Semoball

Redhawk hoops continue to impress with gritty effort vs. SIUE

Southeast Missouri State redshirt junior forward Nana Akenten secures a rebound against SIU Edwardsville on Saturday at the Show Me Center.
Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

The followers of the Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball program are probably still talking about the notable performance by the Redhawks on Thursday, as they battled unbeaten (in Ohio Valley Conference play) Morehead State into overtime before falling by one point (74-73).

However, Thursday’s performance, as impressive as it was, didn’t have much on how SEMO showed itself on Saturday.

The Redhawks withstood challenge after challenge after challenge from visiting SIU Edwardsville and ultimately showed maturity, toughness, and ability in prevailing 85-77.

“To me,” second-year Redhawk coach Brad Korn said following the victory, “the sign of a good team is if you can win ugly. That was an ugly game.”

What Korn meant was not a critique of his team’s execution – or that of the Cougars. In fact, it was just the opposite.

The Redhawks were coming off an emotional game against the Eagles, which was televised nationally, and had to refocus on SIUE (7-14, 1-7 OVC), which is A LOT better team than most think after glancing at its record.

“It would have been very easy to come out flat,” Korn said.

The game was “ugly” because the Cougars never allowed the Redhawks (9-12, 4-4) to get comfortable at either end of the court.

“It was a choppy game,” Korn continued, “but a good team finds a way to win those games.”

SEMO fans need to put some context on the record of SIUE to understand WHO SEMO just beat.

Yes, the Cougars are at the bottom of the OVC. However, SIUE has lost at Creighton (by five points), to Murray State (by five), and at Morehead State (by three).

Those Youngstown State and Purdue Fort Wayne teams that beat the Redhawks this year? Yeah, SIUE beat both, including the Mastodons by 21 points.

The Cougars were resilient on Saturday, however, SEMO was even grittier, which is a far cry from where this program was two years ago.

Hell, it’s a far cry from where Korn’s group was a month ago.

“It’s a sign of a good team,” Korn said. “You bend, but you don’t break. Earlier in the year, we would have broken. We would just break and say ‘OK, stop. This game is over.’”

With just under 12:00 remaining in the game on Saturday, SEMO redshirt junior wing Nana Akenten hit a free throw to put his team up 49-42.

In less than two minutes, SIUE had tied the game at 49.

At the 8:07 mark, junior wing Nygal Russell buried a 3-pointer for a 57-52 Redhawk lead. However, the Cougars came right back with a 3-pointer of their own.

SEMO sophomore guard DQ Nicholas hit a free throw with 7:39 remaining to put the Redhawks up 60-55, but SIUE answered with a lay-in at the other end.

A few seconds later, Redhawk redshirt junior guard Chris Harris hit a jumper, but a pair of free throws by the Cougars pulled them right back to within three points (62-59) one minute later.

It was like that all afternoon, until the final two minutes when SEMO got an offensive rebound and put-back from senior center Manny Patterson, followed by a steal by Patterson at the other end, where he fed Nicholas for a fast-break lay-in.

Patterson then added a free throw with 76 seconds remaining to give SEMO a 10-point cushion.

The victory was the third in four games for the Redhawks, who are in fourth place in the OVC.

Another impressive facet to Saturday’s effort was that SEMO did not have freshman guard Phillip Russell (out with COVID-19) for the second consecutive game. Russell is the team’s second-leading scorer.

“We didn’t have Phillip,” Korn said, “and our team isn’t just Phillip, but it is important to win games without him. That shows growth and maturity, to still win basketball games without one of your top guys.”

Nicholas has moved into the starting lineup with Russell out and has been spectacular.

He and junior guard Eric Reed Jr. each scored 18 points in the win, while Nicholas also grabbed seven rebounds.

Nygal Russell had nine points and 11 rebounds, while Harris scored 17 points and dished out a team-high six assists.

Harris was a team-leading plus-13 on the plus-minus chart.

Akenten finished with 11 points and seven boards.

SIUE entered the game as the second-best rebounding team in the league, yet the Redhawks outrebounded the Cougars 38-30.

“Rebounding was a point of emphasis,” Korn said. “(Assistant coach Sam McMahon) had the scout today and that is all that we talked about. We made a point of emphasis to rebound.”

The Redhawks will travel to UT Martin (7-15, 3-7) on Thursday at 8 p.m.

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