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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Corey Walden scored a game-high 23 points and Eastern Kentucky (10-5, 2-0) used a late second half run to beat Southeast Missouri (7-10, 1-3), 68-55, Saturday night at the Show Me Center.
 
Southeast, which suffered its second-straight loss, fell victim to a 13-0 run in the final six minutes of the game.
 
The Redhawks trailed, 55-50, with 5:57 remaining when the Colonels capitalized on a cold shooting spell. Southeast, which went scoreless for a period of 5:32, did not make a field goal in the last 8:08 of the game.
 
"Naturally, we are disappointed," said Southeast head coach Dickey Nutt. "I thought we shot the ball well in the first half. We struggled to get the ball in underneath and need more of an inside presence."
 
Walden scored seven of his points over EKU's decisive burst and knocked down a three-pointer to give the Colonels their biggest lead of the night at 68-50 with 39 seconds left.
 
EKU and Southeast exchanged leads six times and battled to three ties in a see-saw first half.
 
Southeast built a five-point lead in the opening eight minutes of the game when Isiah Jones made a three-pointer. Jones, who made his third-straight start, scored on three-straight possessions and buried a pair of threes along the way. His second trey pushed the Redhawks lead to 15-10 with 12:13 on the clock.
 
Walden brought the game to a 15-15 deadlock when he knocked down a three at the 10:23 mark and the Colonels tied the game again, this time on an Eric Stutz layup with 9:10 remaining.
 
Once Aaron Adeoye made two free throws to narrow EKU's lead to 30-27, the Colonels used a 10-1 run over the last 3:33 to take a 37-31 lead at the half. Jonathan Hood grabbed the rebound off a Walden miss and put back a layup as the buzzer sounded.
 
Walden shot 5-of-10 from the field and finished with a perfect 10-of-10 showing at the free throw line for EKU, the OVC's top free throw shooting club. The Colonels shot 88.9 percent (16-of-18), missing only twice from the charity stripe.
 
Eric Stutz followed with 18 points. EKU shot 42.9 percent (21-of-49) from the field.
 
Adeoye led all Southeast scorers with 12 points and seven rebounds. Jarekious Bradley, who came off the bench for the first time this season, followed with 10 points and a game-high eight boards. Bradley also went 6-of-6 at the free throw line, keeping his free throw streak alive at 30-consecutive makes.

Jones added 10 points for his third-straight double-digit scoring effort.
 
Nino Johnson, which scored just two points in 12 minutes, broke Southeast's all-time career blocks record. Johnson's two blocks ran his career total to 157 as he surpassed William "Bud" Eley (156 blocks, 1995-99) for the new mark.
 
As a team, Southeast shot 32.7 percent (17-of-52) from the field and made just 25.9 percent (7-of-27) of its attempts in the second half.
 
The Redhawks return to action when they travel to Jacksonville State on Jan. 14.