Metro East Sun

Cougars Dominate Southeast Missouri on Senior Day

Bolstered by strong shooting and a huge first-half run, SIUE rolled over Southeast Missouri 93-78 Saturday in the regular season finale at First Community Arena.

The Cougars snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 18-13 overall and 9-9 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Both win totals are program highs at the Division I level.

"I'd be hard pressed to not open with the community support again," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "The game itself was pretty darn cool as well today!"

SIUE will open play at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Wednesday night as the No. 6 seed. The Cougars will face No. 7 Southern Indian.

SIUE used a 23-1 run over a near six-minute stretch in the first half to take control. It was 26-23 Southeast Missouri when the Cougars started on their run. SIUE led 46-28 at the under four media timeout and 52-35 at the break.

"We had 11 assists and two turnovers in the first half," Barone said. That is the visual representation of the buy-in that they have in one another. It really says a lot about our performance.

SIUE extended its lead to as many as 26 in the second half. The Cougars shot 55 percent from the field, connecting on 35-64 shots. The 35 field goals are second most in a game this season, while the 55 percent shooting marks the third best shooting night of the season.

Damarco Minor got out to a fast start and scored 17 first-half points. He finished with a game-high 25 points.

"It's been a hard two weeks because we know that we're better than what we've been putting out," Minor. "Today we showed what we can do when we're clicking. It's a good win going into the tournament."

Ray'Sean Taylor scored 16 points and added seven rebounds and six assists.

"It's good to see how we're capable of playing-sharing the ball and getting stops," Taylor said. "It's good to build upon and get ready for Wednesday.

Shamar Wright moved into the top 10 in career scoring at SIUE. He scored 12 points and now has 1,085 career points, which is 10th all-time.

Jalen Hodge and DeeJuan Pruitt added nine points apiece. Pruitt led the Cougars with eight rebounds. Jonathan Kurtas scored eight points and added five rebounds.

Chris Harris led Southeast Missouri with 20 points. Aquan Smart added 13 points and Phillip Russell scored 13 points.

SEMO hit 40 percent (27-67) of its shots for the game. The Redhawks (15-15, 10-8) will be the fifth seed in the OVC Tournament.

The Cougars outrebounded the Redhawks 43-32 and scored 42 points in the paint.

Prior to Saturday's game, SIUE honored Cam Williams, Jalen Hodge, Lamar, Shamar Wright and Executive Assistant Connor Piskin.

"You're talking about five people who are high-level with high character," Barone said of the group.

The Cougars will face the Screaming Eagle in the final game of the first round Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m.

"We just wanted to feel like we're feeling right now," Barone added. "That momentum and that excitement will carry into Wednesday at 9:00. We're big believers in ourselves and we respect Southern Indiana. It's in their back yard. We've done it before in their back yard and they've done it in ours. These guys have the right to have that opportunity Wednesday."

 

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