Little Rock controls paint, downs Redhawks at Show Me Center

SEMO's Josh Earley works in the post during the Redhawks' 83-61 loss to Little Rock on Thursday, Feb. 22, at the Show Me Center.

Clay Herrell ~ cherrell@semoball.com

An inability to stop the Little Rock Trojans in the paint proved to be the demise of the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks as they fell 83-61 on Thursday.

Some early three-point-range success gave the Trojans an early 10-4 advantage.

“I thought some guys tried,” Redhawks coach Brad Korn said. “I just didn’t think the defensive intensity and the physicality was there as a collective group. You can’t just have one or two guys doing it, you have to have all five doing it.”

After the first media timeout, it felt and looked like the Redhawks had settled into the game as they generated good looks at the rim and also got good contests on Little Rock shots.

“I thought we got good looks offensively,” Korn said. “We missed a couple of bunnies and so if you miss a couple of bunnies and you’re not getting rebounds, that’s a bad combo.”

While things appeared to be trending in the Redhawks’ direction, things quickly flipped in a matter of four minutes.

Southeast found themselves on the wrong side of an 11-0 run spanning two minutes that put the Redhawks in a 15-point hole.

“We just didn’t get rebounds,” Korn said. “They just pounded the glass on us and the way that they play inside the arc, they’re going to get offensive rebound opportunities.”

The biggest culprit of the issues for the Redhawks was the second-chance points they allowed.

At one point in the first half, the Trojans held a 10-0 advantage in second-chance points.

“There’s a whole lot of stuff that goes on before the ball ever goes to the rim,” Korn said. “So, if we’re not physical at the point of attack, then we’re just giving up layups.”

Credit to the Redhawks, they stopped the snowball and managed to keep themselves within striking distance as they trailed 45-33 entering halftime.

The good work Southeast did to hang around entering halftime was quickly erased by the Trojans as they opened the second half out scoring the Redhawks 16-6 to take a commanding 61-39 lead.

Little Rock kept rolling as the Redhawks seemingly had no answers for the Trojans’ attack as the lead ballooned to 72-46 with just under 10 minutes to play.

The Trojans completely dominated the paint by outscoring the Redhawks 50-30, while also earning 16 second-chance points.

“It starts with us as individuals,” Korn said of improving their play in the paint. “You’ve got to make the decision that you’re not going to allow certain things to happen.”

SEMO’s inability to slow down Little Rock in the paint led to the Trojans shooting an astounding 54% from the field in the win.

Offensively, the Redhawks shot 33% and were led by Josh Earley who scored 18 points in the loss.

Despite shooting 33%, the Redhawks only turned the ball over four times, something Korn hopes they can build on.

“We didn’t have a turnover in the second half,” Korn said. “I thought we were stronger with the ball and we had good opportunities, but we missed a lot of them in the paint.”

Southeast (8-20, 3-12 OVC) wraps up the home portion of its schedule when the Redhawks host UT Martin at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24.