EVANSVILLE, Ind. – SIUE led only briefly Saturday night, but fell on the road at Southern Indiana 82-68.

The Cougars slipped to 19-10 overall and 12-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE remains tied for second in the standings with Little Rock. Both teams trail Southeast Missouri by two games.

SIUE will finish out the regular season with SEMO Thursday and Little Rock Saturday, both at First Community Arena.

The Cougars are guaranteed at least a third-place finish in the league and remain alive for one of the top two seeds, which comes with a double-bye in the OVC Tournament.

Southern Indiana improved to 10-18 overall and 5-13 in the OVC.

USI built a double-digit lead in the first half and led 46-33 at halftime.

The Cougars got as close as five (60-55) after a Desmond Polk three-pointer with 9:02 to play, but USI pushed the lead back out to 11 with 6-0 run.

Ray'Sean Taylor paced the Cougars with 18 points. Ring Malith scored 13 points and Brian Taylor II scored 12.

The Cougars shot 23-60 (38 percent) overall and 5-19 (26 percent) from three-point range. SIUE was just 17-27 at the free throw line.

USI was 28-60 (47 percent) overall and 7-15 from three. The Screaming Eagles went 19-23 (83 percent) at the line.

Jayland Randall Southern Indiana with 20 points. He was 5-11 shooting and 9-10 at the free throw line. Jack Campion and Jack Mielke each finished with 12 points.

The Cougars will tipoff against Southeast Missouri Thursday at 7:30 at First Community Arena.