Box Score Final Statistics | PDF Version

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Jarekious Bradley scored a game-high 28 points and Southeast Missouri (9-9, 1-4) shot over 60 percent during the second half in an 80-67 loss to Morehead State (12-7, 3-1) Thursday night at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

Southeast trailed by nine (31-22) at the intermission after struggling to a season-low .259 field goal percentage in the first half. The Redhawks regrouped to make 62.1 percent (18-of-29) of its shots in the second stanza.

While Southeast was getting shots to fall left and right in the game's final 20 minutes, it was free throws which came back to haunt the Redhawks.

"We shot 52 percent at the free throw line and we were distracted," said Southeast head coach Dickey Nutt. "It was clearly a lack of concentration."

The Redhawks made 11-of-21 free throws on the night compared to MSU which only missed three of it sattempts. The Eagles connected on 89.7 percent (26-of-29) of their free throws.

Bradley made his first four shots, including three-straight from downtown to grab Southeast an 11-0 lead just three minutes in.
 
Nino Johnson's free throw widened the Redhawks lead to 12-2 before MSU scored 17 of the next 24 points to bring the game to a 19-19 tie. Brent Arrington knocked down the game-tying three with 7:22 left to play in the first half.
 
Darrian Gray's three-pointer quickly broke the deadlock on Southeast's next possession, but that would be the Redhawks final basket of the half.
 
Southeast went 0-of-8 from the field and turned the ball over four times during the last 6:29 of the first half, as MSU scored 12 unanswered points. Angelo Warner's layup gave the Eagles their first lead of the game at 25-22 with 3:47 left before they pulled ahead at the break.
 
Bradley, who drained 4-of-6 three-pointers, scored 15 points in the first 6:25 of the game. Despite Bradley's rampage, Southeast shot only 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from the field and scored a season-low 22 points in the first half.

Southeast battled back to tie the game at 54-54 on Bradley's jumper with 7:28 remaining. MSU, however, countered with a 7-0 run to go up by seven.

Drew Kelly's three-pointer pushed the Eagles lead to 72-62 at the 1:39 mark. MSU made eight free throws in the last minute to polish off its 12th win of the season.

Bradley shot 10-of-17 from the field and 5-of-9 from long range. He also grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists and had a steal in 37 minutes.

Tyler Stone followed with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Lucas Nutt ished out a game-high seven assists. Nutt surpassed 100 assists in a season for the third time in his career.

Arrington led MSU with 20 points, while Kelly and Angelo Warner followed with 16 and 14, respectively. Chad Posthumus added a game-high 16 rebounds off the bench, leading the Eagles to a 38-31 advantage on the glass.

MSU shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) for the game.

"I thought our defense was better tonight and we had some good performances," said Nutt. "We shot ourselves in the foot during the first half. We had several well-designed plays that we just didn't execute."

Southeast returns to action at Tennessee Tech Saturday.