Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Racers lose battle down the stretch to Southeast Missouri State 61-58
3/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sophomore Shawn Witherspoon had 15 points to lead the Racers tonight, but his three-point attempt with five seconds left in the game hit off the back of the rim, and the Racers' second-half comeback attempt fell short at the hands of Southeast Missouri, 61-58. Southeast Missouri (15-13) advances to play Eastern Kentucky in the O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals on Friday night.
Keith Jenifer scored 10 points, grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and handed out six assists for the Racers, who end the season with a record of 17-11. Trey Pearson added nine points and a game-high seven assists in the losing effort.
Reggie Golson scored 21 points (19 in the first half) on 9-of-14 shooting and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Redhawks. Dainmon Gonner added 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and Derek Winans also had 10 points for the Redhawks, who shot 47.1 percent for the game. The foursome of Terrick Willoughby, Paul Paradoski, Mike Nelke and Golson all had team-highs of four assists each.
"We lost the game in the first half," Racer head coach Mick Cronin said. "I am disappointed that I had to run the team yesterday in practice because of a lack of intensity before the biggest game of the year. I'm disappointed that we didn't come out ready to play. Our guys have to understand we were up against a team with four seniors who wouldn't play another game at this level if they lost tonight, and those four guys made 22 of the team's 24 field goals. I have a lot of respect for (Southeast Missouri) Coach (Gary) Garner. His kids came out ready to play tonight."
The game was tied seven times in the first half, the first tie coming on a jumper by the Racers' Charles Johnson at the 13:56 mark to put the game at 9-9. The lead then changed hands six more times before the final tie of the half, when Murray State's Issian Redding hit a jumper to make the score 28-28 with 3:26 left. Southeast Missouri then went on an 11-2 run to end the half, with Golson scoring eight of those points down the stretch.
Southeast Missouri kept the lead in the second half until a layup by Witherspoon at the 13:33 mark gave Murray a 44-43 advantage. A jumper by Gonner on the next trip down the floor gave the Redhawks the lead at 45-44, but a dunk by Redding with 10:49 left put Murray back on top at 46-45. Southeast Missouri's Ryan Belcher then hit a layup with 9:42 left in the game to put the Redhawk lead to one, but a layup by Murray State's Justin Orr gave the Racers the advantage at 48-47 with 9:14 left to play.
An intentional foul by Murray State's Darnell Hopkins allowed Gonner to convert on both of his free-throw attempts to push Southeast Missouri's lead back to one, and a layup by Golson on the possession after the free throw put the Redhawk lead at 51-48 with 6:11 left. A jumper by Jenifer gave the Racers a 52-51 lead with 5:27 left to play, but one of two big three-pointers by Redhawk reserve guard Nelke gave Southeast Missouri a lead they would never relinquish the rest of the game.
Nelke's second big three-pointer gave Southeast Missouri a five-point lead at 59-54 with 1:49 left, but a layup by Pearson edged the Redhawk lead down to 59-58 with 54 seconds left to play. Gonner converted on a jumper with 27 seconds left, and Witherspoon's late three-point attempt was off the mark to clinch a Southeast Missouri victory at 61-58.
"We knew if we kept the score in the high 50s to low 60s, we had a good chance to win," Garner said. "To come into Murray and win twice in the same season, that's big for us."
Cronin says his team's lack of urgency and following the game plan led to the loss.
"Our whole game plan was to stop Golson, and he goes 8-for-9 for 19 points in the first half. There's no excuse for that lack of effort in the first half," Cronin said. "Also, we wanted to not let Gonner drive left, but on both of Nelke's big three-pointers, Gonner drove left and kicked it to him, and I wasn't surprised he knocked them down. In a dog fight, it comes down to who hits shots. We missed ours, they hit theirs. But we put ourselves in that situation by our poor play in the first half."
Of the four games in the OVC Tournament tonight, all four lower-seeded road teams led at halftime of their respective games. No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech survived an upset bid by Eastern Illinois, 72-68, while fifth-seeded Austin Peay defeated fourth-seeded Samford 71-60. Eastern Kentucky defeated seventh-seeded Tennessee State 74-68.
Tennessee Tech will play Austin Peay and Southeast Missouri will play Eastern Kentucky on Friday night from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn. The winner of those two games will then face off on Saturday, March 5, at 3 p.m. to decide the OVC Tournament champion and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
