore spot all day long was free-throw shooting. We're just going to stop talking about it. We shoot about a thousand a day it seems like, and hey, just step up and shoot the ball at the free-throw line and we'll be OK."

A free throw by Central Arkansas' Jake Zuilhof with 1:01 to go made it a 71-68 ball game.

The Redhawks, which were 15 of 28 on free throws, missed three of their next four , but Jarekious Bradley knocked down a pair with 6 seconds remaining to seal the win.

Nutt was pleased with the play of senior point guard JJ Thompson, who had one of the Redhawks' 12 steals with 15 seconds remaining. He finished with two points, three steals and six assists.

"I thought JJ Thompson really did a super job today at controlling the game and being a good floor general today, defensively and offensively," Nutt said. "Even at the end having that great dive after a loose ball steal to preserve the win. That was huge for us."

Southeast was led in scoring by Nino Johnson and Bradley, who each finished with 20 points.

Johnson added nine rebounds.

"I thought Nino really had one of his better games," Nutt said. "He's big and strong, and his presence was felt today."

"Jarekious is still fighting that injury and he's not quite in sync where he needs to be, but man is he a difference-maker out there," Nutt said. "Condition-wise he's not where he needs just yet, but I think he's just going to get better and better. ... He gives us a threat out there that we desperately need."

Antonius Cleveland finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in the win.

"I think Antonius Cleveland was outstanding defensively," Nutt said. "He was all over and played above the rim. I thought he played well."

The Bears were led by Jordan Howard with 21 points. Mike Martin had 13, Zuilhof had 12 and Unruh had 11.

Southeast returns to action against Bowling Green on the road Tuesday.