Murray State men's basketball team claims OVC title with overtime victory against Southeast Missouri State

Murray State men's basketball coach Steve Prohm felt fortunate that his team, which had never led the final 27 minutes and 40 seconds of regulation, got a call in the final seconds of the second half of its game against Southeast Missouri State that sent guard TJ Sapp to the free-throw line for three free throws.

Those three made free throws sent the game into overtime at the Show Me Center on Saturday night.

Southeast coach Dickey Nutt, on the other hand, felt that his players didn't get quite the same break in the closing seconds of overtime as senior guard Jarekious Bradley's game-tying shot fell short on a play where Nutt thought there was contact.

That missed shot led to a 94-92 overtime victory for the Racers, who clinched the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title with the road win.

"We feel like we gave that game away," Bradley said. "We had that game won and we kept giving them opportunities."

The Redhawks held an 85-82 lead after Bradley split a pair of free throws with 7.9 seconds remaining.

Following a Southeast timeout, Sapp dribbled the ball down the floor and was fouled on a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds on the clock when sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland collided with him.

"Our game plan was we were going to foul at half court, get it to half court. But once he got past half court, it's over with," Nutt said. "I thought that we got to running and chasing, and then next thing you know the momentum -- he just stopped and pulled up and then we ran into him. We've just got to be smarter than that. You've just got to make that play, you've got to allow him to shoot that ball if he gets that deep. What happened is he ran around us and now we're trying to play catch up and then he just pulls over in front of him and he stops on a dime, and then we run into him and he hits three free throws. That's the disappointing thing. We gave that to them."

Sapp had hit his lone 3-pointer of the game to tie it at 78 with 1:50 left and made five free throws, including all three in the final seconds to send the game to overtime tied at 85.

"He made big plays. And then we got lucky," Prohm said of Sapp, who took over point guard responsibilities when star sophomore guard Cameron Payne fouled out with 2:43 remaining. "They fouled him. He got fouled, and we got blessed on that call. Fortunately they made it, and this year we made three free throws instead of missing two and went to overtime and made a big-time stop at the end and were able to win."

Prohm referred to a pair of missed free throws by Payne that led to Southeast's double-overtime victory over the Racers last year.

Southeast Missouri State's Jarekious Bradley shoots against Murray State in overtime Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Southeast had an opportunity to send the game to a second overtime again this season, but Bradley's shot was off the mark, and Nutt questioned if there was contact on the play.

"The play was designed to take the best first shot," Nutt said. "They covered Jarekious Bradley, next was going to be in to Nino Johnson to tie the game, but they shut that off, so he had no choice but to drive. I thought he was fouled then too, but we didn't get that same opportunity they got at the end of regulation. They got an opportunity to shoot three free throws, and that was a disappointing play for us at the end."

The Racers scored the first six points of overtime to take a 91-85 lead with 3:08 left in the five-minute period. It was their first lead since the 7:50 mark in the first half.

Southeast senior guard Nino Johnson split a pair of free throws on a foul that sent MSU starting forward Jarvis Williams to the bench for good with 2:11 left in OT, and then a Johnson layup cut it to 91-88 with 1:48 to go.

Sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland and Bradley each sank two free throws to give Southeast a 92-91 lead with 44.6 seconds to go.

MSU reserve Tyler Rambo answered with free throws and a steal by the Racers led to two more free throws for Sapp.

He hit the second to put MSU up two with 15.9 seconds left before Bradley's miss.

"We felt like we were in control of the game the entire game," Nutt said. "That's what great teams do, they find a way to win. We give them credit for that."

Southeast led by as many as 10 points in the game. The Redhawks took a 71-61 advantage with 5:44 remaining on a 3-pointer by Bradley.

Bradley had rattled off 11 consecutive Southeast points over a 3:11 stretch after it was tied at 60 with 8:55 left.

The Racers trailed by five when Payne, who finished with a game-high 26 points, fouled out and before Sapp took over. Sapp had 17 points while forwards Jeffery Moss and Jarvis Williams had 18 and 16, respectively.

Southeast Missouri State's Nino Johnson drives and shoots as Murray State's Jonathan Fairell looks on during the second half Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (

Johnson led Southeast with 25 points and 12 rebounds while Cleveland had 21 points, freshman guard Marcus Wallace had 17 and Bradley added 15.

"We would love to see them again," Johnson said. "It's just tough. They played great. Their seniors played until the end. We respect them, but we feel like we let this one slip out of our hands."

Southeast trailed 2-0 before the game even started as it was given a technical foul for dunking in pregame warmups. Moss hit both technical free throws before the game was tipped.

The Racers improved to 23-4 and 13-0 in the OVC as they won their 21st consecutive game to clinch the 24th championship in program history.

"These guys deserve this. This is a special, special [group]," Prohm said. "We were up here last year and we got the championship just kind of ripped from us, and it was an awesome, awesome scene. That's why you coach, to see those guys persevere and win a championship like we did that."

Southeast (12-14, 6-7 OVC) is tied for seventh with SIU Edwardsville in the OVC standings. The Redhawks face the Cougars at 7 p.m. Thursday in Edwardsville, Illinois.

"Like I told our team, we had our chances and I was proud of them," Nutt said. "I still think there's a lot of basketball left to be played with this team. We are certainly playing at a high level right now. It's something that I'm proud of and expect, and obviously was looking for that early in the year. Nonetheless, it doesn't matter. We still have a lot of games to play and got a very tough roadtrip coming up ahead. We've got to get focused on that and put this one behind us."