Box Score HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought, non-conference contest Saturday, 74-73, to Southeast Missouri State at the University Center.
Southeastern (3-5) fell at home, outside of Southland Conference action, for just the second time in its last 33 contests. Southeast Missouri (7-2) is the only non-conference opponent to defeat the Lions at the University Center since the beginning of the 2007-08 season, having also pulled off a close, 61-58 victory last season. The last three games in the series, all Southeast Missouri wins, have been decided by a total of five points.
"It was very tough," coach Jim Yarbrough said. "Southeast Missouri is a good team. We had them on our own court and had a chance to do some damage. I thought we played a good ballgame, but we had trouble slowing them down. Their big guys were very good, delivering over and over again."
The Lions took their first lead with 15:29 remaning in the first half, pushing it as high as 12 points on
Jeffery Ricard's three-point basket with 3:51 remaining in the half. Southeast Missouri began to chip away and took back the lead for good, 59-57, on Tyler Stone's jumper with 11:29 to play in the contest.
Southeastern shot well in the first half, going 17-of-32 from the floor (53.1 percent) and 5-of-11 from three-point range (45.5 percent) in the first half.
A reversal of fortune in the second half spurred the Redhawks as they shot almost 20 points better after halftime. For the game the Lions were 29-of-65 shooting (44.6 percent) and Southeast Missouri was 27-of-57 (47.4 percent).
Senior forward
Antonnio Benton pumped in a career-high 21 points to lead four Lions in double-digit scoring. His nine rebounds also led the team.
Devonte Upson tied a season-best with 13 points. Ricard, earning his second start of the season, chipped in 12 and freshman
Joshua Filmore added 10 points for Southeastern.
Jarekious Bradley turned in a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds, as he and Stone scored 20 points apiece to lead Southeast Missouri. Stone grabbed nine boards as the Redhawks out-rebounded Southeastern, 39-36.
"It would be a lot easier to talk about all the positives had we won the game," Yarbrough said. "You could think about the progress made. This is a team that just got beat badly by Arkansas, but got the message that you have to play a certain way."
Southeastern's next two contests will be on the road. The Lions travel to Tupelo, Miss., to face Mississippi State, Dec. 13, at the BancorpSouth Arena and then matchup with Tennessee-Martin, Dec. 21, in a return trip from the 2012 Sears Bracketbusters.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI (7-2)
Stone, Tyler 8-15 4-4 20; Bradley, Jarekious 8-15 2-4 20; Johnson, Nino 3-8 4-6 10; Gray, Darrian 4-8 0-0 9; Nutt, Lucas 2-4 3-4 7; Reese, C.J. 2-4 1-2 5; Cleveland, Antonius 0-2 3-4 3; Calvin, Jamaal 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 27-57 17-24 74.
SOUTHEASTERN LA. (3-5)
Benton, Antonnio 10-15 0-1 21; Upson, Devonte 5-9 3-6 13; Ricard, Jeffery 4-7 2-2 12; Filmore, Joshua 4-9 0-0 10; Ochie, Onochie 3-10 0-0 6; Evans, Dre 2-8 0-0 6; Chiera, Julian 1-4 2-2 5; Johnson, Forrest 0-0 0-0 0; Hawkins, JaMichael 0-4 0-0 0.
Totals 29-66 7-11 73.
Southeast Missouri............. 32 42 - 74
Southeastern Louisiana..... 39 34 - 73
3-point goals--Southeast Missouri 3-11 (Bradley, Jarekious 2-5; Gray, Darrian 1-2; Cleveland, Antonius 0-1; Stone, Tyler 0-3), Southeastern La. 8-24 (Filmore, Joshua 2-7; Evans, Dre 2-6; Ricard, Jeffery 2-4; Benton, Antonnio 1-2; Chiera, Julian 1-4; Hawkins, JaMichael 0-1).
Fouled out--Southeast Missouri-None, Southeastern La.-None.
Rebounds--Southeast Missouri 39 (Bradley, Jarekious 10), Southeastern La. 35 (Benton, Antonnio 9).
Assists--Southeast Missouri 9 (Nutt, Lucas 3), Southeastern La. 13 (Ricard, Jeffery 5).
Total fouls--Southeast Missouri 12, Southeastern La. 19.
Technical fouls--Southeast Missouri-None, Southeastern La.-Upson, Devonte; Team.
A-302
