Dec. 2, 2008

Game Notes

THE TEAMS: After a sixth place finish in the Las Vegas Invitational, Southeast Missouri is 2-4. The Redhawks have wins over Longwood and Culver-Stockton with road losses to New Mexico, Kansas State and Iowa and a neutral court loss to Oakland. The Austin Peay game will be the Redhawks OVC opener. Austin Peay, last year's OVC tournament champion, is 3-2 with wins over Belmont, Lambuth and Georgia Southern and losses to Evansville and Ohio. Tennessee State is 2-3 with wins over Northern Illinois and Miles and losses to Cumberland, Loyola of Maryland and Belmont. The Tigers willl open OVC play on Thursday at Eastern Illinois.

THE COACHES: Zac Roman is 2-4 in his first season as Redhawks acting head coach. Dave Loos, the dean of OVC coaches, 298-250 in his 19th season at Austin Peay and is 380-302 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach. Cy Alexander 59-85 in his 6th season at Tennessee State and is 340-295 in his 22nd year as a collegiate head coach.

THE SERIES: Austin Peay leads the Redhawks 24-15. The Tennessee State series is tied 17-17.

LAST SEASON: The Redhawks split with Austin Peay, losing 85-82 in Clarksville and winning a 121-116 three overtime thriller at the Show Me Center. Southeast also split with Tennessee State, winning 102-95 at the Show Me Center and losing 87-75 in Nashville.

OVC OPENERS: The games with Austin Peay and Tennessee State will be the first OVC games of the season for the Redhawks and the only OVC games in the month of December. Last season, the Redhawks opened the OVC season with a win over Tennessee State that paved the way for a 6-0 start in the OVC.

LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL: Southeast placed sixth in the Las Vegas Invitational with a tournament record of 1-3. The Redhawks had road losses at Kansas State and Iowa with a win over Longwood and a loss to Oakland in Las Vegas. The Redhawks finished seventh in the Chicago Invitational Challenge last season.

SHORT ROSTER: The Redhawks will have only four players in uniform who played on last year's team. Jaycen Herring, Kenard Moore, Calvin Williams and Johnny Hill all played last season. Jajuan Maxwell played for the Redhawks in 2006-2007 but missed last season with a knee injury. Three walkons will be in uniform vs. Austin Peay including Marty Dames who has dressed for all games this season and Jon Watson, 6-5, and Brandon Smith, 5-11.

REDHAWKS FROM THE LINE: Southeast is shooting .766 from the free throw line. LaMont Russell is shooting .933 from the line, second in the OVC while Jajuan Maxwell is shooting .900 and Kenard Moore .818.

WILLIAMS NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT: Junior Calvin Williams, 6-9, was named to the all-tournament team in Las Vegas. He had a career high 22 points against Longwood on Friday. He also had 11 rebounds to give him his first double-double of the season. Williams averages 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

MOORE HOT AND COLD FROM THREE: Senior Kenard Moore had an 0-8 shooting day on Tuesday at Iowa but bounced back with 18 points including 4-6 from three against Longwood. He was 2-13 from three against Oakland. For the season, Moore is shooting .306 from three and .818 from the line. Against the Kansas State Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference he had a career high 31 points. Moore leads the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game.

RUSSELL HITS THE BOARDS: Junior college transfer LaMont Russell pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds against a big and physical Kansas State team. Russell, who has started the last two games, averages 8.3 rebounds per game and ranks fourth in the OVC in rebounding.

HERRING LEADS VS. LOBOS: Senior Jaycen Herring, 6-5, led Southeast in the season opening loss at New Mexico. He had 21 points including 3-6 threes and 6-9 free throws. Herring, who had 11 points against Longwood, averages 12.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

JONES AT THE POINT: Junior college transfer Bijon Jones played all 40-minutes in the loss at New Mexico. Despite playing at altitude, Jones went the distance with 8 points, 5 rebounds and a team-high 3 assists. On Friday against Longwood, he clinched the game with two free throws with 9.0-seconds remaining. Despite a thigh injury in the second half, Jones still logged 39-minutes. In the tournament finale against Oakland, Jones played 32-minutes despite the thigh injury and contributed 2 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. He leads the team in assists with 4 per game.

MAXWELL IS SOLID: Junior Jajuan Maxwell, 6-6, who missed last season with a knee injury, is off to a solid start. He had his first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds vs. Kansas State. He just missed a double-double on Friday against Longwood with 8 points and 11 rebounds. For the season, Maxwell averages 6.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

KIRK RETURNS: After missing two games with an ankle injury suffered at Kansas State, junior college transfer Israel Kirk, 6-7, played 13-minutes vs. Longwood with 4 points and 2 rebounds. He was the top rebounder against New Mexico with 8. He came back 4 rebounds vs. Kansas State to average 3.5 per game for the young season.

SOUTHEAST PICKED 8th IN OVC: The Southeast Missouri State basketball team has been picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll by league coaches and sports information directors. Murray State was picked first with Tennessee-Martin second and Austin Peay third. Morehead State was chosen for fourth followed by Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri, Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State.

CHALK TALK: Southeast basketball coaches will host a Chalk Talk prior to all home games at the Show Me Center. Coaches will discuss the upcoming game and answer question from the fans. The Chalk Talk will be in the North Meeting Room at the Show Me Center and will be between the women's and men's game. The Chalk Talk is open to the public.

REDHAWKS HAVE ST. LOUIS RADIO STATION: The Southeast Basketball Network includes Team 1380 Radio in St. Louis. The network operated by Mississippi River Radio, will be anchored by 100,000 watt K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include KSIM, Sikeston;, KWOC, Poplar Bluff and KMAL, Malden. Erik Sean will be the play-by-play voice of Redhawks basketball with Todd Bonacki adding commentary at home games and Ron Hines adding color during the road games.

REDHAWKS BASKETBALL WITH Zac Roman: Roman will have a weekly television show on WQWQ-TV, the Heartland's CW. The show will be seen at 11:05 p.m. each Monday night beginning on Dec. 1and will be hosted by Heartland Sports Director Todd Richards. The show will also be shown on Charter Cable Channel 11 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's at 8 p.m. It will also be run on the KFVS-TV/Southeast Weather Channel (Charter Channel 113) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m.

TUESDAY AT BEEF O'BRADY'S: Zac Roman will be featured on a live radio show each Tuesday noon at Beef O'Brady's in Cape Girardeau. The show on KGIR, 1220 AM, will run from noon until 1 p.m. and will be hosted by Erik Sean.

SID STREAK: Southeast SID Ron Hines has worked 828 consecutive men's basketball games. He has not missed a game since 1980.

NEXT FOR THE REDHAWKS: Following the weekend games with Austin Peay and Tennessee State, Southeast will hit the road next week for games with Western Illinois and Bradley. The Redhawks will play at Western Illinois on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m. and will play at Bradley on Sunday, Dec. 14, 1 p.m.