Feb. 9, 2008

Box Score

By Tyler Koonce, Assistant Men's Basketball Contact

RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky defeated Southeast Missouri State, 80-69 in overtime Saturday night at McBrayer Arena. EKU's Adam Leonard made two three-pointers in the final nine seconds of regulation to send the game into an extra period. The Redhawks (12-14, 7-9) were led by senior Michael Rembert, who scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds. The Colonels (13-10, 10-5) won their fifth straight game.

Southeast trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before going on a 12-4 run over the final 8:05 to cut the deficit to two at 26-24 at halftime.

Early in the second half the Redhawks grabbed the lead at 34-32 on a tip-in by point guard Roderick Pearson. They would increase the margin to as many as seven points with a 49-42 lead with 8:35 left in the second half.

Kenard Moore was sent to the line with 23 seconds left and converted both attempts to push the Southeast lead to 59-55. Leonard answered with a trey to cut the lead to one. Again, Moore was fouled and made both free throws to make the lead 61-58 with 6.2 seconds left. Leonard took the inbounds pass, drove down the floor and drilled a trifecta with 0.7 seconds left that would send the game into overtime.

Leonard connected on his third consecutive three on the first possession of overtime and the Colonels never looked back. He finished with 16 points, all coming in the second half and overtime. EKU was led by Mike Rose, who registered a double-double with a game-high 25 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Darnell Dialls scored 18 points and Jamaal Douglas added 10 off the bench.

Rembert's 19 rebounds tied the highest total by an OVC player this season. Pearson finished with 16 points while Jaycen Herring added 12.

Southeast shot a season-best 19-20 from the free throw line but converted only 2-18 three-point attempts.

The Redhawks return home to play Eastern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Show Me Center.