Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team picks up second win of season

Antonius Cleveland recalled Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Rick Ray warning he and his teammates before their game on Sunday about falling into a trap of thinking they'd be able to beat their opponent -- NAIA Harris-Stowe State University -- with ease.

The Redhawks didn't heed that warning from their first-year coach and got off to what Cleveland described as a "lackadaisical" start, trailing by 16 points 6 minutes, 19 seconds into the contest.

But a defensive switch midway through the first half allowed Southeast to turn the game around with its transition offense, and the Redhawks claimed a 94-84 victory against the Hornets at the Show Me Center.

"I think our guys have got to make sure they're approaching the game of basketball the right way," Ray said. "I thought from the very beginning they thought they were just going to come out here and win just because they're a Division I basketball team and Harris-Stowe was not. I thought we got out to a bad start because of that approach. I thought the first eight to 10 minutes they beat us on a lot on hustle plays, a lot of loose balls, a lot of offensive rebounds, and we just didn't have the right approach."

The Redhawks trailed HSSU 20-14 with 13:41 remaining in the first half. The Hornets were 8 of 12 from the floor up to that point with a pair of 3s against Southeast's 2-3 zone. They trailed 26-15 during a media timeout with 7:51 left in the half.

"Basically they told us we need to pick our energy up," junior guard Jamaal Calvin said of the message during that timeout. "We came out flat, and he told us at the beginning of the game in the locker room that we needed to play harder, smarter and tougher. And they came out and punched us right in the mouth. We responded, though."

The Redhawks had the ball out of bounds under their own basket out of the timeout, and freshman guard Eric McGill inbounded the ball to Cleveland for an easy tip-in that sparked a 16-2 Southeast run.

Southeast Missouri State's Joel Angus III takes a shot between Harris-Stowe's Amenofis Mitchell, left, and Steve Wing during the second half Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

Cleveland blocked a shot and finished with a one-handed jam in transition. He came up with a steal, and Eric McGill scored on a fastbreak dunk to cut the deficit to five.

Isiah Jones was fouled in transition after a steal and split both free throws, and Jamaal Calvin jumped a passing lane and scored on the other end to cut it to 28-24 and force a Hornets timeout with 5:17 left in the half.

HSSU turned it over out of the timeout, and Calvin knocked down his first 3-pointer of the season to cut it to one.

Jones got a steal and scored to put the Redhawks ahead for the first time in the contest at 29-28 with 4:30 left before halftime.

Redshirt junior forward Trey Kellum came up with a steal, was intentionally fouled and sank both free throws.

The Hornets countered with a 5-0 run to regain the lead, but Jones drained a 3-pointer to put Southeast ahead for good at 34-33 with 3:21 left before the break.

The Redhawks, who scored 18 points off 12 HSSU turnovers in the first 20 minutes, held a 40-36 advantage at halftime.

"We went from our 2-3 zone to our 1-3-1," Ray said, "and our 1-3-1 is a much more aggressive zone. And it's all about getting deflections, being in passing lanes and hopefully knocking some balls loose and making some people make fast decisions so we can get out in transition. We were able to turn some of our defense into offense."

Southeast Missouri State's Eric McGill drives up the court as Harris-Stowe's Julian Clarkson defends during the first half Sunday, Dec. 27, 2015 at the Show Me Center. (Fred Lynch)

The Hornets never got closer than four points in the second half. A 3-pointer by Calvin with 14:55 remaining gave the Redhawks a double-figure lead for good.

Calvin, who was suspended the first four games and missed four games with a hamstring injury, finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench. He was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc in his second game back.

In addition to Calvin's ability to stretch the court, Ray thinks his personality is infectious for the team.

"I think he can be a guy that we can kind of rally around," Ray said. "I think he has some natural leadership tendencies, so I just like having him on the court.

"I don't think it's fair for us to go out there and play Hoopy [Jones] and Eric and those guys like 35 minutes a game because how hard we want them to play, it's almost impossible to do that, so he gives us a reason to get those guys off the court because we feel confident about him coming in and being able to make plays."

Cleveland finished with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to pace the Redhawks.

McGill added a career-high 15 points to go along with six assists and four steals. He was 7 of 10 from the field with a trey.

"I think the thing about Eric that's so refreshing is that he's just a basketball player," Ray said. "I don't think he's defined as being a point guard, defined as being a 2-guard, and I think he has a great deal of patience and understanding of the game of basketball for a guy that's a freshman.

"Really what we're asking him to do is unfair -- be the starting point guard, play 35 minutes a game and go out there and make plays for people. I just think he's mature beyond his age, and I think that's the biggest thing for him, which makes him such a good player right now."

Junior forward Joel Angus III had 12 points and five rebounds. Kellum and Jones added 11 points apiece. Kellum had six rebounds and Jones had four steals.

Southeast shot 52.2 percent, was 8 of 24 from 3 and made 16 of 21 free-throw attempts.

The Redhawks, whose 94 points was a season high, led by as many as 20 with 2:44 remaining before HSSU's Evan Jones went on a personal 11-1 run, including 3 3-pointers, to cut the final margin to 10. He finished with 13 points in 11 minutes off the bench.

Forward Jalen Fletcher led the Hornets, who shot 56.5 percent in the game (67.7 percent in the second half) and were 6 of 13 from 3-point range, with 30 points and seven rebounds. He was 14 of 20 from the floor and scored 20 in the second half.

"I thought during the last like 8 to 10 minutes of the basketball game, when we started to get a lead, we started to get happy with the fact that we were up 15 points, 20 points, so what we did is we didn't defend," Ray said. "I told our team after the game, 'It's not going to be every single day that we go out and we scored 94 points,' so we've got to make sure that we've got the right approach to the game of basketball."

Southeast (2-10) takes a two-game winning streak into its Ohio Valley Conference opener against Belmont. The men's game tips off at noon Thursday from the Show Me Center with the women's game to follow.

"We now know how it feels to win, and it feels great," McGill said. "I think we can just take it into conference, just feeling good. We've won two games, now I think we just go into conference like we're 0-0."