Students, staff and residents of both Southeast Missouri State and Murray State came together to celebrate the 10th birthday of Rowdy the Redhawk and to also be a viewer of the highly competitive contest against each school's men's basketball programs.

There was a sense of competitive nature and increased intensity as the Redhawks planned to keep up their winning ways following a convincing win against UT Martin last Thursday and a close call against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 7.

Southeast also had plans to avenge the 82-72 loss against the Racers on Feb. 5.

A missed contested jumper by senior guard Jarekious Bradley led to an 94-92 loss for the Redhawks leaving them ranked seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference with three games remaining before the conference tournament.

Southeast received another great performance from freshman guard Marcus Wallace as he provided 13 points with three assists and two steals.

Coach Dickey Nutt commented on the play of Wallace by praising his offensive and defensive performance recently for the Redhawks.

Wallace's contributions off the bench in the team's last two games include 18 points against Eastern Illinois followed by 14 points and three steals against UT Martin this past Thursday.

Southeast was given a technical foul prior to the tip-off of the game due to a player dunking during pre-game warm ups.

The Redhawks received major contributions and minutes from senior forward Nino Johnson as he totaled a team-high 25 points and 12 rebounds while playing 43 minutes.

"Getting their best player(s) out of the game, focusing on defense," Johnson said. "We not too much worried about offense too much now because offensively we doing great. We have talented players all-around the court and off the bench, defensively was the main focus. Just had some minor mistakes late in the game."

Southeast maintained the lead over Murray State for a little more than 30 minutes until the Racers' senior guard T.J. Sapp tied the game at 78 with a 3-pointer with a little under two minutes remaining.

This swing of momentum was followed by a 7-4 run from the Redhawks that pushed the lead to three points for Southeast following Bradley going 1-2 from the free-throw line with seven seconds remaining in regulation.

Following a 30-second timeout by the Racers, Southeast had made a decision as a team to foul if stealing the ball was not successful.

Murray State was able to carry the game into overtime following a 3-point shooting foul by sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland on Sapp with two seconds remaining in the game.

Sapp converted on all three of his free-throws sending the game into an extra five minute session.

The overtime session included six straight points by the Racers pushing the lead to 91-85 with a little more than three minutes remaining.

The Redhawks responded with seven straight points and reclaimed the lead 92-91 with 45 seconds remaining after two converted free-throws by Bradley.

A late foul by Johnson with 34 seconds left in the game in which junior forward Tyler Rambo made both of his free throws, followed by Sapp converting on one of the two attempts led to a two-point lead prior to Southeast using their final timeout.

The final play included a contested jump shot by Bradley right inside the top of the key that rimmed out and Murray State was officially crowned the OVC regular-season champions with this win.

While the blame for this game should never be directed at one person, Cleveland took blame for the sending the game into overtime and the end result.

"I feel like I put us in a bad situation with that foul and I feel that this loss is on me right now," Cleveland said. "I was trying to make a good play on the ball but my momentum carried me into him and he just stopped, just a careless mistake that costed us the game."

Southeast's is currently 6-7 in OVC play and 12-14 overall.

The next game for Southeast includes traveling to Edwardsville, Illinois, to face SIU Edwardsville at 7 p.m. on Thursday.