SEMO dominates Eastern Illinois 75-44

Southeast Missouri State's Nana Akenten puts up a shot against Eastern Illinois on Saturday at the Show Me Center

Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

Redshirt junior wing Nana Akenten scored 13 points and made five steals to help Southeast Missouri State in a 75-44 landslide victory over Eastern Illinois on Saturday at the Show Me Center.

Four of the Redhawks’ starting five scored in double-digits. Redshirt junior guard Chris Harris registered 11 points and also made five steals.

Junior forward Manny Patterson added 11 points, while sophomore guard DQ Nicholas had 10 points and totaled eight rebounds.

“We stuck to the game plan the whole way,” Patterson said afterward. “We automatically knew that if we do what we’re supposed to it would be in our favor.”

Eastern Illinois shot 26.4 from the floor, which represented the worst mark by a SEMO opponent this season.

Josiah Wallace scored 11 points for the Panthers (5-13, 2-9 Ohio Valley Conference), who have now lost eight straight games.

In contrast, SEMO (6-10, 4-6) has won two consecutive games for the first time this season.

The Redhawks also now have a winning record at home (4-3).

Even with everything going right for the Redhawks, and wrong for the Panthers, few saw a 31-point victory on the horizon.

“I think you can always going into a game expect to play like that,” first-year SEMO coach Brad Korn said. “That doesn’t always mean the results are going to be like that, but I think it gives you an unbelievable chance for it to be that way.

“That was the message that was received by our guys. I think they see it, and more importantly, I think they’re starting to feel it.”

The last time SEMO defeated a conference opponent at home by 30 or more points was on Dec. 31, 2012, when the Redhawks defeated, guess who? The Panthers 81-48.

Saturday’s game was close for the first five minutes.

After the two teams were tied at 8-8, SEMO went on a 17-4 run to go up 25-12.

The Redhawks’ lead remained above 10 points throughout the game.

A 3-point shot by Harris at the buzzer gave the Redhawks a 38-20 halftime lead.

A layup by Patterson to open the second half put the Redhawks up by 20 points, while a layup by freshman forward Dylan Branson extended the Redhawks’ lead to 29 points with 12 minutes remaining in the game.

Akenten connected on a lay-in to put the SEMO lead above the 30-point mark with 3:11 left in the game.

Sophomore guard Parker Long found playing time after seeing limited time for most of this season. The Sikeston High School graduate is a transfer from NCAA Division II Maryville and was ruled eligible last month.

Walk-on Evan Morrison also got in Saturday’s game. It was the first time all season he saw the court.

“You always love those guys who give everything and don’t ask anything in return,” Korn said. “Evan is the ultimate Redhawk because he comes in every single day, doesn’t ask for anything, he plays hard, he loves his teammates.”

The bench erupted with enthusiasm and the crowd cheered on to see Long and Morrison contribute in the final minutes.

“It was great to have them out there because as at the end of the day we need every guy on the roster,” Patterson said. “You never know what’s going to happen. COVID, anything can happen so those guys need to be ready and they were.”

The Redhawk plan was clear for the final minutes, get Long and Morrison as many chances with the ball as possible.

Morrison shot 0-of-4, while Long missed his only shot and spent more time grabbing rebounds and passing the ball around.

“I gave him a hard time after the game, make him shoot two hours by himself tomorrow so when he gets in there again he can make a shot,” Korn said. “I told him his points per game, points per shot statistics, are going to be crazy, crazy bad.

“It’s good for a guy like Evan to feel good because he’s a part of the team. We don’t put one guy ahead of the other no matter what your status is. So I was extremely happy to see him there and get some minutes.”

The home-stand continues today with a makeup game against Murray State.

Between the second half of Thursday’s comeback win over SIU-Edwardsville and Saturday’s game, the Redhawks are playing their best ball all season, and maybe back home having something to do with it.

“We actually get to have a game-day atmosphere that a lot of kids in college sports don’t get to have even though it’s on a smaller scale,” Korn said. “I hope we get to that point where we take pride in that and I think that we are. I think we looked ourselves in the mirror after the (UT Martin) game just because if we played the way we played the last two we would’ve won that game as well.

“Our guys bought into that and really understand wanting to make the Show Me Center a very difficult place to play.”

The winner of today’s game will break the tie for seventh place in the OVC.