By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Tennessee Tech men's basketball couldn't overcome a first-half of offensive struggles Saturday afternoon in Cape Girardeau, Mo., as Ohio Valley Conference-leading Southeast Missouri claimed its seventh straight victory in an 83-69 decision at the Show Me Center.
The Redhawks (17-10, 12-4) limited the Golden Eagles (13-14, 8-8) to a season-low 21 points in the opening stanza, working through their own minor struggles to take a 10-point lead into the locker room. The purple and gold shot just 29.2 percent from the floor over the opening 20 minutes of action, continuing a trend of cold shooting from the second half of Thursday's tilt with Little Rock.
Tech found its form on offense in the second half, dropping 48 points on the scoreboard in an attempt to close the gap. The effort was completely counterbalanced by an even more impressive display by the Redhawks, who delivered one of the more elite shooting performances for a 20-minute period you will see in the game.
SEMO blew out to a 27-point lead with 8:40 to play thanks to a nearly infallible 75.9 percent shooting mark for the second half. The home squad sunk 22-of-29 attempts from the field, scoring 52 points for the half.
The Golden Eagles battled all the way to the final buzzer, trimming the gap to as little as 13 with 90 seconds to play. It was too little too late for the Cookeville crew, as the Redhawks captured their eighth win in their last nine contests.
Leading the purple and gold with 17 points, junior guard Jaylon Johnson sunk three of his five attempts from distance. Local Sparta native Grant Slatten joined him in double figures, finishing 5-for-8 from the floor on his way to a season-high 12 points with four rebounds.
Senior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. tallied nine points and four boards in 22 minutes of action while junior forward Daniel Egbuniwe chipped in eight points and four rebounds.
The purple and gold make their return to Cookeville next week to close out the regular season with four straight games in the Hooper Eblen Center. Tech kicks off the home stretch with a 7:30 p.m. CT match-up with in-state rival UT Martin on Thursday evening.
Photo by Thomas Corhern
