EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball used a dominant second-half performance to win its fourth consecutive game, rolling over Southeast Missouri 74-56 in front of 2,323 fans at First Community Arena Thursday night.
SIUE has won seven of its last eight games and improved to 10-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 17-9 overall. The win gives the Cougars the season sweep of the Redhawks.
Southeast Missouri had a six-game winning streak snapped. And fell to 15-11 overall. The Redhawks also are 10-5 in the OVC.
SIUE and SEMO are among four teams tied for third place and just one game behind the leaders. The Cougars will play host to league-leading UT Martin Saturday afternoon at First Community Arena.
The Cougars limited SEMO to just four field goals and 16 points in the second half. The 16 points are the fewest scored by the Redhawks in any game this season.
Arnas Sakenis powered the Cougars with a career-best 16 rebounds to go along with 15 points for his third double-double of the year. He added three blocks on the defensive end. Jordan Pickett matched his season high with 15 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and Tyler King scored 13 points with 11 coming in the second half.
SEMO used nine first-half three-pointers to lead by as many as 10 and take a 40-34 lead into halftime.
The Redhawks pushed the lead back to nine (43-34) after a Braxton Stacker dunk less than a minute into the second half when SIUE turned the tide for good.
A Pickett three-pointer capped off a 10-0 run which gave SIUE its first lead since the first minute of the game. The 10-0 run became a 20-3 run after put-back dunk from Sakenis made it 54-47 SIUE with 9:09 to play.
The Cougars kept rolling while SEMO struggled to find its first-half rhythm. The Redhawks missed nine straight field goals as SIUE pushed its lead to 14 when Tyler King's three-pointer capped a 9-2 run to give the Cougars a 63-49 lead with 6:01 to play.
Luke Almodovar, who buried four three-pointers in the first half, connected on SEMO's only triple in the second before the Cougars used an 11-2 sprint for its largest lead of the game at 74-52 with 2:20 left.
SIUE hit 55 percent of its shots in the second half and 48 percent (28-58) for the game. The Cougars outrebounded the Redhawks 43-30, including a 25-12 edge in the second half.
BJ Ward scored 20 points to lead the Redhawks. Almodovar scored 16. SEMO hit 34 percent of its shots (19-56) for the game.
