Southeast Missouri State Downs SIUE

The Cougars held the lead through the opening 10 minutes, leading by as many as six at the 12:50 mark, before the Redhawks stormed back to take a one-point advantage at the 9:06 mark. The two squads would trade buckets and points, but a quick 8-0 scoring run for SEMO would give the visitors a 10-point lead. SEMO continued their momentum into the final minutes of the first period, maintaining a 19-5 scoring run that gave the Redhawks a 40-24 lead heading into the halftime break. Turnovers and fouls proved costly to SIUE, as the Cougars turned the ball over 12 times and registered 11 personal fouls in the opening 20 minutes. SEMO responded by burying 10 of 12 attempts from the charity stripe, a trend which would continue into the second half.

The second half proved no kinder to the Red & White on the offensive side of the court, shooting 16 percent from the field; however, solid shooting from the line for the Cougars kept the game within reach, as SIUE cashed in on 15 of 20 free throw attempts in the second period. The Cougar defense also found their footing, holding a consistently good Redhawk shooting team to just 32.1 percent from the field and 20 percent from beyond the arc. SEMO did make 16 of 17 attempts from the free throw line, which helped Southeast maintain their lead.

DeeJuan Pruitt led SIUE in offensive production, registering 13 points, going four-of-six from the field, and draining all five of his free throw shots. Pruitt also notched four rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal in 26 minutes played. Shaun Doss, Jr. came just one bucket shy of a double-double, recording eight points and collecting 10 rebounds in the contest.

"We're dealing with adversity right now," said Doss, Jr. following the game. "So we're just trying to get ourselves over this hump."

That adversity - the Cougars have played nine games in 21 days, six of them played away from home.

"It's the reality of what has occurred to this team," said SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone about the adversity his young team has faced. "You fix issues or mistakes through practice, through repetition. You have to challenge them sometimes, you have to love them sometimes - all of that. It's the preparation every single day - literally, every single day - for the next game: prep Wednesday, play Thursday, prep Friday, play Saturday, prep Sunday, play Monday. And then on Tuesday, you have to give a day off, you can't prepare, you can't do anything else - and they deserve it. And then we do it again."

The Cougars will continue their homestand on Thursday night against UT Martin. Tip-off from First Community Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m., a time change from the originally scheduled time of 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and can be heard live on WSIE 88.7 The Sound and the SIUE Cougar Network.

"Even when I'm having a bad day, the best part about this team is that I go in there and I leave better," added Barone. "I leave better because of what they do every day. Some days I'm frustrated - today, I'm frustrated. But I do know that I'm going to walk out of that locker room tomorrow feeling better than I do right now, because the group in that locker room I believe in and those are the kind of guys that we have in that locker room. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."