Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Men's basketball drops final home game

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Southeast Missouri State’s men’s basketball team lost to Eastern Illinois Saturday 71-68 in Senior guard Isiah Jones’ final home game. The Redhawks now have a 5-23 record, 2-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Junior guard Antonius Cleveland led the team in scoring with 14 points. Jones finished with 11 points in his final home game.

The Redhawks could not gain a lead to start off the game. Once Eastern Illinois had a 12-7 lead, Southeast went on a 10-0 run to gain a 17-12 lead, which was their largest lead of the game.

At the end of the first half, Southeast Missouri was only down 30-29.

The Redhawks tried to stay close at the beginning of the second half, but eventually Eastern Illinois started to run away.

Eastern Illinois had a 16-point lead, their largest of the game, with 7:18 left in the game. The Redhawks at that point started to make their push in hopes to pull out a win.

Even with a tough fight to stay in the game, the Redhawks could not pull out the win as it came down to the wire.

Jones scored all of his 11 points in the second half. Junior forward Joel Angus III finished the game with a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Even though this was Jones’ final home game, he said he acted as if it was just another game. “I was just trying to play my game,” said Jones. ”I wasn’t thinking about last home game, last senior night. I was just trying to come out with a win.”

The final game for the Redhawks the season will be Saturday at Austin Peay.

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