Men's basketball defeats Eastern Illinois 68-64

With just over nine minutes remaining in the game, Southeast Missouri State University coach Dickey Nutt and his team were faced with a double-digit deficit against Eastern Illinois.

Nutt turned to someone that surprised his assistant coaches, a walk-on from Sikeston, sophomore guard JT Jones, who had yet to see action in an Ohio Valley Conference game this season, in hopes that Jones would provide that spark his team desperately needed.

Jones provided that spark for Southeast (5-6, 11-13) used to catapult to a lead and eventually a win over Eastern Illinois (7-4, 14-10).

This win was one that the Redhawks needed as they fight for the eighth and final spot with only six conference games remaining.

"I knew he was a crowd favorite, and that played a role too," Nutt said. "I needed anything and everything to jump start our team and get it going. I felt if we stayed status quo at the 12-minute mark, this is a loss."

The Panthers led 32-22 at halftime and shot just 31 percent including making just 2-9 3-point land.

The Redhawks could not get anything going and the rut continued 10 minutes into the second half and Nutt looked for some energy to jolt the team.

"We were playing in mud for about 30 minutes, and I mean that by we just seemed a step slow in everything we did," Nutt said. "It felt like we were mud. We couldn't have played more poorly."

The mud evaporated when Jones entered the game and the Redhawks ran off a 16-4 run and never looked back for the 68-64 victory.

"Coach just wanted me to come in a play hard and with some energy," Jones said. "That's all he wanted me to do."

Senior forward Nino Johnson grabbed a rebound and passed ahead for a Jones lay-up that were his only two points of the contest in his 11 minutes off the bench. Jones also had one steal.

Jones was not the only freshmen to play that made an impact. Guard Marcus Wallace played 31 minutes, second on the team to Johnson, and scored a career best 18 points on 6-9 shooting. He also made a contribution on the defensive said with three steals.

"Talk about a star is born tonight," Nutt said. "Made big shots, free throws and defensive plays all over the floor. He is certainly deserving. He played the most minutes besides Nino Johnson and look for that to happen again."

A put back dunk off an offensive rebound by Johnson and a 3-point jumper by senior forward Jarekious Bradley at the top of the key, turned a one point lead into six late in the second half.

Bradley missed the previous game against Murray State with a concussion and also had to be checked out again after running into a teammate in warm-ups.

"It's a frustrating thing for our team [Bradley's concussion], as we can't get any consistency," Nutt said. "But I hope this can be a breaking point for him. I do think he got into a groove a little and hit a big shot and some big free throws. He was also a good teammate."

Bradley finished with nine points and hit three out of his four free throws late in the game as the Panthers tried to get back into the game.

Wallace nailed the last two free throws to ice the game.

The Redhawks will try to get back to .500 in the OVC as they take on UT- Martin (7-3, 15-8) in a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Show Me Center.

"Let's win these last four, and not look back," Wallace said.