Rebounding woes stifle Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team in loss at Austin Peay

Southeast Missouri State's Milos Vranes defends Austin Peay's Terry Taylor during a men's college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee. Taylor had 29 points as the Governors defeated the Redhawks 76-71.

Photo courtesy of APSU Athletics

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Rebounding hadn’t been an issue for the Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball team all season.

Until Saturday night.

Austin Peay freshman Terry Taylor had a double-double with 29 points and 14 boards, as the Governors finished with a plus-21 rebounding margin in a 76-71 win over the Redhawks at the Dunn Center.

Austin Peay pulled down 44 rebounds, compared to SEMO’s 23. The Govs corralled 22 boards on the offensive glass, while Southeast had just seven.

“We told our team going into the game that the way they score is three different ways,” Redhawks coach Rick Ray said. “The first thing they try to do is throw the ball into the post. They force-feed the post, and I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping the ball out of the post. The second thing they do is try to turn you over. They force 19 turnovers a game and score out in transition; but the biggest way they score the basketball is going up and getting their own misses.

Southeast Missouri State's Jonathan Dalton attempts a 3-pointer against Austin Peay in a men's college basketball game Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Photo courtesy of APSU Athletics

“It’s not new information. Our guys knew this, but for us to give up 22 offensive rebounds ... is really just ridiculous.”

A putback by Taylor pulled APSU (9-7, 4-0 Ohio Valley Conference) into a 68-68 tie with 2 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the game. Averyl Ugba and Taylor each hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 72-68 before Southeast sophomore Denzel Mahoney drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:19 to go, cutting the hosts’ lead to 72-71 at the 1:19 mark.

Southeast (7-10, 1-3 OVC) turned it over on its next possession before Taylor was fouled on a second putback attempt, and the freshman hit both of his free throws to extend the lead to 74-71 with 5.1 seconds left on the clock.

On their next possession, the Redhawks were unable to get the ball across the half-court line, as an unforced turnover led to a foul on Taylor, who went to the line and knocked down both shots to seal the final score.

Despite the Govs shooting 0 of 4 in the final 2:58, Southeast was unable to capitalize, committing three of its 12 turnovers during that time.

“We took care of the basketball for the most part, but what beat us was the continual pounding on the glass,” Ray said. “I told our guys, ‘When they get that second possession, they usually draw fouls,’ and so you saw we had a lot of guys that were in foul trouble in the first half ... because we didn’t get the first rebound.

“When you don’t get the first rebound, it’s already a paint touch because they’re already in the paint.”

Mahoney paced the Redhawks with 24 points and six rebounds. He played all 20 minutes of the second half after playing just six minutes in the first half. Freshman Ledarrius Brewer added 18 points, while Daniel Simmons had 11 points for Southeast, which shot 24 of 51 (47.1 percent) from the field.

The difference was in the rebounding department, as APSU finished with a 24-5 advantage in second-chance points.

“You can’t win a game giving up 22 offensive rebounds,” Mahoney said. “They were just tougher. They wanted them more than we did.”

Southeast Missouri State's Ledarrius Brewer dribbles on the perimeter during a men's college basketball game against Austin Peay on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Dunn Center in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Photo courtesy of APSU Athletics

Mahoney drained a 3 from the right wing with 14:52 to play in the opening half, giving the Redhawks an 11-2 lead, but he drew his second foul on the Govs’ next possession and didn’t return until the start of the second half.

APSU responded with a 21-3 run that ended when Taylor hit a pair of free throws with 8:01 left in the half, extending the hosts’ lead to 23-14.

Southeast scored the next five points, but the Govs built the lead back and led 36-27 at the break.

“They were 4 of 16 from the 3-point line in the first half, and everybody got concerned about the fact that they hit four 3s. But what happened after they missed those 3s? We didn’t go get the defensive rebounds,” Ray said. “I thought we put ourselves in some bad situations because we didn’t carry out our responsibilities.”

A jumper by Steve Harris moved the Govs ahead 51-40 with 12:46 left in the game before the Redhawks responded with a 13-2 run, during which Brewer hit three treys, including one from the top of the key that tied the game at 53-53 with 10:07 to play.

Brewer finished 5 of 15 from the floor and was 3 of 5 from beyond the arc in the second half alone.

A jumper by Taylor opened up a 61-57 lead for the Govs at the 7:34 mark, but Southeast responded with an 11-5 swing that culminated when Milos Vranes knocked down a triple from the left corner with 3:18 remaining, giving the visitors their final lead of the game at 68-66.

Taylor finished with nine offensive rebounds and was 9 of 14 from the field. He was 9 of 11 at the charity stripe, where APSU shot 14 of 20 (70 percent) as a team.

“It’s nothing our guys didn’t know,” Ray said about Taylor. “We showed them time and time again of what he’s done against other teams, and then the fact that they got offensive rebounds on the free-throw block-outs, when the numbers are four versus two, that just shows you a lot about how we’re not taking care of our responsibilities.”

The Redhawks shot 24 of 51 (47.1 percent) from the floor, including a second half in which they were 14 of 25 (56 percent). Southeast was 11 of 24 (45.8 percent) from 3-point range, shooting 8 of 12 (66.7 percent) in the second half alone.

“The way they play is the Frank Martin, Brad Underwood style where they just take away all your catches,” Ray said about APSU. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to have guys that are going to be willing to go inside and get paint attacks. I thought Jonathan Dalton did a great job on the initial ball screens of getting a paint attack and then finding guys. ... I thought our offense was not a problem at all for us.

“In the first half, we were a little bit stagnant. We stood around and didn’t try to fight for catches, but that’s what they make you do. You have to go get paint touches.”

Defensively, the Redhawks held the Govs to a 45.2-percent clip (28 of 62) from the field. APSU was just 6 of 25 (24 percent) from 3-point range.

“If we cut their offensive rebounds in half, they probably shoot 33 percent from the field,” Ray said. “We just didn’t get the rebounds.”

Southeast returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with an OVC matchup against Morehead State at the Show Me Center.

Dalton bounces back

After fouling out in Thursday’s loss at Murray State, starting point guard Jonathan Dalton returned to form against the Govs.

The junior Dalton finished with a game-high nine assists to go along with seven points (3-of-4 shooting) and three rebounds. He turned the ball over only three times in 33 minutes of action.

“Jonathan’s been running this team tremendously for us the whole time,” Ray said. “We’ve just got to get people to match his level of intensity and care about the team the way that he does.”

Injury update

Freshman forward Isaiah Gable missed his second game in a row and remains sidelined with a broken foot.

The 6-foot-7 Gable is averaging 4.5 points and 13.2 minutes in 13 appearances off the bench this season. He’s shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc.

“He’s in a boot,” Ray said about Gable. “He’s going to get re-evaluated again in two weeks to see if it’s healing up. If it’s healing up, he’ll be able to come out of the boot and start doing some no-impact things.”